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Seriously, this book is a dream come true for those who truly love to read. I won't even try to summarize the plot; you simply have to read it for yourself. I grabbed this book on impulse after trying (and failing) to watch the movie adaptation. The characterizations, the narrative, the dialogue - all breathtaking. It's a journey well worth taking. I started the DVD too late in the evening and just didn't get into it. The book had me enthralled from the first chapter and I devoured it over the course of 2 lazy and decadent days where I found myself almost completely lost in the life of 1950's suburbia.
Despite her good performance, the amateurish nature of the production (i.e. She decides to lift herself from her brooding depression and tell Frank that they should sell everything and move to France. Obligation. I think that Kate and Leo will bring April and Frank even more alive for me. There, she rationalizes, she will work at the Embassy and Frank can spend time really deciding what he wants to do for a living and be in this lifetime. forgetting lines, sounds offstage, director stepping in for lead actor, etc). April is a mother of two and a house maker, as were most in her day. April and Frank Wheeler have a marriage that is based on, what, exactly.
As Frank takes her home, April displays the first of her emotional breakdowns that separate her from him. Frank commutes to the city via the train every day to work for a company that his father once worked for. I'm not making sense, I'm sure. April lands herself the lead in a local community theatre production of The Petrified Forest.
Yet, like most parents whose choices are limited, he goes to work to collect that paycheck. Did they love one another in the way that a married couple should. I am a big fan of Kate Winslet's. Listen, the book isn't perfect and the story has considerable sadness to it, but it is a very good book despite all of that. and, yet not quite strong enough for a 9).
But, when the unexpected happens to them and dreams are once again shattered, events eclipse their renewed glimpse at happiness and closeness. For the genre Fiction: Drama, I'm giving Revolutionary Road an 8.5 out of 10 (not quite an eight. The ReviewRevolutionary Road is a story that brings forth the broken lives and deserted dreams of a "regular couple" living in the suburbs of America in mid-1950. With nothing to lose, Frank agrees. It is expertly and precisely written with outstanding character development. I'm not sure.This is the story of a young couple, Frank and April Wheeler, who move to "Suburbia" to live out the dream of the house, the kids, the yard, the neighbors. After all, on that very day, his 30th birthday, he had "hit his bottom" in both his career and marriage after sleeping with one of the secretaries from the office.Revolutionary Road is not only the name of the street they live on, but exactly what The Wheelers are on: a path of change. You find joy in yourself when they are in moments of closeness and you find yourself rooting for them throughout the book.On Sher's "Out of Ten Scale:"I am glad that I read the book before I see the movie.
Fear. I have posted a preview of the movie for y'all to see. It is after one such social evening that April apparently decides that a major life change is in order for them each to find true happiness in their world. You know The Wheelers, how they think and why they are broken inside without it being spelled out for you. It's how we deal with difficulty that defines our character and certainly Frank and April are not role models for dealing with disappointment.With Tennessee Williams being one of the "quoters" on the back cover, you know this book has some good substance to it. This book is a tragedy, but one that is easily related to. Through get-togethers with one another, the reader is led further into the minds of Frank and April.
Or, was it love. Frustrated and upset, April takes this "failure" too much to heart. I'm really looking forward to seeing it on the big screen. Duty. This book was first published in 1961 and was hailed to be a "modern American classic." Considering the date, this book was ahead of its time. Frank does try hard to build the bridge back to her heart and April shuts him out.The reader is introduced to their neighbors, who are their friends. He views the job as something much less than he ever wanted and has absolutely no passion for.
left quite a bit to be desired.
Such a concern means that the reader is looking for entertainment rather than the understanding that can come from engaging with serious literature. A book club I participated in had a very lively discussion of this book which encompassed social, cultural, and psychological trends of the Fifties: a debate about whether the Wheeler's fate was due to their own behavior or the social pressures of the times; the rhetorical device of irony and how that reflected the author's tone; a comparison of the book and the movie; the novel's many themes. We didn't discuss whether or not the characters were likable.
Avid readers--add this to your reading list. This is a rare, one-of-a-kind book that will surely make you stop and think. Revoluionary Road is a work of pure literary genius. The plot, characters, and settings are developed so thoroughly that readers will feel as if they have just stepped back through time.
The characters, though a bit shallow, do seem real, and this book had me thinking for days afterward. I had low expectations for this book, since the movie pretty much bombed, but found the subject matter to be suprisingly relevant, given that this was written in 1961.
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