Revolutionary Road by Richard Yates Summary and Reviews
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Book Reviews of Revolutionary Road
Book Review: Few times has social commentary been so hard to put down
Summary: 4 Stars
Revisionist history is typically cynical, intellectually dishonest hindsight. What makes Yates' dark, decidedly cynical look at the '50s in "Revolutionary Road" so compelling is that it was written just a few years after the era it portrays.Despite the book's obvious attack on various institutions and conventions of the time that contribute to the Wheelers' disintegration, Yates' most poignant focus is on individual morality and choice: Frank and April Wheeler are clearly products of their own grim, misguided and abortive motivations, rather than victims of their repressive, tacky, dead-end suburban existence.
Despite the author's rather vicious, excessively lurid character development, despite his emphasis to the point of overkill how poorly adjusted Connecticut suburbanites were in the '50s, despite the sometimes preachiness of the narrative, this is nevertheless a "lost" classic, very much worthy of being compared to "The Great Gatsby."
While the general tone of "Revolutionary Road" is one of hard-nosed realism, it is at some points remarkably touching, an aspect of the novel about which I've yet read little.
There's even a little supernatural intimation toward the end that -- out of place in this stark book as it may seem -- is further indicative of how complex, contemplative a work this is.
Book Review: Haunting, Extraordinary Novel
Summary: 5 Stars
Richard Yates is not as well known as many other mid-20th century novelists, but he certainly should be. REVOLUTIONARY ROAD is as well written and intriguing a book as you're ever likely to read - a true modern classic. The plot concerns the increasingly unhappy marriage between surbanites Frank and April Wheeler. Many other authors have explored similar territory, notably John Updike (e.g., "Couples"). However, no one has done so with such deft and beautiful writing. The plot is ultimately somewhat incidental, and you'll likely figure out the resolution quite early. However, the brilliantly realized characters, including friends and neighbors of the Wheelers, make the book so worthwhile.
The meaning of the book is likely to vary for different readers; for example, many people may see a scathing yet subtle indictment of suburban life and values. However, I read it more as as screed against the dangers of being unnecessarily dissatisfied with your life, particularly expecting brilliance where none exists. Whatever meaning you attribute to the novel, it's extraordinary. Most highly recommended!!!
Book Review: How Boring!
Summary: 1 Stars
Stupid story line, silly characters and so predictable...what did I miss that all of the other reviewers found so earth-shattering???? It was slightly entertaining but basically a waste of time. When it finally came to an end I had no emotional response except that I was glad I was finished. I don't know what else to say except don't bother with it. There are LOTS of great books out there and this isn't one of them. I kept reading it because of all the wonderful reviews, and thought it MUST get better once I got into it...NOT!!! I guess I really missed something here, but for the life of me I can't imagine what it was!!?? I am a fanatic reader of ALL types of writing styles but this one just soared right past me. Don't bother with it.Book Review: Humanity has never been so accessible...
Summary: 5 Stars
There is nothing more human then the raw emotional validity experienced when reading `Revolutionary Road'; a novel so steeped in what makes us a society you almost forget your reading a work of fiction on not the monologues of your own existence.
The novel introduces us to Frank and April Wheeler, a young family living in Connecticut in the mid-1950s. Frank works an office job he loathes and doesn't even completely understand, but the pay is good and that makes up for it. April, once a free spirit, has become trapped in her suburban life with children she didn't plan on having and friends she can't remember liking to begin with. Both Frank and April are living the American Dream, but that `dream' is not their own but the one forced on them by the consensus of society. It's what everyone around them aspires to for reasons they can't even finger. The apathy and frustration brought on by this unhappiness has begun to fray their marriage and so when we meet the Wheelers they are really at their breaking points. In fact the first few pages bring about an explosive and violent argument that sets the tone for the rest of the novel.
`Revolutionary Road' is the type of story that reaches to the pit of a person because it is so real and so believable that you find yourself instantly relating to the premise. No relationship is perfect or `holy' and so when you read of the Wheeler's problems and concerns you realize that many of them are your own. Their regrets and longings can be found in many of us and so that helps make this novel all the more `important'.
At times `Revolutionary Road' can read like a black comedy for there are many details that play quite humorous, but like I've seen in novels like Tom Perrotta's `Little Children', it's the humor that ends up being the most heart breaking. Most of life's humor is just a mask to hide the pain and frustration of reality.
As Frank and April tackle the decision to pick up and leave this life behind, escape to a life that is better suited to their own dreams they find that this life is not so easy to leave behind. As much at it repels them it refuses to let them escape and they find themselves enslaved to it in a way, prisoners of their own existence. No one they talk to understands their motives for leaving everything behind. They look at them like they are crazy; but most of these reactions are selfish in themselves. As Frank and April seclude themselves their relationship becomes misleading as they appear to draw closer to one another; but unhappiness always leads to bitterness, and bitterness can only be masked for so long before it bares itself in disastrous ways.
The ending of `Revolutionary Road' is as stunning as it is horrific, as fitting as it is unmercifully unjust. It will leave you speechless yet elicit much debatable conversation.
What makes truly great literature is the ability to connect with a person, and Richard Yates obviously understood that. `Revolutionary Road' borrows beneath the skin and exposes our deepest darkest secrets. It becomes a part of us, or we become a part of it; and that, my friends, is what a remarkable treat.
Book Review: I Have Met the Enemy, and He is I
Summary: 5 Stars
I am so grateful to Allen Smalling, Amazon Reviewer, whose fine review led me to buy and read this excellent story. Much has been made of its 50's, suburban setting; yet the characters are timeless. Frank & April, Shep & Molly, Mr. & Mrs. Givings are alive and not-so-well and among us today. One thing that struck me was the characters have been described as "materialistic." Compared to Americans of the 21st century, they only had the smallest notion of what true materialism is all about. They seem curiously innocent in that respect. Richard Yates is a giant of a writer who will make his way to the short list of great authors of the 20th century. His capturing of the momentary feeling, the basic sham of the faces we present to the world cut very close to the bone. Frank Wheeler receives the worst drubbing from readers and critics, I believe because we all see ourselves in Frank, and do not like what we observe. Frank is a man capable of introspection, and his small façade as an intellectual, brilliant misfit in a dead-end job is not despicable, only mediocre, and he sees his own mediocrity. This is what makes us uncomfortable, and what is painful, we dislike. Shep is the flip side of Frank, but his face to the world is one of a regular guy, straight talking, practical and dependable; he is truly a sensitive romantic who has thrown his life away to be someone he doesn't even like very well. Somehow we forgive Shep, but not Frank. Mr. Yates does not have the same sure hand with the females; they do not come to life like the men. The use of John Givings, the mad man as the catalyst and truth-sayer is a brilliant novelistic device.
I thought of John Marquand and John Cheever who were roughly contemporaneous with Richard Yates. They had many of the same concerns, but did not have the incisiveness, humor and depth of Yates. You not only will enjoy the read, but I am sure will want to re-read and reflect upon this powerful novel.