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Jun 27, 2011

Eric rated it:

I let out a whoop of laughter on about page 180, when I finally figured Frank Wheeler out. You see, Frank spent most of his youth a scattered, bashful schmuck. Then after WWII, as a Columbia student and Village-dweller, he started getting laid all the time, thanks to a theatrically brooding pseudo-intellectual schtick. Nevermind that Frank is essentially a glib blowhard, talented in no artistic way (he's one of those tiresome people who whine about Conformity as if America invented it, threaten More...

15 comments like (143 people liked it)

Feb 05, 2011

Ben rated it:

For the longest time I just wanted a family, kids, a decent job, and a happy life in suburbia. That was all I wanted. That's it. It seemed so simple, predictable, and reliable. It was my ideal image.

It seems that society has done a good job of putting that thought in everyone's head. The best thing for a young man is for him to go to college, get married, get a reliable job with a steady company, have babies (2 or 3, of course), make friends with neighbors, have birthday part More...

30 comments like (63 people liked it)

Feb 08, 2011

karen rated it:

watching this movie last night made me want to read the book immediately after. and it's not a terrible movie, it's just a little... hammy, and the tone is uneven - whether these people are meant to be seen as victims of the stultifying, euthanizing effects of suburbia, or if they are at root unlikable people who deserve to be taken down a peg for their arrogance and their conviction that their involvement in this thing we call "suburbia" is just playacting, not to be taken seriously. More...

140 comments like (38 people liked it)

Jun 24, 2010

Ellen rated it:

On my fling-o-meter scale, Revolutionary Road is a well-traveled book, having been flung (why does this past participle sound so ungainly?) across the room several times. The initial trip occurred when Richard Yates gratuitously threw in this bit of over-writing in the first chapter:

At first their rehearsals had been held on Saturdays—always it seemed, on the kind of windless February or March afternoon when the sky is white , the trees are black, and the brown fields and humm

More...

94 comments like (53 people liked it)

Feb 08, 2011

Michelle rated it:

I've been putting off reviewing this book. I didn't enjoy reading it, and it wasn't because the characters were unlikeable, which they were. There are authors who can write great books about people the reader hates. This wasn't one of them.

I get the whole 1950s values/suburbia/trap that Frank and April found themselves in. I just didn't care. He was a whiny, immature, alcoholic. She was a bored suburban housewife whose only sense of identity was tied into how successful Frank m More...

22 comments like (28 people liked it)

Mar 09, 2011

brian rated it:

well, i read the book ages ago and it left such an impression that when i signed up for bookface i stamped the sucker with a fiver. the gothsissy promises if i re-read it i'll knock off a few stars. whatever.

i saw the movie last night and a word popped into my head:

smimsicholy: a specific combination of smug-whimsy-melancholy seen in the work of certain 'important' artists and/or entertainers.

yeah. if sam mendes is the cinematic anti-christ than this movie More...

104 comments like (20 people liked it)

Nov 16, 2007

David rated it:

Revolutionary Road is a masterpiece of a genre that’s largely considered played out—the novel of suburban malaise. It’s a social novel about The Way We Live Now, only in this case Now is over 40 years ago and Yates’ take on the plight of the poor souls marooned in corporate/suburban America has long since been digested and superseded. It still persists to some degree—in films like American Beauty, novels such as Tom Perotta’s Little Children, and the brilliant TV show Weeds. But, American Beauty More...

1 comment like (31 people liked it)

Sep 04, 2008

Zack rated it:

What a wise book. Many rate it as depressing, and yes, it tells a very tragic story. But at the same time, it's also a tremendously funny book. It's just that its humor stings because it's based in the most human of weaknesses: Self-rationalization.

Frank and April Wheeler are the prototypical post-WWII suburban couple -- happy on the outside, endlessly frustrated on the inside. But author Richard Yates isn't interested in just dissecting the suburbs. Frank and April are painfull More...

0 comments like (39 people liked it)

Sep 10, 2008

Katie rated it:

Oh sweet barbequed jaysus--why does anyone ever get married? And why do I keep listening to my boyfriend when he recommends books to me?

Because he has good taste. Good, horribly morose and depressing taste.

This is an excellent book. Richard Yates has a preternatural ability to divine and pick apart the artifice we assume in everyday life with our loved ones and coworkers. The young couple of the book, Frank and April Wheeler, are bougie suburbanites who aspire to be artis More...

3 comments like (25 people liked it)

Jan 26, 2009

RandomAnthony rated it:

I found myself reading Revolutionary Road through dual lenses. The first lens framed the novel through what I’ve heard about the apparently groundbreaking approach Yates took to controversial subject matter in the early sixties. The second lens framed the novel through the question as to whether or not it would hold up as a great book outside of the controversial context. So what’s the verdict? Nice try, Mr. Yates, you’re a technical virtuoso, but other than feeling that “Oh, God, is this ch More...

