Welcome to the Bloggy Book Club, where we shall read to our heart's content.



Scroll down the blog for this month's discussion questions. Read the book and comment on the blog. And have fun!!!

Sunday, April 12, 2009

February: Revolutionary Road (Richard Yates)

Feel free to share your general thoughts and opinions on the book - the plot, the characters, the style of writing, the setting, whatever strikes you. Also, you're invited to reference any scenes or passages you found memorable (for whatever reason).

If you'd prefer to answer questions rather than write freestyle, here are some:

1. Did you like the book? Why or why not?
2. Would you read it again or recommend it to a friend?
3. Who was your favorite character, and why?
4. Did it make you think? What about?
5. Did it make you happy or sad, afraid or hopeful...what did it make you feel, was there an overall impression when you finished it?

9 comments:

Rissalee said...

Okay, this book was a doozy. I heard the movie was too - haven't seen it yet, but it would make sense that it was a doozy if it resembles the book AT ALL. I still plan to see it - eventually - (even though I know how it ends), just because the two stars are such good actors (IMO) and because I want to see how the emotion and information of the book can be conveyed without the use of internal dialogue (the way an author lets the reader know what a character is thinking/feeling without him or her ever saying it outloud). I think if anyone can pull it off, Kate and Leo can, and well.

For this book, I'm just going to post some lines from the book that impacted me. I'm not going to explain why they did, but if you want to know, you can certainly ask. It's not a secret - well, maybe some are! :o) - but it would just take too much time to list them all AND explain them.

p6 Long after the time had come for what the director called "really getting this thing off the ground; really making it happen," it remained static, shapeless, inhumanly heavy weight; time and again they read the promise of failure in each other's eyes, in the apologetic nods and smiles of their parting and the spastic haste with which they broke for their cars and drove home to whatever older, less explicit promises of failure might lie in wait for them there...

p8 Sometimes I feel as if I were sparkling all over...

p13 Nowhere in these plans had he forseen the weight and shock of reality; nothing had warned him that he might be overwhelmed by the swaying, shining vision of a girl he hadn't seen in years, a girl whose every glance and gesture could make his throat fill up with longing ("Wouldn't you like to be loved by me?"), and that then before his very eyes she would dissolve and change into the graceless, suffering creature who existence he tried every day of his life to deny but whom he knew as well and as painfully as he knew himself, a gaunt constricted woman who red eyes flashed reproach, whose false smile in the curtain call was as homely as his own sore feet, his own damp climbing underwear, and his own sour smell. (OUCH! But isn't it so well-written that you can feel the angst?? Even if you've never felt it, you can feel it.)

Okay this is going to take WAY too long, I'm only on page 21, people! So, I'm not going to quote entire passages. Page numbers and teasers, that's all you get! :o)

p21 It simply wasn't worth feeling bad about...The important thing, always, was to remember who you were.

The whole scene and description from 21-25.

38 even today he could never breathe the yellow smell of sawdust without a sense of humiliation.

49 the whole "you don't 'love' people when they're 'nice'" story

53 how Frank realizes he didn't even want a baby...

59 Frank sinking helplessly into the cushions and the papers and the bodies of his children like a man in quicksand...

70-71 scene

186

195

198-201 (Mrs. Givings made me laugh. Her son made me think. Strange how it makes you feel when the crazy man makes sense to you...and you to him!!!)

232

256 "Knowing what you've got, comma," said the living human voice in the playback of the Dictaphone, "knowing what you need, comma, knowing what you can do without, dash. That's inventory control."

349 The whole point of crying was to quit before you cornied it up. The whole point of grief itself was to cut it out while it was still honest, while it still meant something. Because the thing was so easily corrupted...

Rissalee said...

fthluvhope said...
I just finished Part 1 of Revolutionary Road. When it comes to affairs, why does it always seem like the other person realizes and tries to compensate too late? Maybe this is the essence of "agnorisis" (a greek drama concept when knowledge comes to late leading to tragedy). April's realization of making life "better" for her husband comes after his affair with Maureen.

I was bothered and saddened by the whole way the affair with Maureen developed... it gives an insider view of how his premeditated act was accomplished. And I think the reason why it bothers me so much is because this is so prevalent in our society.

A part that made me angry was toward the end of Part 1, when April is proposing the England plan. She is so quick to selflessly give Frank his seven years to "find himself." However, she does admit that "she is not being sweet! I'm not making any big altruistic sacrifice." I think this may be a bit of foreshadowing in that April is discontent with her "homemaker" lifestyle.

