Revolutionary Road by Richard Yates, read by Mark Bramhall, Publisher: Random House Audio; Unabridged edition (November 25, 2008), ISBN-10: 0739359371
Rating: 3 of 5 STARS
Source: Random choice at Public Library
Wow. It's really, really hard to know what to say about this one. I started listening to it as I was driving home from Louisiana on Tuesday morning and finished it today (Friday). It's over 11 hours long and probably at around six or seven, I considered quitting it, but had too much invested and didn't really have anything else to do for the rest of the drive. So I finished. And I guess I'm glad I did. But, wow. It's a hard book to review.
First, Mark Bramhall, the reader, is a wonderful performer. Really, I don't know how he does it. It's probably worth listening to just because of him. He gets at least two of the three stars I'm giving the book. I doubt I would have been able to make it through if I was actually reading the book.
The story itself was probably one of the most dark, most depressing that I've listened to or read...ever. It's about a young couple living in the suburbs of New York in the 1950s. Life is pointless, there's no hope, they hate each other, they're horrible parents, and they're both extremely unlikeable. In fact, there's not one character I liked in the whole book.
There's a big part of the story that is about abortion which is not legal at the time. The wife wants to abort their third child (she also wanted to abort their first child, but that's another part of the story) The husband doesn't want her to and tries to talk her out of her do-it-yourself plan. Not because he believes it's a life to be protected but purely to manipulate and control his wife.
Talk about a Godless story with no hope. Ugh. Richard Yates must have been a very sad man.
I guess I picked it up to begin with because I knew there was a recent movie made based on the book starring Leonardo DiCaprio who I really like. I still may watch the movie just to see if they managed to infuse a little hope into the story. And then there's Leonardo.
I can't really recommend this one...unless you're on a really long drive without much else to do.
:-)
Rating: 3 of 5 STARS
Source: Random choice at Public Library
Wow. It's really, really hard to know what to say about this one. I started listening to it as I was driving home from Louisiana on Tuesday morning and finished it today (Friday). It's over 11 hours long and probably at around six or seven, I considered quitting it, but had too much invested and didn't really have anything else to do for the rest of the drive. So I finished. And I guess I'm glad I did. But, wow. It's a hard book to review.
First, Mark Bramhall, the reader, is a wonderful performer. Really, I don't know how he does it. It's probably worth listening to just because of him. He gets at least two of the three stars I'm giving the book. I doubt I would have been able to make it through if I was actually reading the book.
The story itself was probably one of the most dark, most depressing that I've listened to or read...ever. It's about a young couple living in the suburbs of New York in the 1950s. Life is pointless, there's no hope, they hate each other, they're horrible parents, and they're both extremely unlikeable. In fact, there's not one character I liked in the whole book.
There's a big part of the story that is about abortion which is not legal at the time. The wife wants to abort their third child (she also wanted to abort their first child, but that's another part of the story) The husband doesn't want her to and tries to talk her out of her do-it-yourself plan. Not because he believes it's a life to be protected but purely to manipulate and control his wife.
Talk about a Godless story with no hope. Ugh. Richard Yates must have been a very sad man.
I guess I picked it up to begin with because I knew there was a recent movie made based on the book starring Leonardo DiCaprio who I really like. I still may watch the movie just to see if they managed to infuse a little hope into the story. And then there's Leonardo.
I can't really recommend this one...unless you're on a really long drive without much else to do.
:-)
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