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Revolutionary Road
- Narrated by: Mark Bramhall
- Length: 11 hrs and 24 mins
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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.
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
Featured Article: 40+ Inspirational Quotes for When You Need Some Words of Reassurance
When life gets tough or self-doubt strikes, a few words of inspiration can make an incredible difference. And who better to turn to for words of inspiration than gifted authors? In this collection of quotes from noted novelists, poets, and memoirists, you'll find the right words to lift your spirits and keep you shining. From a variety of celebrated authors, these quotes will inspire you to follow your dreams, face your fears, do what's right, and believe in yourself.
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- Narrated by: Scott Aiello
- Length: 20 hrs and 51 mins
- Unabridged
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Louis Holland arrives in Boston in a spring of ecological upheaval (a rash of earthquakes on the North Shore) and odd luck: the first one kills his grandmother. Louis tries to maintain his independence, but falls in love with a Harvard seismologist whose discoveries about the earthquakes' cause complicate everything.
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Compelling Story, Ridiculous Narrator
- By DianeReads on 02-28-16
By: Jonathan Franzen
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Fire and Rain
- By: Diane Chamberlain
- Narrated by: Karen White
- Length: 13 hrs and 19 mins
- Unabridged
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Into the drought-weary California town of Valle Rosa comes a stranger who promises he can make it rain. All he asks for is a place to stay and complete privacy. But he is too charismatic to maintain a low profile, and the adobe cottage he's given to live in is owned by an investigative TV reporter struggling to revive her career.
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Siri from my Iphone would be a warmer narrator
- By Gwen on 05-30-16
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Mr. Fox
- A Novel
- By: Helen Oyeyemi
- Narrated by: Carol Boyd
- Length: 8 hrs and 15 mins
- Unabridged
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Fairy-tale romances end with a wedding and the fairy tales don't get complicated. In this book, celebrated writer Mr. Fox can't stop himself from killing off the heroines of his novels, and neither can his wife, Daphne. It's not until Mary, his muse, comes to life and transforms him from author into subject that his story begins to unfold differently....
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A Great Novel, just Poor for Audio
- By James A. Dittes on 08-13-16
By: Helen Oyeyemi
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A Flash of Green
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- By: John D. MacDonald
- Narrated by: Richard Ferrone
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A classic novel by John D. MacDonald with an exclusive introduction written and read by Dean Koontz. A Flash of Green tells the gripping story of small-town corruption and two people brave enough to fight back, featuring many of the themes John D. MacDonald explored better than anyone in his legendary career as a leading crime novelist. The opportunists have taken over Palm City. Silent and deadly, like the snakes that infest the nearby swamps, they lay hidden from view, waiting for the right moment to strike. Political subterfuge has already eased the residents toward selling out.
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Disjointed depressing
- By Carol I. Meeds on 11-18-22
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The Keep
- The Adversary Cycle, Book 1
- By: F. Paul Wilson
- Narrated by: Ralph Lister
- Length: 15 hrs and 36 mins
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"Something is murdering my men." Thus reads the message received from a Nazi commander stationed in a small castle high in the remote Transylvanian Alps. Invisible and silent, the enemy selects one victim per night, leaving the bloodless and mutilated corpses behind to terrify its future victims. When an elite SS extermination squad is dispatched to solve the problem, the men find something that's both powerful and terrifying. Panicked, the Nazis bring in a local expert on folklore - who just happens to be Jewish - to shed some light on the mysterious happenings.
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At long last, The classic horror novel on Audible
- By Shieldslinger on 07-22-20
By: F. Paul Wilson
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Peyton Place
- By: Grace Metalious
- Narrated by: Tim O'Connor
- Length: 16 hrs and 44 mins
- Unabridged
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In 1956, when this novel was first published, communities all over New England snapped up copies to see if they were the town portrayed in the book. Peyton Place is the story of a repressive New England town known for its high standards of public morality, and the steamy sexual activities that take place behind its bedroom doors.
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Best book I've read to date!
- By Crusader on 11-07-11
By: Grace Metalious
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Our Story Begins
- New and Selected Stories
- By: Tobias Wolff
- Narrated by: Anthony Heald
- Length: 13 hrs and 5 mins
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Wolff here returns with fresh revelations - about biding one's time, or experiencing first love, or burying one's mother - that come to a variety of characters in circumstances at once everyday and extraordinary. A retired Marine enrolls in college while her son trains for Iraq. A lawyer takes a difficult deposition. An American in Rome indulges the Gypsy who's picked his pocket.
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Great
- By chris on 04-11-08
By: Tobias Wolff
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Gold Dust
- By: Kimberley Freeman
- Narrated by: Jennifer Vuletic
- Length: 18 hrs and 50 mins
- Unabridged
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Three women linked by their blood, their dreams...and their sins. From Leningrad in the '70s to America and London in the present day, Kimberley Freeman's new novel follows the lives of two sisters, Lena and Natalia, and their cousin, Sofi, as they move away from Russia and all they have known. Despite promising to always take care of each other, a pact to meet every winter is shattered as their lives change and long-held resentments begin to surface. Can that resentment turn to hatred? To murder?
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It's just not the same without Caroline Lee
- By Maria on 12-04-17
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Angela's Ashes
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Why we think it’s a great listen: There’s no gentle way to put this – Frank McCourt’s performance of Angela’s Ashes is just better than the Pulitzer Prize-winning book. Frank McCourt shares his sometimes heartwarming, sometimes heartbreaking story of growing up poor, Irish, and Catholic in the Pulitzer Prize-winning memoir Angela's Ashes.
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A classic book *and* a classic audiobook
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What listeners say about Revolutionary Road
Average customer ratingsReviews - Please select the tabs below to change the source of reviews.
