Book Report: Revolutionary Road

"Intelligent, thinking people could take things like this in their stride, just as they took the larger absurdities of deadly dull jobs in the city and deadly dull homes in the suburbs. Economic circumstances might force you to live in this environment, but the important thing was to keep from being contaminated. The important thing, always, was to remember who you were." 

I notice that every once in awhile an idea or concept or feeling or whatever pops into my head and I become completely enthralled with it. I start to watch TV shows and movies and read books that have to do with it until I get my fix on whatever it is I want to know/feel/act like/learn about. A couple weeks ago I got this weird feeling that I wanted to read about life in the 1950s American suburbs. Or perhaps the disillusionment of how perfect everyone seemed to have thought it was. Immediately Revolutionary Road By Richard Yates came to mind. I had already seen the Kate Winslet and Leonardo DiCaprio film adaptation and I really enjoyed it. I bought the book years ago and it had just sat on my bookshelf while other books took priority. Now after finally reading it I have no idea what took me so long.

If you haven't read the book or seen the movie, it's about a young couple Frank and April Wheeler who, like everyone else in the post-war 1950s, move from New York City to a Connecticut suburb to start a family. After two kids and several years at a mind-numbing job in the city, the couple starts to get restless and nostalgic about what their life could have been like--or could still be like. April comes up with the idea of packing up and moving the family to Paris. To her, Paris is where people really live life, unlike Connecticut where people just go through the motions of a life they think they're suppose to have. The book chronicles what happens when the couple tries to achieve this life that they think they're missing out on, and trying to keep it together when things don't go according to plan and everything starts to unravel. 

To me, one of the most amazing things about this book is that it was published in 1961. It wasn't published 50 years later when time had passed and people had forgotten what it was really like, or when nostalgia of the good ol' days had crept in with its rose-colored glasses. It was contemporary for its time--truthful and honest about how people may have felt while trying to adjust to this new concept of "suburbia" and this new way of life. The country was prospering but there was still a new generation of young people who were trying to find their spot in it all.  They were torn between living a life of passion and adventure, traveling and experiencing all that the world had to offer or succumbing to the "Leave It To Beaver" lifestyle of backyard barbecues, PTA meetings and bridge games.

The thing I loved most about this book is the dialogue between characters. A lot of the time when you read books from 50 years ago, the dialogue seems so unrealistic, that you couldn't imagine anyone ever talking that way. But this book is the complete opposite of that.  April and Frank's conversations and arguments are so believable that you could apply it to any couple today and it would still seem relevant.  And isn't that the ultimate feat? To have something still be relevant half a century later?

I was completely engrossed with this book, not being able to put it down and still thinking about it once I did. It was one of those books where I would read something, my jaw would drop and I would immediately think "I need to discuss this with someone." It was a book where you just wish someone was reading it right there next to you so you could look over to them and say, "Can you believe that?!"

So if you're looking for a book to read, a book to take you to a different era that still feels eerily familiar, that lets you eavesdrop on a couple that is both passionate and delusional, and that makes you love and hate the characters simultaneously, then I cannot recommend this book enough. And if you have already read it: what did you think about it?   Did you love it or hate it? And what are you reading now?

September Book Reviews

"How can the dead be truly dead when they still live in the souls of those who are left behind?"

I checked out The Heart is a Lonely Hunter by Carson McCullers from the library back in June. I finished in September. This can tell you two things: one, it took me a really freaking long time to get through it and two, it cost me a lot of money in overdue fees. Sometimes, when I start reading a really heavy, serious book, it takes me a long time to get through it. This book in particular was depressing and monotone. One thing that I can tell you is, Carson McCullers amazed me. The book was published in 1933, and it takes place in a modern day (1930s) Georgia town. It follows five characters throughout the book that live in this town. Each character is connected to the others somehow, and each character deals with his or her own problems, dilemmas, and realizations. The thing that amazes me is that McCullers was 23 when she wrote this book. Let me say that again, McCullers, a woman in the 1930's had this book published when she was only 23. And this book is heavy. It talks about racism, religion, politics... every thing you would not expect to come from a 23-year-old girl.
The thing that astonished me the most was how ahead of her time McCullers was. In this book she talks about fascism and Hitler's treatment of the Jews (again, this was published in 1933. Perspective: World War II didn't start until 1939.) She also talks about racial inequality in the south. One of her characters is an African-American doctor who cannot stand the oppression of blacks in the south anymore. He encourages his fellow men to speak up, to educate themselves and to be heard. He even talks about organizing a march to Washington D.C. (Something Martin Luther King, Jr. would do 30 years later in 1963.) It blew my mind what she was writing about and discussing in this book. It's a lot to digest. It definitely isn't a Nicholas Sparks beach read. And it might take you 3 months to read, like me. But I think it's worth it.

