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Liked It3 of 3 members found this review helpful “Uncompromisingly brutal. Yates incisively dissects the shallowness behind the American intelligentsia class; rebellion for the sake of rebellion never felt so empty and self-delluding. And yet you want these characters to find their own paths because one sees oneself in them, even as they make...” see full review » see other reviews » |
Didn’t Like It “I actually want to give this 2 1/2 stars. 2 is "I didn't like it" and 3 is "I liked it", and I am more conflicted than that. |
Newest Reviews
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“This cult favorite is a really breathtaking insight into the life of the American Family, their struggles to both break the status quo and to fit within it. A young couple, their grandiose plans of living in France together wrenched from their grasp, start a family and begin their menial cubicle career and life as a homemaker, respectively. They both despise the Typical Family and epitomize it. They slowly watch themselves become what they've always fought against and resented in others: normal. Average. Boring. Only an act of desperation will be enough to make them different from everyone else. ”
Meghan B wrote this review yesterday. ( reply | permalink ) Was this review helpful? Yes | No“I actually want to give this 2 1/2 stars. 2 is "I didn't like it" and 3 is "I liked it", and I am more conflicted than that.
RoxyAlexander wrote this review 2 days ago. ( reply | permalink ) Was this review helpful? Yes | No
It's well written, for sure. It's just...convoluted. A bit of a chore franklly, and almost deadly repetative. I feel like half of it could have been trimmed without effecting the understanding of the depth of the characters or situations. And honestly, it wasn't terrifically interesting. I do NOT understand the term "Masterpiece" splashed loudly all over the cover.
If this had been part of a short story anthology, it would have moved me more. By the time it ended, I just didn't care anymore! Will be donating my copy. ”
“Revolutionary Road really captures that feeling of what's next after you get married, have children, and have the "perfect" life out in the suburbs. Set in the 1950s, Frank and April Wheeler have created, to the outside eye, their perfect life. They have everything they could want...or do they? Yates soars in his realistic depiction of the Wheelers existential what-does-life-REALLY-mean crisis. This book is sad, haunting, and will stick with you long after put it down.”
Danielle R wrote this review 6 days ago. ( reply | permalink ) Was this review helpful? Yes | No
“Book vs. movie: Movie”
Stephanie B wrote this review 3 weeks ago. ( reply | permalink ) Was this review helpful? Yes | No
“What an incredibly slow, boring, depressing book. Not sad, nothing that would make me cry. Just this weird, life has no meaning, depressing atmosphere. I was relieved when April finally died and the book came to an end. I'm completely flummoxed by the book's popularity.
CMeyrink wrote this review 3 weeks ago. ( reply | permalink ) Was this review helpful? Yes | No
Amazon.com Review
The rediscovery and rejuvenation of Richard Yates's 1961 novel Revolutionary Road is due in large part to its continuing emotional and moral resonance for an early 21st-century readership. April and Frank Wheeler are a young, ostensibly thriving couple living with their two children in a prosperous Connecticut suburb in the mid-1950s. However, like the characters in John Updike's similarly themed Couples, the self-assured exterior masks a creeping frustration at their inability to feel fulfilled in their relationships or careers. Frank is mired in a well-paying but boring office job and April is a housewife still mourning the demise of her hoped-for acting career. Determined to identify themselves as superior to the mediocre sprawl of suburbanites who surround them, they decide to move to France where they will be better able to develop their true artistic sensibilities, free of the consumerist demands of capitalist America. As their relationship deteriorates into an endless cycle of squabbling, jealousy and recriminations, their trip and their dreams of self-fulfillment are thrown into jeopardy.
Yates's incisive, moving, and often very funny prose weaves a tale that is at once a fascinating period piece and a prescient anticipation of the way we live now. Many of the cultural motifs seem quaintly dated--the early-evening cocktails, Frank's illicit lunch breaks with his secretary, the way Frank isn't averse to knocking April around when she speaks out of turn--and yet the quiet desperation at thwarted dreams reverberates as much now as it did years ago. Like F. Scott Fitzgerald's The Great Gatsby, this novel conveys, with brilliant erudition, the exacting cost of chasing the American dream”“The characters are sad and disgusting at times, but I never lost sympathy for them. The best part is the language. This book is just beautifully written.”
Kristine D wrote this review 4 weeks ago. ( reply | permalink ) Was this review helpful? Yes | No
“A good companion piece to _What Happened to Anna K_, . another tragedy of bright people who can't reconcile their imagined, culturally superior and significant selves to the banality of real life. By turns hilarious, but ultimately painful, the story of April and Frank Wheeler is a scathing portrait of 1950s suburbia that still rings uncomfortably true.”
Lesley W wrote this review Monday, November 16 2009. ( reply | permalink ) Was this review helpful? Yes | No“good but i found the characters somewhat frustrating at times for being so unable to see and correct their own flaws. reminded me a bit of F. Scott Fitzgerald,”
Natalie Y wrote this review Sunday, November 15 2009. ( reply | permalink ) Was this review helpful? Yes | No
“Depressing. Personally I did not find many redeeming qualities in this book.”
Jennifer S wrote this review Thursday, November 12 2009. ( reply | permalink ) Was this review helpful? Yes | No
“Better than the movie. More insight into the characters.”
Veronica S wrote this review Wednesday, November 11 2009. ( reply | permalink ) Was this review helpful? Yes | No
