Revolutionary Road by Richard Yates

Summary: Revolutionary Road is an emotionally charged look at the dysfunctional marriage of Frank and April Wheeler, two city-loving sophisticates now living unhappily in the suburbs with their two young children. "Unhappy" is a key word here and something needs to give, or their marriage will come apart. April comes up with an incredible plan to change their lives for the better (no spoilers here). Their relationship is energized with every step they take to put the new plan into place and they return to being the lovers they once were. But big plans rarely go smoothly in the best of worlds, and this isn't the best. As "stuff" happens, the Wheelers are emotionally challenged to their limits.

Yates is a master of emotional analysis and his insights into human nature are spot-on. He sets up characters and situations that speak to the reader as if to reveal the reader's hidden secrets. It can be that intimate. It is that real of a story.

Yates keeps the story open so that it never paints itself into a corner. At any given point there are a myriad of outcomes, and for me it was impossible to predict where the tale was headed. Even when I predicted a general direction, his story-telling skills were great enough to surprise me with the telling of it. I contrast this to Follett's, "The Pillars of the Earth, which was so transparent that I put it down after 80 pages. It's no fun out-guessing the author.

While it is cited as being one of the most depressing books in literature, what I got from Revolutionary Road was less a sense of depression than of nihilism. April and Frank's lives have little meaning. April was raised by a series of aunts and saw her parents only occasionally. She says repeated, "I don't know who I am". Frank was the "unwanted child" born to middle-aged parents who had already raised their family. He spends time in the mirror creating his image with clothes that are "just so". He practices making his jaw protrude as a way of projecting confidence. Neither of them is secure in their own self, and so they do not have the ease or emotional wisdom to connect with others.

Frank is the healthier of the two and he honestly tries to be a good husband to April. She is just not available. But it is the children of this marriage who are the true losers. If April and Frank are unable to deal with the world, they are even less capable of nurturing their children. And Yates makes you wonder if "what goes around comes around" will be the outcome for these kids.

That's all I'm saying about the plot. No spoilers in this review. I recommend Revolutionary Road to all serious readers of fiction for its insight into the American emotional makeup as well as for the historical insight into the beginnings of huge social changes that made up the 60s. (See my last post.) It is a powerful tale and a satisfying read.