26 comments like (22 people liked it)

Jul 08, 2008

Hannah rated it:

Oh snap, just try and read Yates's bio and then NOT be compelled to go back through his business . . .

This book breaks my heart with such gentle little fingers. I think what kills me even worse than the dreadful big bang on which this little world ends is the fact that Frank and April never say a goddamn word to each other throughout the whole book--in all that time, all that marriage and all those hours and all those years, never a word. And so much talking. Mercy. And how clos More...

0 comments like (14 people liked it)

Dec 17, 2009

Lori rated it:

Reading this book was a new experience for me. I disliked every character except the children, the premise wasn't particularly interesting, and the theme was tired. And yet I kept reading, realizing halfway through that it was because Richard yates is such an incredible writer. I finally understand writing skill. A young couple moves from the city to the country and spend their days going through the motions and spend their evenings getting completely soused and complaining about the hopeles More...

0 comments like (13 people liked it)

Dec 16, 2009

Rachel rated it:

This book is really depressing, and not even in a particularly eloquent way.

It chronicles the highball-soaked dissolution of a suburban family. Set against the backdrop of post-war Connecticut, the story follows Frank and April Wheeler as they fight, throw dishes, scream at their children, and verbally and emotionally manipulate one another.

My hunch is that this book might have really resonated for the dissatisfied housewives/businessmen who read it when it was original More...

0 comments like (12 people liked it)

Mar 02, 2009

Jason rated it:

As any lover of the arts knows, an artist's reputation depends not only on what society thinks of their work, but also what they think of it over the passage of time, with many creative professionals' careers dipping up and down over the decades based on changing trends and tastes. Take American author Richard Yates for an excellent example; celebrated by the academic community when he first started writing in the early 1960s, he was considered in the vanguard of the nascent "postmodern" More...

5 comments like (25 people liked it)

Sep 24, 2008

Brian rated it:

Because I'm a terrible reader, I tend to do this thing where I read about the first half to two-thirds of a book, then drag out the last third until I've completely lost track of it. I started "Revolutionary Road" worried that this would happen again, but quickly found it wouldn't be a problem because I COULD NOT STOP READING IT. I started it at 5 p.m. and was finished by 1 a.m.

So, yes, because I couldn't stop reading it, you should. It's as simple as that! OK, also it's on More...

5 comments like (9 people liked it)

Feb 07, 2009

deLille rated it:

Reading this book reminded me of a book I read my freshman year of high school, John Updike's "Rabbit, Run", which I gave one star to. I have to admit that I barely remember the Rabbit, Run plot given that it's been decades since I read it, but "Revolutionary Road" vividly brought back the feeling that book left me with: one of disgust that people can actually be so self-absorbed that they deliberately wreck what most people would think is a pretty good deal. I had just fin More...

1 comment like (8 people liked it)

Sep 13, 2008

Meghan rated it:

9/10: I am reading this really slowly because it is absolutely amazing and I am kind of nervous and sad about how soon I'll be done with it.

9/13: Okay, wow. First of all, I'd like to build a home in some of these sentences. Something with a veranda so I can sit out there with a drink and really look around and take the whole thing in.

Okay just give me a minute.

Ready.

You read some books and you think, this person is a storyteller. I would listen t More...

5 comments like (8 people liked it)

Feb 09, 2009

selena rated it:

Revolutionary Road is the story of April and Frank Wheeler, an accidental couple with accidental children who are accidentally but unhappily living the American Dream. They live in the Connecticut suburbs on Revolutionary Road and Frank works in New York. His wife, of course, stays home with their two children. To say that they are not the most devoted couple or set of parents is a drastic understatement. Their children are merely there to give the illusion of happiness and normality. Their rela More...

0 comments like (5 people liked it)

Jul 04, 2007

Simon A. rated it:

I can't say enough about how awesome this book is. It really blew me away. As a writer, it made me reconsider everything else I had read and written and hold it to a completely different standard. This book changed my life. The fearlessness with which Yates writes with is so jarring that it forces you to go back and find out what he is doing to accomplish such marvelous feats.

He may very well be a "writer's writer" but for that he must be included on the same mantel wit More...

1 comment like (4 people liked it)

Dec 11, 2008

Karen rated it:

Beautifully done, exhilarating and FUNNY, which I wasn't expecting. And of course, sad as hell. Minus one star though because it never quite got past the cerebral level for me. The characters felt a bit like puppets - the most complex, masterfully constructed puppets in the world, but puppets all the same. I mean how many times was there a sentence like, "If person A had said x instead of y, everything would have been OK"? In real life people's words don't have that much power, do they More...

