Young Hearts Crying is the penultimate novel of American writer Richard Yates

Richard Yates (novelist)

Richard Yates was an American novelist and short story writer, known for his exploration of mid-20th century life.-Life:...

. After Revolutionary Road

Revolutionary Road

Revolutionary Road, the first novel of author Richard Yates, was a finalist for the National Book Award in 1962 along with Catch-22 and The Moviegoer. When it was published by Atlantic-Little, Brown in 1961, it received critical acclaim, and the New York Times reviewed it as "beautifully crafted.....

, it is generally considered to be his best work.

The novel tells the story of struggling poet and artist Michael Davenport, who spurns his heiress

Beneficiary

A beneficiary in the broadest sense is a natural person or other legal entity who receives money or other benefits from a benefactor. For example: The beneficiary of a life insurance policy, is the person who receives the payment of the amount of insurance after the death of the insured...

 wife's offer of financial assistance, choosing instead to make abortive attempts at achieving artistic success on his own terms. The novel, Yates' first in over six years, was generally well received, with Associated Press book reviewer Phil Thomas calling it "absorbing" and "superb" and New York Times reviewer Christopher Lehmann-Haupt terming the work "absorbing" and "beguilingly vivid" despite complaining that characters' lack of self-awareness became "ultimately tiresome."