by Richard Yates (Random House, $14.95)

This shattering, prophetic forty-year old novel surgically dissects the illusion of America's post-war suburban idyll. More Days of Wine and Roses than The Stepford Wives, Yates' delicate and deliberate prose traces his protagonists' fall, creating a true American tragedy that is as eerily modern as psychotropic drugs. This eternal book will haunt you.