Revolutionary Road by Richard Yates Summary and Reviews
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Book Reviews of Revolutionary Road
Book Review: Stifled by mediocrity
Summary: 5 Stars
"Revolutionary Road" is a brilliantly written novel of the American Dream gone bad. It tells the story of a bright young couple whose marriage, personalities and eventually more are stifled and destroyed by the happy medium of society's dictates. On the surface, April and Frank appear to be a 1950s model of perfection with their beautiful house, their beautiful kids, their beautiful car. But underneath, frustration, alienation and despair begin to eat away eventually causing the surface to crumble away and be revealed for what it was.
The writing is superb: a tension makes every sentence seem 3-D. You know that no happy ending awaits April and Frank but you are compelled to read on and accompany them to certain destruction. The 1950s setting is beautifully conveyed, from Frank's IBM-like corporation to the seedy dive with the has-been drummer.
The strength of "Revolutionary Road" lies also with the identification potential of the reader. Which bright young person has not imagined themself superior to the rest and surely destined for something greater than smug suburbia? Which corporate employee has not imagined that their dreary job is "only for the interim" before their real potential is discovered? And I'm sure I'm not the only middle-aged reader to think "there, but for the grace of God....."
Book Review: Well Travelled Road
Summary: 3 Stars
Richard Yates's novel "Revolutionary Road" has developed a cult following in recent years, and a forthcoming film adaptation will no doubt only add further to the interest in what has been widely dubbed a "neglected masterpiece".
"Revolutionary Road" tells the story of an attractive young couple, April and Frank Wheeler, who live in a desirable suburb with their two children. Frank commutes into the city where he works for Knox Business Machines, while April is a housewife and mother. The novel, written in the early sixties, is set in the mid-fifties, and outwardly the Wheelers are the epitome of a wholesome American couple.
But the novel opens with a disastrous amateur theatrical performance in which April plays the lead. She has nurtured dreams of being an actress, and the shattering of these dreams sets in motion a series of events that lead to the tragic unravelling of the Wheeler marriage.
For its time, Richard Yates's novel was ground-breaking, but I can only review it as a modern reader in the present day. The idea that beneath the suburban ideal lurks a tangled web of discontent is the clearly declared theme early in the novel, and thereafter the plot develops along familiar lines. One can credit Yates with being ahead of his time, but whether that makes the reading experience more enjoyable or compelling is a matter of opinion. The recent TV series "Mad Men", for example, dealt with the same theme in a more surprising and oblique fashion.
Overall, this is an important novel, which deserves its long-awaited recognition, but I'm reluctant to recommend it as a worthwhile reading experience over more contemporary work that addresses the same issues.
Book Review: Understand the modern world
Summary: 5 Stars
If you want to get an insight into the break down of family life and the obsession with celebrity and appearance in the post modern world then look no further. The need to be different in the ridiculous stylised modern world of work is covered with great insight. Love and the lust underneath it for what we don't have are there too. Everyone might be flawed in some way but don't worry about that as it's a great read from start to finish.Book Review: A great novel
Summary: 5 Stars
I don't want to repeat what most of the other reviewers have written. They are correct - it is a very good novel. The film will help sales. It pre-dates the later Rabbit books by Updike which cover, in some ways, similar ground but I wish I had read this earlier and before Updike (and I did Amer. Lit. at university - no one mentioned Yates!). I was too young in 1961 to read this but those that did then must have realised what a remarkable book it is; maybe today we are used to this kind of theme/writing but then? The question is: would you recommend this book to a young person starting out on life (it might be a real life turn-off for them!)or a person near retirement who might shrug and say: "Yeah, we all had dreams but some times they don't always work out"? Book Review: Richard Yates - Revolutionary Road
Summary: 5 Stars
Revolutionary Road deserves all the praise and adulation it's had over the years. Rarely are two protagonists so heartbreakingly real, rarely are they so convincing as living, breathing human beings stuck in the monotonous machine of life, yearning to escape, to break free. Yates advances their arc, their developments and realisations and dreams, brilliantly, and conveys relationship breakdown as realistically as Ian McEwan. This is a great indictment of the American way of life, where individuality and humanity is so easily stifled, and also a strange defense of it. There are times when Frank is happy, and it is only when they strive to break free that things gang agly. And the only person who empathises with the Wheelers is mad.
A great book, full of the kind of brilliant writing that makes you startled to realise you're actually reading. Very sad, but full of warm compassion. There's no way you'll regret reading it.