Read about another book on the list.REVOLUTIONARY ROAD by Richard Yates
Another story of unwanted pregnancy, although one whose ending is rather less cheerful, Revolutionary Road takes an uncomfortable look at how restrictive motherhood can be.
April and Frank Wheeler are making plans. They’re turning their backs on the “hopeless emptiness” of American suburbia in favour of Paris, where April will support their family while Frank figures out what he wants from life. But then April falls pregnant, and her hopes for a new start are crushed.
I read this book with a sense of having been delivered right into the minds of Yates’ characters. Most of the story is told from Frank’s perspective, but it is April whose frustration crackles on the page.
Revolutionary Road also appears on the Barnes & Noble Review's list of five top books on the Mad Men milieu, Hanna McGrath's list of five fictional characters who tell it like it is, John Mullan's list of ten of the best Aprils in literature, Selma Dabbagh's top ten list of stories of reluctant revolutionaries, Jenny Eclair's six best books list, Laura Dave's list of books that improve on re-reading, Tad Friend's seven best fiction books about WASPs, and James P. Othmer's list of six great novels on work.
--Marshal Zeringue
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