Reviews with content warning for Alcohol - Revolutionary Road

Reading a book set during the 50s written in 1961 can still cause me to reflect on my own life in 2024. I was impressed not only with the themes of the fallacy of the American dream, but even more so with the rawness and specificity of the American marriage, this almost pitiful view that Yates portrays of marriage being lonely, sad, unfullfilling. He writes Frank Wheeler so well, as this man you can completely agree would exist in real life, who thinks so highly of himself yet is deeply emotional and insecure. It’s such modern writing for its time. Yates shows that we are too hungry for the peace and certainty of the suburban nuclear family (however fake it is) that we will abandon the most truthful parts of ourselves to attain it, but we can also expect to remain restless and unsatisfied in any circumstance. A truly harrowing read. I’m awestruck.

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dark emotional sad tense medium-paced

Plot- or character-driven? Character
Strong character development? Yes
Loveable characters? It's complicated
Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

5.0

This book made me feel physically sick. Just writing this makes me feel anxious and makes me shake. When I finished it all I wanted to do was to cry, but I couldn’t I just sat there, shaking and feeling nauseous. If you compare the movie to the book, the movie was literally a children’s movie in comparison to the book. The book was so well written and was really immersive. I loved seeing Frank’s thoughts and emotions behind the scenes I had seen in the movie, though I would have loved to have seen April’s point of view as well. Frank was an even bigger asshole than he was in the movie and I felt for April even more. Watching their relationship fall apart with each page was so unnerving (the plan to move to Paris being way less prominent than it was in the movie) and the ending broke my heart into a million pieces. I knew what was coming, but I spent so much time with the characters, especially April and to read what happened to her honestly hurt so bad. It was also so much more descriptive and the aftermath was described so much more vividly, exasperating the pain I felt. By the end all I wanted to do was to scream and cry and punch a wall. I have so many emotions inside of me right now I can’t even put it into words.

Content Warnings