It's funny that reading Revolutionary Road and Palace Walk (a Nobel prize winning book) should feel like goofing off but it does. I'm a bit busy lately so my reading has slowed as well, oh well. I'm sure my dozen or so regulars will forgive me.Revolutionary Road, published in 1961, is about two grown up versions of Holden Caulfield. Everybody's a big fat phony which is ironic. I wouldn't call this a portrait of a marriage, and I'd be wary of anyone who did. It is a portrait of a certain kind of marriage. A dishonest one. We never really see the true April or Frank Wheeler, we see them occasionally peeking at us from behind their masks. They are both to chicken to come out. What are they afraid off? Mediocrity. They cannot forgive it in others, each other, and especially in themselves.
It can be very difficult to read a book about people you don't especially like unless it is well written, and this is, though I didn't dislike them and it wasn't until the very end that I felt any judgment for their actions. I don't want to give anything away except to say that what finally made me frown and shake my head was when their selfishness affected their two children, Jenny and Micheal I believe.
It didn't seem like I was reading about two thirty year olds, I felt that they were extremely immature. Richard Yates also made sure he had the presence of all the female archtypes. Maureen is the whore, Mrs. Givings, the crone, Milly is the matron, and April the maiden. She is the untouchable one.
The meaning of the entire book appears within the first dozen pages when April participates in a play at the community theater. "The trouble was that from the very beginning they had been afraid they would end up making fools of themselves, and they had compounded that fear by being afraid to admit it." And so on, the whole thing is a foreshadowing and obviously so.
The final question, though, is if this book speaks of reality. Yes. Not mine but I've known a few April and Frank's. People who thrive on drama and cannot seem to stop their self destructive behavior. They tell you their plans and you hold your breath wondering how this is going to blow up and you hold their hand as they cry about things never even attempted, yet again. Annoying, lovable, fragile, April and Frank.
Revolutionary Road is, in the end, a quintessentially American novel, don't you think? Consider those scenes that evoke Frank's suited and faceless commute and his meaningless work, for example. Yates' descriptions evoke place and period perfectly. And then there is the (flawed) assertion that location (i.e., the United States) contributes to the couple's empty social and personal lives -- hence, the (unrealized) dream of a life in Paris. But we know that Frank and April are doomed no matter where they are because, well, their center cannot hold. (*wry grin*)
Like you, I think I know some Franks and Aprils, but I also think Yates' real genius was in knowing that even if readers don't *think* they are like his protagonists, there is, in fact, a bit of Frank and April inside all of us. We all don masks, even if it's but briefly; we're all guilty of a bit of self-deception; we've all supposed that "there" is better than "here" and that we are certainly better than they. In short, we have all been selfish, self-deluded, and/or self-absorbed. Fortunately, most of us outgrow it, though, right?
It's been said that what we loathe most in others we have seen in ourselves, and there is no question that Frank and April elicit feelings of loathing, dread, disdain, and more in us. But they deserve our readerly compassion, I think, because if we dislike them, it is probably because we recognize them.
Have you seen the movie? I haven't. It's a little hard to imagine all of that pain made into images. On the other hand, I am a fan of both DiCaprio and Winslet. I think it's a movie that will be best seen on a sunny afternoon, you know what I mean?
This M-mv may interest you, by the way:
http://mentalmultivitamin.blogspot.com/2008/11/opposite-of-some-kind-of-pre-digested.html
Best regards.
MFS
Oh, yes I meant to say that, the naivete of their hopes for Europe. As if it would be any different.
I do agree we all don masks at times, and most people are incapable of truly 'seeing' themselves. I suppose that is why I found them so immature, it is one thing to try on masks in your teens and twenties, especially around your boyfriend, but if you haven't outgrown it by your thirties and with your own spouse, well, there are issues aren't there?
I wouldn't say I felt such strong emotions as those, I'd say her final act created in me more of a dismissal. But as the daughter of a manic depressive mother a lot of my compassion for such self absorbed behavior has been used up.
I haven't seen the movie. I read it in part to watch the movie. I smiled a bit over the descriptions, Frank has a plain but honest face that can look like anyone though it's also described as handsome, sounds like DiCaprio, and April is beautiful, graceful, and a bit thick, Winslet (though I love that about her-that she isn't a twig). I'm looking forward to watching it.
Thank you so so much for stopping by my humble blog. I am eagerly awaiting the new look!
An admiring fan,
Libby