“This was a difficult book for me to complete. I wanted to quit many times, and at the end, I'm rather sorry I wasted my time. I lived through the 50's and I could relate to nothing in the book. Yates may be brilliant as a writer but this book didn't do it for me.”
“This book is a sad commentary on the "boom" years after the war. Hopefully a few persons managed to have the initiative and drive to accomplish their hopes and dreams. These two characters were selfish bores and I disliked them, which of course is reflected in my review of the book. ”
“I read it from a feminist point of view and was fascinated by these feminine characters. They are a the real portrait of women of the 50's. The secret lives of the Stepford Wives.”
“The shallowness of American intelligentsia, absolutely.... And maybe as a corollary to that came the dynamics of all the marriages that I found so fascinating. What we expect out of our mates in terms of acceptance and growth (or lack of), how we mask ourselves with the personas of we want to be in courtship and how it really hits the fan when we can't sustain the charade over the course of a marriage. I was also really interested in the husband/wife roles- as a child in the 70's and 80's the Wheelers were nowhere in *my* neighborhood! ”
“I really think this book is about the crushing banality of suburban life - a couple living a life they never really wanted. It was set in the 50's but it might as well have been 2009.”
“Read it before you see the movie...I haven't seen the movie, but I seriously think the book is too complex not to.”
“i loved the fact that it made me want to a scalding hot shower to remove the yucky feeling knowing full well that the hot water would do nothing to cleanse the real gritty stuff that was lodged deep below my skin and that the only chance i had was to brush my teeth with clorox and cross my fingers.”
“I loved the language used in this book - so period-specific that I felt like I was actually in the 50s with them. What things did other people like/hate about this book?”