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- Sara
- 01-29-14
Movie vs Book
Any additional comments?
This is the perfect example for me of the importance of reading the book before I see the movie. I think if I had read the book first many subtle but important points missed in the movie would have made the story much better. The movie stressed odd scenes and omitted powerful details that developed the characters and their predicaments to a tee. Plus the way a reader pictures the settings and the people never seems remotely the way a casting team will set things up. That said--I liked the book. It depicted a slice of life from that odd time period of the 50's beautifully. It is a sad book but the characters are fully human and the story engages throughout.
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40 people found this helpful
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- Diana - Audible
- 04-16-12
Soul-crushing...but in a good way!
Yeah, yeah Kate and Leo reunited on the big screen for the adaptation of Revolutionary Road, and while I enjoyed the movie, please don’t let it put you off or replace your reading of Richard Yates’ tremendous novel. Sure it’s depressing – it’s about realizing your life has become everything you never wanted it to be – but in Yates’ words, in Mark Bramhall’s narration, this is a powerful depressing: the kind of thought-provoking, heart-wrenching literature that we all need every once in a while.
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22 people found this helpful
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Overall
- Elinor
- 12-10-08
Very engaging and brilliantly written
Yates is a beautiful writer--descriptive in a way that deeply involves the reader. One of the things I appreciated most about this book, a runner-up for the National Book award in 1962, is the accuracy with which he represents the 1950s, everything from work cublicles, the dawning age of computers, suburban life, the rise of psychotherapy (and its oppressive authority) and of course the pressure to conform and the difficulty of taking a different path (a "revolutionary road"). A major theme of this book, which I think is surprising for its era, is the nature of masculinity and its perils--how very hard it was to be a "real" man in the 50s. Yates has great skill at using metaphor and does a wonderful job with character development. This book is also beautifully narrated. Not only is the narrator's voice a pleasure to listen to, but his representation of each character very talented. Yates's depiction of the 50s gives great insight about why the 1960s became "revolutionary."
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18 people found this helpful
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Overall
- Melissa
- 06-15-09
Haunting!
These characters are so fragile and damaged. It was painful at times.....so close to home! This 1960's "perfect" suburbia family crumbles right before your eyes. Each one is as "dysfuntional" as the other. I didn't like the ending but sadly it is very real and believable.
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13 people found this helpful
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Overall
- L. Berlyne
- 01-01-09
A Literary Tour de Force
This is a poignant, intense novel. Yates's characterizations are spot-on and his prose immaculate.
He tells the story of Frank and April Wheeler, a young couple who long to be special but who are trapped in the conventions of their middle class, middle of the road and mediocre marital existence.
Yates has created a harsh but perceptive criticism of the superficial American society of the time that rings true to the present day. The narrator does a fine job with the clearly distinguishable voices.
This is certainly not a light listen but it is a devastating one that you shouldn't miss.
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13 people found this helpful
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Overall
- Cora Judd
- 12-13-08
pinpoint view of post WW suburbian couple
I think the comparisons to DeLillo do Yates a disservice. Yates is far more coherent.
Revolutionary Road is a well written book about the evidently soul crushing nature of life in the suburbs (as if being the barely employable, non-French speaking, ugly Americans in Paris -- which was the plan -- wouldn't also be soul crushing). Nothing new about the topic.
It's interesting, however, to so acutely experience the world view of the 40's and 50's (the least of which is April's smoking and drinking throughout her pregnancy and the practice of self abortion). Some aspects are the same as ever; the petty manipulations of dysfunctional couples and their susceptibility to such manipulations .
In Yates' omniscient view, each person's motivations are painfully apparent. Where the women are concerned, I couldn't help but think of the everlastingly horrible work of misogyny, "Fascinating Womanhood". Each of the women are different caricatures of mid-50's femininity. In defense of April and Frank, it's interesting to see how important emotional honesty is to them.
While excellent reading, this isn't a place I want to visit again. In fact, I'm going to floss my brain with some science fiction for a while...
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12 people found this helpful
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Overall
- David
- 12-31-08
Fantastic
This novel is a masterpiece. The writing, the characters, the plot . . . everything. Is it heavy? Yes, it's very heavy. Is it depressing? Is tragedy depressing? Get ready for a good old fashioned catharsis! In parts it's funny and moving as well as serving as a stinging, unflinching criticism of American culture. The prose at points approaches poetry. The narrator is excellent. It takes place in the 50s but it hasn't lost anything in timeliness. The issues confronted are equally relevant today, perhaps more so. You won't be sorry if you give this a go.
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9 people found this helpful
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Overall
- Bonnie Brody
- 05-22-09
Captivating Book
This is the story of a couple, tragically trapped in their facade of being 'perfect'. The time is the early 1960's and the 'traditional' values of what it means to be a man and what it means to be a woman are still held over from the 50's.
They are pent up and repressed. Once they are able to see what is truly happening in their lives, things explode. Ironically, it is a man who is mentally ill who is able to make the most telling and accurate observations of what is occurring interpersonally.
This is a captivating audiobook and it is very well narrated.
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8 people found this helpful
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Overall
- Penny
- 05-23-09
WOW! What a ride!!
I hated this book for the first three hours or so---very upsetting marital fighting! But once it takes off, this is quite a study of two people and their lives in the 50s. I finished this book a week ago and still thinking of April and Frank! I want to see the movie now and see how it compares.
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7 people found this helpful
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Overall
- Michael Alber
- 12-25-09
Wow
Yates was doing suburban malaise decades before people were talking about the latest Mad Men episode (not to bash Mad Men... love that, too). His characters and dialogue are sharp and drip with subtext.
Excellent book and reader.
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6 people found this helpful