Books

Recommendation: REVOLUTIONARY ROAD by RICHARD YATES

My fourth grade teacher, Mrs. Matulia, was a literature nut. Especially for being a fourth grade teacher. She was crazy fun and loved to tell stories about her sons, which naturally would bore a class of ten-year olds to death but the fact that her eldest, Matt, was in our grade and just one room over, left us all salivating for any juicy tidbits she could throw our way.

Now, I bring up Mrs. Matulia for a reason. One Friday, we were talking about a movie that was coming out that weekend and how everyone in class was DESPERATE to see it (I can’t be sure exactly what film it was, but something  tells me it was Jurassic Park) and Mrs. Matulia told us that Matt was not allowed to see it. An eerie silence took over the room, followed by quick whispers of “Matt cant see the movie? Oh my god, Matt cant see the movie. I have to tell Susie.” (Susie, age 10, “girlfriend” of Matt for 3 days) . Finally, we were told that neither Matt nor his brother were allowed to see any movie versions before they read the book.  Books were always better, she said. I remember being floored at this insanity. And how was Matt going to read the book before the weekend was over?

Needless to say, Matt didn’t see the film by Monday.

The idea that books are always better was pretty hard to believe when I was ten, but 15 years later I now know it to be cold hard fact.

So, when Sam Mendes’ take on Revolutionary Road came out this Winter, I knew what I had to do. Rush to the theatre to see the film version and ignore all rules set forth by my fourth grade teacher. Come on! It’s Sam Mendes and Kate and Leo reunited.

But after countless failed attempts to get a ticket due to late nights at work, friends and family visits, I finally realized that 4th grade lessons were still able to bite me in the bum. So, I buckled and bought the book.  Less than a week later, here I am recommending it.

Revolutionary Road is a fantastic character study of a young couple living through the hell that was America’s suburbia in the 1950s. Frank and April Wheeler are a bright, young, talented and handsome couple with two kids and a yard. They live their lives under the illusion that the discovery of their own greatness is right around the corner of their menial existence.

Richard Yates has composed a symphony of how these characters sell their dreams and “betray not only each other but their best selves.”  Each scene seems to flow together in a melodic rhythm creating what Kurt Vonnegut calls “the Great Gatsby of my time.” Tennessee Williams even said of the novel, “here is more than fine writing; here is what added to fine writing, makes a book come immediately, intensely, and brilliantly alive.”

So, Mrs. Matulia strikes again. The book is a fantastic read, a classic. And now that I have read it, I can speedily go buy that ticket for $12.0o and go support Mr. Mendes, his wife and Mr. DiCaprio (who even without seeing the film, I believe were robbed by the Oscars… but thats another story).