Reviews

Revolutionary Road by Richard Yates

puzzlemoneky27's review against another edition

5.0

Revolutionary Road by Richard Yates follows the story of young couple Frank and April Wheeler as they attempt to struggle against the monotony of their lives in 1950’s American suburbia. Yates presents a marriage of miscommunications in the Wheelers household and a general sense of deception in suburbia. The couple’s attempt to remove themselves from the life they appear to despise begins a series of events and revelations that shed light on the delusions harbored, not only by the Wheelers, but their friends and neighbours.
Strikingly true in description and dialogue, Yates manufactures such real and multifaceted characters that it is hard not to relate and empathise with each of them in some way even if most are not readily likeable.
Revolutionary Road is not a light read. It is, instead, the kind of book that stays with you for days, with characters who possess an almost cruel ability to haunt your thoughts afterwards. Revolutionary Road is a masterfully written but painful book that is nothing short of bleak, however the beauty of the writing and the truth Yates manages to capture with his words create a novel to be appreciated and recommended to others.
One of my favourite books.

fabio10's review against another edition

challenging dark emotional reflective sad tense slow-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Character
• Strong character development? It's complicated
• Loveable characters? No
• Diverse cast of characters? No
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

4.75

mariahhanley's review against another edition

3.0

I didn't love it until the end, when I really loved it. The ending was a total surprise.

crankylibrarian's review against another edition

4.0

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.

dzulik's review against another edition

5.0

I´m speachless..I´ve just finished reading and I just want to start something else by Yates..right now.
I saw movie at first and I wasn´t impressed.Good movie with a good cast.
But here´s it again..that´s why we´re still reading book.
Because book can give us our own private impression about book,story, characters.
We lean on some more, because of our current personal situation and we feel
connection between us and characters... I could feel the desperation of those two, of their marriage,
hooked somewhere where they don´t want to be but have no idea where it can be better.

lorna1003's review against another edition

4.0

6 months later I have finally finished this book, and the ending made me cry.

rhiajean's review against another edition

3.0

This was a very good book. It was well written and kept my interest. However, it is a depressing story and at the end I didn't want to have anything to do with marraige or babies. If you remember the 50s, this book might have more meaning for you but I just couldn't relate to how they bowed to conformity. And I couldn't get over how incredibly selfish the two main characters were. Anyways, it was a really sad story but a really good book.

lillyjc's review against another edition

didn’t enjoy the male perspective,I felt that I would get the most out of it because of how I feel about the man 

zacofalltrades's review against another edition

medium-paced

• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

4.25

heim_weh's review against another edition

emotional sad slow-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Character
• Strong character development? Yes
• Loveable characters? No
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

4.0