Review: Revolutionary Road by Richard Yates

• Mass Market Paperback: 480 pages
• Publisher: Vintage; Reissue edition (December 30, 2008)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0307454789
• ISBN-13: 978-0307454782
• Source: bought my own copy
  

Richard Yates is one of my discoveries this year, and Revolutionary Road is hitting the top five of my favorite reads in 2009. I finished the book two weeks ago and deliberately procrastinated with the review because I intended to participate in Sasha's Richard Yates Reading Challenge 2010. Unfortunately, I'm not participating--but since R.R. is the first on the list to be read in January, I decided to tag along and review it now.

Words fail me to write a decent review. I simply don't know where to start. Besides, what can I say that hadn't been said before? Reading about Frank's and April's quarrels and occasional physical fights felt like peeping through your neighbor's window. You want to turn your head, but you are compelled to watch and listen to their mutual accusations and insults. Both of them feel they don't live the lives they hoped for when they were young and free. But whose fault is it? It's not about betraying each other, but about betraying the people they thought they were. To quote from the book cover--they live their lives constantly on the assumption that greatness is around the corner.

 I saw a whole other future. I can't stop seeing it.(April Wheeler)

When they grow tired of waiting, tired of each other, escaping to France seems like a perfect way to start over. An unplanned pregnancy disrupts the plan terminally. And as you wait to find out if they are leaving or not, you miss to see the hopelessness of their plan, and the vigor with which they cling to it doesn't allow you to accept any other possibility.

Hopeless emptiness. Now you've said it. Plenty of people are onto the emptiness, but it takes real guts to see the hopelessness. (J. Givings)

The end was so unpredictable that I found myself yelling at the book. Believe me, it was there all the time. But it just bowls you over when it actually happens.

It wasn't supposed to be like this.

Revolutionary Road is brutally honest and unbelievably realistic, but at the same time so easy to read. Yates presents a terribly painful story in a very simple, straightforward way. His writing is superb. Though set in the 50's, Revolutionary Road applies to every marriage I know--including my own. Emptiness, failed expectations and crushed dreams always hurt the same.

This could have so easily been me.

TSS I'm dreaming of...

...a white Christmas, of course, and a lot of good books under my tree! Christmas is just around the corner, and I finished my shopping just in time to avoid the frenzy. As always, I'm buying books for my family. It was easy this year since they finally spoke up and expressed their wishes so I didn't have to guess and hope they'd like it. As for my friends...I'm so excited about this! Starting with next weekend, they will be arriving one by one. The six of us best friends study in four different towns. On the 19th, a legendary rock-band from our hometown is having a concert back home. I'm buying tickets for my friends, and I can't wait for us to get together for the god old times. We'll be playing numerous parties of pool and sip beer since we're not so much into clubs and catch up for everything we missed since July.

Today is St. Nicholas day, a prelude to Christmas for kids. There are several legends about this saint. According to one of them, a bishop in the 14th century has helped three poor girls who couldn't get married because they didn't have a dowry, so he left money in their shoes while they were sleeping. Hence the tradition that children polish their shoes and put them in the windows. If they were good, the get presents. He is also the protector of seamen and children. I didn't put my shoes in the window, but St. Nicholas still thought of me. I love you, mom, for telling him which shirt I was wishing for! This was the first year my Little Hobbit could enjoy this. He got himself a whole new set of tractors and other farming tools, and of course, lots of Ben 10 figures...

It's that time of the year when everyone is signing up for new contests and recapitulating old ones. I still have one or two books to finish for the Fall Into Reading challenge, and The Global Classic challenge runs until June, so there's plenty of time to read the remaining four books. There are so many great challenges around the blogosphere, but I'll have to keep it simple. I have lots of books that just need to be read if I plan to major in English Literature (the list, for now, has some 200 books). I found the Richard Yates Reading Challenge at Sasha's blog. Since three out of ten required books are on the list, it's not much of a sacrifice.My official post is coming on Tuesday.

This was a very bad reading week for me. I read some Poe and started Revolutionary Road. I have so much to do for college and can't steal any more time than I already do. I did the review for Cleopatra's Daughter. I loved the book so much. Right now, there are seven books on my night stand;three for my bachelor's dissertation (Herta Mueller, who won the Nobel for literature this year) and few other for literature classes. In fact, I'm writing this instead of studying for a Word Formation revision test.

I'm preparing some author interviews in the next few weeks so stay tuned!

Now I'm really off to do some serious work. I wish everyone a nice Sunday (mine has only few hours left) and an interesting week!