A part I found moving is how April can pinpoint the precise moment everything started falling apart: "It was back on Bethune Street ... when I first got pregnant with Jennifer and told you I was going to-- you know abort it, abort her. ... If only you'd given me what I deserved ... That's how we both got committed to this enormous, obscene delusion-- this idea that people have to resign from real life and 'settle down' when they have families. It's the great sentimental lie of the suburbs." They have alluded to their lifestyle before and not wanting to be like the Campbells, etc. However, if Frank's "essence" is being stifled in the suburbs, I don't see how moving to England is going to make it any better. They will still have family responsibilties.

A line that I enjoyed is in the same conversation. April says: "Don't you know? You're the most valuable and wonderful thing in the world. You're a man." To that his pride is restored and he realizes his vulnerability because of the tender and strong woman next to him. I think this passage shows the effects that respect and pride can do to a man. Frank now feels as though he can take on the world... and I think this is exactly what April wanted from him. To do enough to be able to change their world.

So far, the book is a bit depressing and it sits on my heart as a story true of many people. Therefore it is hard to view it as fiction, per se. I sense the reality of it and knowing that the movie is out, I hope it awakens marriages before they become so "stifled."

February 8, 2009 11:44 AM
fthluvhope said...
*Note: I am reading on my Kindle, so I am not able to give page number references... I hope I prefaced my quotes enough so that you can find their general area.

Rissalee said...

fthluvhope said...

1. What made you laugh/cry/think?

I think one of the hardest parts of this movie is that it is so reflective of real, mundane life. I can cry at the normalcy of all of it, or so it seems. I am still thinking about the cause/effect relationship between decisions. How would thinks have turned out differently if from the very beginning, pregnancy #1, April had her way (not that I condone abortions). Life takes you in a certain direction, and it is obvious this was not her chosen path. I am also still thinking about whether or not she really was “crazy” as it was often alluded to. Though “illness” is often a feminist portrayal. I also still wonder if she planned on killing herself in the process… and why she put the number to the hospital next to the phone. Did she go as long as she could before she dialed for help? Why would she want help if she planned on killing herself?

2. Lines you loved/hated/didn't understand?

3. Characters or scenes you identified with?

4. Something you disagreed with/embraced?

Well, I completely disagree with April’s independent way of dealing with her pregnancy. However, the couple was at an impasse in their ability to come up with a solution after talking it over.

5a. Were you satisfied with the book's ending?

Of course not. Especially about how Frank’s life seemed to normally go on… that led me to think that even a great tragedy does not affect the mundane.

5b. Who was your favorite character and why?

Not so much my favorite, but I wish John’s (the realator’s son?) character was more developed. I think he had powerful insight for being crazy and I wish there could have been a bit more emphasis on his perspective and purpose in the story.

5c. Would you read this book again? Why or why not?

Too depressing for me! I don’t think I could…

5d. Do you have any final thoughts on this book?

One word. Tragic. However, when April was being overly nice to Frank the morning of her death, there was enough foreshadowing to infer what was going to happen. I was a bit relieved that he at least left her with a positive “goodbye.” I feel bad that some people do not have that opportunity. That is one fear of mine… not knowing it was my last time with a person and I did not cherish that moment to the best of ability. I hope this book is a warning to all as to how life can “suck the marrow” out of you.

5e. And, most importantly, are you up for movie night at the end of the month to have fun and watch the movie version of Revolutionary Road?

I will probably rent the movie when it comes out. But I don’t think I want to be in a public movie theater during this intimate story.

(first posted March 1, 2009 9:26 PM)

Rissalee said...

FTH's comments are quite insightful and have given me food for thought. This book really impacted me in several ways but I wanted to keep spolier comments to myself for a while, giving other members time to read at their pace. Now that it's April already and this was Feb's book, I think I'm safe to share. But having read over FTH's two posts (THANK YOU!) I'm going to ponder my orignal thinking in light of her thoughts and then post a comment about about the book in general and in response to some of her points in particular. Thanks, Lara, for provoking me. Fun! Fun!

Rissalee said...

Something FTH said gave me pause. FTH, you wrote, "When it comes to affairs, why does it always seem like the other person realizes and tries to compensate too late? ... April's realization of making life "better" for her husband comes after his affair with Maureen." I was hoping you could elaborate on your meaning a little bit? Because it seems that you might be implying that if only April had "realized" sooner and "made things better" that Frank wouldn't have slept with Maureen. I think Frank slept with Maureen because of his own issues. April had her own stuff to be sure, but I don't think she was the cause of Frank's affair. I wonder if she could have done anything to prevent it. (Just as I wonder if Frank could have done anything to prevent April's eventual act.)