1 comment like (3 people liked it)

Mar 12, 2009

Erik rated it:

Excellent characterization, in both direct and subtle ways. As despicable as the main character, Frank Wheeler, was at times, I thought the author did a tremendous job of showing the reader who he really was. April Wheeler (his wife) didn't seemed to be as covered in-depth, but was still so well-drawn with her thoughts, words and actions.

As long as the story was (460+ pages, even though the stats here don't seem to match), it moved quickly for me. I read the last 100 pages in one sit More...

0 comments like (3 people liked it)

Jan 25, 2009

Lindsey rated it:

And another one bites the dust. Revolutionary Road made me want to eat dust, or dirt or even mud. I had all the anticipation of both my tumblr book club and the movie “Titanic 2” behind me and I just couldn’t do it.

The back says

In the hopeful 1950’s, Frank and April Wheeler seem to be a model couple: bright, beautiful, talented, with two young children and a starter home in the suburbs. Perhaps they married too young and started a family too early. Maybe Frank’s job is dull More...

0 comments like (4 people liked it)

Oct 19, 2010

Miss Kim rated it:

This review has been hidden because it contains spoilers. To view it, click here

13 comments like (11 people liked it)

Oct 20, 2008

elisa rated it:

this is the perfect time for all of you out there to read this book. pick it up, sit in a comfy chair in front of the fire with a blanket and a cup of tea or hot chocolate, and let yourself sink into his pages. this is a book that i wanted to really read in one sitting, in front of that fire i mentioned already, but enjoyed immensely even though i had to read it in spurts over a week or so. the writing is amazing and his societal commentary matches it. he is saying so much here, but one of m More...

2 comments like (5 people liked it)

Dec 16, 2009

Jeff rated it:

This book wrecked me; and I loved every minute of it.

In my research, I've found many writers, from R. Ford and T. Williams to Vonnegut, to have loved this book, while many critics -- particularly, the daily/weekly newspaper variety -- haven't.

Makes sense.

All the talk about it portraying the drag of suburbia, 1950s life, post-war disillusionment, blah, blah, blah. That's just to help English profs teach it and to have something accessible -- and history alway More...

0 comments like (3 people liked it)

Apr 23, 2007

teresa rated it:

I don't even remember why i picked up this book. None of the characters are sympathetic. It is of the suburban-life-is-not-all-it-is-cracked-up-to-be genre but Richard Yates is such an incredible writer that you find yourself being stunned by his writing. After reading this I read another by him. I also went and bought his short story collection.

If JD Salinger and Catcher In The Rye is for teenage/young adult malcontents, Revolutionary Road is JD Salinger for adults. Plus, Yates More...

0 comments like (3 people liked it)

Mar 18, 2009

Janessa rated it:

When I read the blurb on the back of the book I was actually repulsed. I hate the dissatisfied housewife theme. I'd rather go back to The Awakening than keep encountering new revisions from one decade to the next. So I put it down and walked away. But I had to come back. It was a book group selection.

I'm so glad I did.

I was fascinated by Yates story, and the complexity he so deftly explores in the relationships throughout the book. Everything is so nuanced, and I More...

2 comments like (4 people liked it)

Jun 17, 2011

Lou rated it:

Well written story centered on how an idealist american couple may not be so ideal away from the faces of many.They cannot seem to make their life work and enjoy their daily trappings until it is too late. Makes you wander about making the most of the good things in life that you have before you lose it than trying to rewrite you're life completely from scratch.

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0 comments like (2 people liked it)

Sep 19, 2009

Shawn rated it:

Frank and April Miller need each other. Desperately. They're not whole as individual people unless they have each other around, yet in a deep sense they can't stand each other because of it. They can't get out of the relationship and they can't do much in it. Marriage for them is a sharp blade, one that cuts in a surrender to passion, but one that cuts off aspirations, wild dreams and the need that every human has to be unconditionally accepted by at least one other person. It certain wasn't More...

2 comments like (2 people liked it)

Feb 14, 2009

Cecily rated it:

Firstly, don't read this if you're in a long term relationship that is in difficulties, especially if you are stuck in a dull job as well: it may be too pertinent.

It is the painfully insightful story of a youngish couple, with two small children, living in New England in the 1950s. Both have lingering hurt and dysfunction from their childhoods, which exacerbates the slow and painful disintegration of their relationship. April has the idea of a fresh start in Paris, where she will sup More...

0 comments like (3 people liked it)

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