Revolutionary Road - Richard Yates

Written and set in 1950's suburban America, Revolutionary Road follows Alice and Frank, a married couple desperate to escape their banal lives and recapture the energy and excitement of their youth.  We join the couple after two children and several years of marriage, and are introduced to their family and friends who are partly to blame for the couple's feelings of being trapped and unfulfilled.  Throughout the novel we learn aspects of each characters history which helps us to see them as human as it serves to explain their reasoning's behind their thoughts and actions.   The characters are easy to relate to and their dialogue is brutally honest, allowing the reader to identify with their feelings, hopes and dreams.  With one central theme being that of betrayal, the book for me was reminiscent of the film American Beauty, yet far surpassed it as there was no Hollywood happy ending to sweeten the, at times, harrowing journey that the characters and reader followed.  I really enjoyed reading Revolutionary Road and will definitely re-read it in the future as it is thought-provoking and distressingly realistic.  It has also made me want to see the movie as I am curious as to whether certain parts will be re-written to fit better with what today's audience seems to demand of Hollywood blockbusters.