FTH: You make so many good points and ask so many good questions! One is this: "However, if Frank's 'essence' is being stifled in the suburbs, I don't see how moving to England is going to make it any better. They will still have family responsibilties." Thought: Unless the suburbs themselves are stifling Frank's essence and England itself will unstifle him, you are correct in questioning whether a move will alleviate his suffering. If it's the family responsibilities that are stifling him, a move won't help him either. But I think the stifling of Frank's essence is a valid and important issue. Perhaps if Frank's essence was NOT being stifled, the carrying out of familial responsibilites would be bearable, and he could live anywhere? I think Frank and April were onto something with this "stifling of essence" aspect, but instead of doing the work that needed to be done, they decided that a change in location would provide their answer. At the rate they were going, Frank and April Wheeler weren't going to be happy anywhere. Although, I think I'd rather be miserable in England than in the suburbs! :o) (This book is SO depressing...just trying to lighten the mood!)

There are so many sad things about this story...one, is that it offers little hope. The book is full of realistic conversations and conflict, but if we believe the book's message, then we walk away with little hope for real life. We see Frank struggling (on his own and in the marriage), and we see April struggling as well (the other characters are also shown in their struggles), but even after all their efforts, there are no happy endings. Not for April, Frank, the children...only Mr. Givens ends happy - and only because he turns off his hearing aid! :o) Also, the book is a sad commentary on marriage & family in general - that it is stifling and depressing and robs you of your dreams, youth, and will to live. There are no characters who "get it right" and "do it well," which, again, is depressing for the reader and offers little hope for a satisfying alternative (except perhaps to stay single and end up in the insane asylum!). The book is set decades ago, when women's choices were limited in many ways, which plays into the plot: April's restrictions and subsequent feelings about her options, her admiration of Frank's "being a man," and her "forced" motherhood/housewife role, but I think the same themes still apply today, even post women's-lib/feminist movement. IMO, these themes are part of the human condition. Therefore, while I don't necessarily condone April's actions OR Frank's, I can certainly understand them. It's interesting to me that God didn't have an active role in this story. I wonder if this book could be the "fiction novel" version of the "philsophical treatise" found in the Book of Ecclesiastes. Like Yates was given the assignment: Read Ecclesiastes and then tell it as a story. Both are full of futility, wasted life, longing, confusion, and both are bloody depressing! Just a thought...

I, too, wonder if April meant to kill herself - maybe she did what she did so the baby would die but she would be saved. Maybe she thought that the baby's death would be her salvation. Regardless, it made me wonder how sad a woman has to be to think that dying is her only/best option. And I thought John's character was akin to the one-eyed man being king in the land of the blind. I will see the movie - but not any time soon. The book made me cry enough to last me a while.

Rissalee said...

One last thought...ever hear the song "Slip-sliding Away"?

Unknown said...

Rissalee: Thanks for continuing the conversation and for re-posting my thoughts... lol, I now know what you were doing and why you asked my permission! ;) I realized that I slipped and said "movie" instead of book. In fact, I have yet to see the movie-version of this book. I suppose I was first aware of the book due to the movie's release. Any thoughts on the movie version if anyone has seen it?

As it pertains to clarifying my statement on affairs, I was simply thinking about the essence of tragedy (and I would describe this book as tragic). The change in April's attitude came too late for their relationship-- it was already destroyed. I don't think it was April's fault, but seeing her change after it was "too late" was bittersweet.

And I agree with you that "a change of scenery" would not have changed their discontentment. I think many people try this solution but realize it is not the real issue. There are many "coping mechanisms," and maybe the move was theirs. It at least distracted and detoured their misery a bit.

And yes, I feel this book was hopeless... and indeed as you said, "a sad commentary" of what marriage and life is like for most people. We do need a story of hope and redemption. And that would be best place for God to enter into th story. That would have made the book more worthy to me-- redemption and salvation in the end! Good notes on Ecclessiastes. I will need to refamiliarize myself with that part of the Bible in order to ponder deeply. Thanks for sharing! :)

Rissalee said...

FTH: A group of us local members are planning to get together this month for Pettigrew and Revolutionary Road...I'll ask them all to post their movie thoughts after we watch...

Rissalee said...

FTH: Did your local group ever watch Pettigrew or Rev Road? Would be interested to know their thoughts.

And for anyone else who has seen the movie but not read the book...we would still like to know YOUR thoughts too. Post! Post!