Revolutionary Road

We went and saw Revolutionary Road in the movie theatre shortly after it's release and before the Academy Awards. I can't say I particularly loved the movie, but I did enjoy the look of the movie which was set in 1955 suburbia and the story. I didn't really buy into the Winslet-DiCaprio marriage, but John, a friend's psychotic son, saves the movie by being all-around crazy and intense.

So after reading A Good School, I decided to get another of Yates' books Revolutionary Road. As usual, the transfer from page to screen left a lot out. The book is a much more in-depth look into the lives of suburban couples, and not just the April-Frank relationship but also the relationships of the people around them.

It is a depressing book. Everyone is unhappy and dissatisfied with their lives. Though Frank and April are not happy together at the beginning of the novel, Frank acts out like a child and is selfish and stubborn. He snaps at his children, slacks off at work, berates his wife, and sleeps with a young, impressionable woman from work. On his 30th birthday, after coming home late from work because he was schtupping the girl from work again, April surprises him, acknowledges that she has been unbearable to him lately, and tells him about her plan to sell everything in America and move the family to Paris where she would support them financially while Frank figured out what he really wanted to do with his life.

Many of the other couples around them think they are crazy for planning to leave their normal, every-day, American life behind- except John, the crazy guy. Then, April finds out that she's pregnant. This new situation that the couple finds themselves in open up a lot of baggage for the couple because the option of abortion has come up numerous times in the past.