Revolutionary Road

[KC]

I can't find where this book discussion started, so I'll just start my own thread. I haven't seen the movie yet. Won't make it to my town until the end of Jan. But I finished the book last week.

I really liked it. It's a male book. The women don't seem to have much place in Richard Yates world, except as dreamers, mothers, sexual partners, bitches, nags, etc. But the men are struggling to fit into the mythos of Eisenhower America. These men were in a war, fighting for an ideal of freedom and democracy. Then they return to a country where freedom seems to mean everyone consumes, difference is negated and hidden away, and to not want the approval and approbation of your friends, neighbors, parents, is insane. Truly insane.

Granted, we have the hindsight of history on our side as we read this. I have to wonder what housewives reading this in 1961 thought. Did they realize their husbands felt just as trapped as they did? Were they horrified by the consequences of stepping outside the norm? Did it stir revolution or did it further silence it?

Every review of the film says Kate Winslet owns the movie. April is so muffled a voice in the book, I'm intrigued by how she gives weight and dimension to the character. I guess I'll just have to wait.

[Nancy]

My thoughts, exactly, kc. The only time the POV shifts to April in the book is that last section at the end that I won't mention in anti-spoiler mode. I don't think Yates particularly liked women.

This is one damned bleak book.