I’ve been depressed on behalf of novelist Richard Yates all week, ever since I read a recent article by Anne Thompson in the December 8-14 issue of weekly Variety.

“Why?” you might ask.

Go ahead. Ask.

All right, I’ll tell you.

It’s not merely because he’s dead. I never met him, and never felt the connection with him the way I did with Raymond Carver, who I truly mourned at the time of his passing, and who from time to time I find myself mourning anew.

Rather, I’m saddened due to the big-budget movie just made of his 1961 novel Revolutionary Road, directed by Sam Mendes and starring Kate Winslet and Leonardo DiCaprio. You might think any writer, living or dead, would love to have that level of talent applied to adapting his or her work. (more…)