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 originally published in 1961. To me, however, Revolutionary Road felt gratuitously dysfunctional and full of charaters who kept claiming they needed to "find themselves", but in fact needed to find some good therapists and a general sense of decency towards their children, their friends, and one another.

As a portrait of a different time, and its different discontents Revolutionary Road succeds. But if you're looking for something that really speaks to the present, it might not be your cup of tea.