Revolutionary Road

By: Richard Yates

Narrated by: Mark Bramhall

Length: 11 hrs and 24 mins

Publisher's summary

NATIONAL BOOK AWARD FINALIST • Frank and April Wheeler are a bright, beautiful, talented couple in the 1950s whose perfect suburban life is about to crumble in this "moving and absorbing story” (The Atlantic Monthly) from one of the most acclaimed writers of the twentieth century.

"The Great Gatsby of my time...one of the best books by a member of my generation." —Kurt Vonnegut, acclaimed author of Slaughterhouse-Five

Perhaps Frank and April Wheeler married too young and started a family too early. Maybe Frank's job is dull. And April never saw herself as a housewife. Yet they have always lived on the assumption that greatness is only just around the corner. But now that certainty is about to unravel. With heartbreaking compassion and remorseless clarity, Richard Yates shows how Frank and April mortgage their spiritual birthright, betraying not only each other, but their best selves.

In his introduction to this edition, novelist Richard Ford pays homage to the lasting influence and enduring power of Revolutionary Road.

©2000 Richard Yates (P)2008 Random House Audio

Critic reviews

“A powerful treatment of a characteristically American theme, which might be labeled ‘trapped.' ... A highly impressive performance. It is written with perception, force and awareness of complexity and ambiguity, and it tells a moving and absorbing story.” —The Atlantic Monthly

"The Great Gatsby of my time ... one of the best books by a member of my generation." —Kurt Vonnegut, acclaimed author of Slaughterhouse-Five

"Beautifully crafted ... a remarkable and deeply troubling book." —Michiko Kakutani, The New York Times

Horrible to listen to - I couldn't finish

What would have made Revolutionary Road better?

I hate saying this, because we are all supposed to be impressed by Yates, but the only way to get through the annoying yelling and whining in this story, is to make it into a movie with Leo Dicaprio and Kate Winslet. It's like listening to hours worth of your neighbors fighting. If you don't have enough stress in your life, then listen to this book. The narrators voice was also soooo boring... so when you are not listening to the bickering, you are just bored to death with the in between story. I just couldn't get through it... I decide that it was better to lose the money spent then to have to listen to one more minute.

Awful

This was an agonizing book. Despite the characters troubles, you sympathize little with them because of their constant nagging and self congratulatory nature.

Shocked

I chose this book because I had heard how realistic it was. To be quite frank, if this is a 'realistic' look at any couples life, I truly feel sorry for them. Rather I feel the author uses Frank and April to represent and sum up the time at which they were together. This book is very deep and should not be taken for face value. Not a top choice for a light read.

The author does do a great job of capturing the times though. The way he describes the roles of men versus women and the struggle for them to coexist. I feel that this couple was caught in a downward spiral, each fueled by the other towards their demise.

The plot was rather boring at times, especially in the first part. To be honest, I listened to part one, then didn't pick up part two until several months later because I was so bored and disinterested. However, part two has it's fair share of humor and depth. There were times where I was disgusted, especially with each of their behaviors and choices; however, they were also trapped in the society they were living in.

I'm sure there's obviously people who would love this type of book, but I'm not one of them. A literary professors dream.

Too sad commentary on life

Good narration and literature and story line is neat for what it intends. However I would like to think there is more to most people's lives than this store would like us to understand. The story was not entertaining and for me not enjoyable nor thought provoking. Just sad.

Oh no, how boring

I found this book very depressing and booring. This might be first one I won't finnish. I haven't seen the film, but based on advertisement I expected to be more interesting.

Don't have razor blades nearby...

or be depressed when you listen. Not a bright spot in the book.

The reader was okay, but it sounds really strange for a man with a fairly deep voice speaking in a little girl's voice.

"A painful listen"

This book was very difficult to listen to, both due to its dire characters and circumstances as well as a very slow plot encumbered by excessive amounts of background information throughout. For me, this was a literature "assignment" as opposed to a thought-provoking novel; I did not enjoy it and would not recommend it to anyone reading for interest or pleasure.

Don't bother

I couldn't even finish this one. Boring and portentous prose, boringly and portentously read.

Dull Book

I couldn't even finish this book. It was very boring & the narration was monotone.

Not my cup of tea at all

It’s hard to get into a story when you just don’t care for the main characters. I didn’t like their personalities much so hearing of their trials and difficulties only made me dislike them more with how they chose to deal with their lives. They made it seem like they had no choice but to be miserable and I didn’t like that and all of the lack of morals.