Review: Revolutionary Road by Richard Yates

There is something deeply disturbing about this novel. Behind the restrained prose, the reader is allowed to sense the arrival of an impending doom. In this terrifying indictment of middle class suburban life (one that most Indians desperately crave for), Yates portrays lives that are uncharacteristically unhappy. The characters seem to have every material comfort in life that is seen as a pre-requisite for happiness, but such is the deep tragedy of his vision, even a remotely un-tragic ending is not possible.

The novel happens in 1950s suburban east coast America. Frank and April are the seemingly perfect couple with beautiful kids. Frank describes his job as “the most boring job in the world.”, but is unwilling to leave his job for something unknown. April is a deeply conflicted person who fails to come to terms with her domesticated life. Before marriage she sees Frank as a charming man destined to go places. But his obvious unwillingness to move away from a secured life creates a sense of disillusion and unhappiness.

As they make their way from one domestic crisis to another, one last attempt at happiness is made. Frank and April decide to move to Paris, where she would support the family and he would have time to find himself. But such is their tragic story that even this move ends unhappily.

In many ways 1950s suburban America is symbolic of our lives today. As the Indian middle class withdraws into plush offices and gated communities, as we live in artificial toy-lands and form relationships on the internet, we refuse to see our metamorphosis from citizens to consumers. We fail to realize that most of us are looking not for better lives, but for easy and less responsible ones.