#22: Revolutionary Road

Revolutionary Road is a book that took me three weeks to read, which for me is an eternity. I was interested in the idea of the plot and wanted to like it, but it just did not compel me, leading me to stop in the middle and read more enjoyable books before picking it up again. I will say that it was thought-provoking.

Revolutionary Road is the story of a young couple who lives in an outer suburb of New York on the namesake road. Frank and April Wheeler are about 30 years old, and are raising their two young children. They had big plans for exciting lives, but when April became pregnant with their first child, they had to settle down. Frank works at a company that once employed his father, basically spending his days avoiding doing actual work, while April stays at home with the kids. The two of them socialize with friends, but find themselves very bored with their lives.

Eventually they come to the decision that they need to make a change. April suggests that they move to Paris. She will take secretarial work while Frank finds himself. They begin telling their friends and coworkers about their grand plan, but then April gets pregnant again, and it falls through. Meanwhile, Frank attracts the attention of a superior at work when his halfhearted effort to cover up for work he was supposed to have done a long time before is positively received, leading to a promotion. Frank also begins an affair with a secretary from his office, while April commences an affair of her own.

At home, Frank and April argue frequently about the pregnancy. April wants to have an abortion, while Frank wants her to have the baby, although he can't really explain why. This leads to the final climax, which I am not going to give away, but that I found very predictable.

The main reason why I did not enjoy Revolutionary Road was that I detested both of the main characters. Frank and April seemed to spend the entire novel by trying to each be more pretentious than the other and together be more pretentious than other couples in the town. Since I found them so utterly unlikeable, I didn't really care what happened to either of them. On the positive side though, the book was well-written, with good description of the setting and the characters' emotions as they made complex decisions. While this was not one of my favorites, I can see that it would be well-received by some people.

Rating: ***