"It is an impressively arrogant move to conclude that just because you don't like something, it is empirically not good. I don't like Chinese food, but I don't write articles trying to prove it doesn't exist."

-Fey's reply to Jerry Lewis' comment about women not being funny.

I learned two things while reading The Heart is a Lonely Hunter: one, for the love of God, read something lighthearted and fun! and two, for the love of God, don't check anything else out from the library! So I decided to read Bossypants by Tina Fey. I've wanted to read this ever since it came out, but like I always say, I can't justify buying a new book when I have stacks of unread books at home. So I decided I didn't have to buy it-- I'd just borrow it. Luckily, my friend's mom had a copy that she so graciously let me borrow. Yay.
I should admit here that I don't watch 30 Rock. I watched some of one episode and I didn't think it was funny. Granted, I didn't really give it a fair shot, but I just don't think Tracy Morgan is funny at all. I do, though, think Tina Fey is funny. I loved her on SNL and Weekend Update. I also love just really genuinely funny women. There aren't a lot, so Fey is a rare gem. She pretty much makes me want to be a comedy writer. I know what you're thinking, "Emily, you're not even funny." I know, but those are just details that I will pick up along the way.
In the book she talks about her life growing up (and briefly mentions how she got her famous scar, and why she doesn't like talking about it.) She also talks about her starting out in improv and her interview with Lorne Michaels for Saturday Night Live. She dishes on what it's like to be an SNL writer, as well as creating 30 Rock and being a mom. The whole book is full of funny anecdotes and behind-the-scenes tid-bits about show business. It was a fun, interesting and even inspiring book to read. And it only took me a week to read it. Two thumbs up!

July Book Reviews

Every book list I've ever seen that was some sort of "100 books to read before you die" or "The top 100 books of the 20th century" had Gabriel García Márquez's One Hundred Years of Solitude on it. I knew that I had to read it at some point, and since I loved Love in the Time of Cholera, if figured it was better now than later. The book spans of the history of a fictional city Macondo, but more specifically the history of the Buendía family. It's imaginary realism at it's finest. Impossible things happen in Macondo that doesn't seem so impossible; an insomnia plague, a trail of blood traveling across town and up curbs, gypsies with flying carpets. All of it is apart of their reality. One of the highlights for me is the character whose presence is always preceded by yellow butterflies, as well as the fact that when someone dies, they're never really dead because their ghosts freely and regularly roam the house at night.
The thing about One Hundred Years, for me at least, was that it really did feel like you were reading through one hundred years. You felt like that amount of time had passed when you were finally finished reading it. It reminded me of hour Life of Pi really made you feel like you spent months at sea on a lifeboat, and in a way, dragged on. I hate saying that since I know it's such an amazing piece of literary work, but alas, I'm saying it. Also, numerous characters have the same names. At the beginning it's manageable to tell one from another, but by the end of the book, and six Aureliano's later, it starts to mix you up. Though talking to a friend about it, he said that he had no problem differentiating one from another because of their distinct personalities. So, to each their own. All in all, I think it has beautiful imagery and magical elements and it's worth reading. I will stand by that I enjoyed Love in the Time of Cholera more though.



I know what you're thinking. Not Becoming My Mother, how mean! The title is deceiving though, since it's actually not becoming your mother in a good way. Actually it's not about your mother at all, it's about Ruth Reichl's mother, but you get what I'm saying. It's a true story about a woman finding these letters her mother had saved and reading them after she passed away and discovering more about her than she ever knew while she was alive. It was about her mother not wanting her daughter to be like her, or follow in her footsteps, because she didn't want her to live the life she did. Her mother had a failed marriage, and un-supportive parents. She compromised numerous things in her life and never forgave herself for doing so. She always regretted not having a career and not pursuing her dreams and it wasn't until she was much older that she finally started to live. It was a very quick and enjoyable read, and I'd highly suggest every woman read it.


Has anyone read either of these? What is your opinion about them? Or did you read anything really good during July? I'd love to hear about that too!

May Book Reviews

"Unfortunately, there's no getting around it: people have to work for their happiness. We go into battle everyday, and we have to work to be happy. It just isn't handed over to us, as much as we wish it was."

Night Swimming by Robin Schwarz is about a woman who is given a year to live, and realizing she hasn't really lived at all, decides to rob a bank and move to California. While it has all the ingredients to the average chick-lit: an overweight woman out on a journey of self-discovery who finds romance and acceptance along the way, there still is more to it. It's about living life and letting go of your past in order to cherish what little time you have in the present. I mean sure, we'd all be able to cherish the present a little bit more if we had 2 million dollars and the guts to change our identity and move across the country. Sure, it might not evoke world peace, or win a Pulitzer Prize, but if you want to read a story about a woman living the life she always wanted, while you lay out on the beach drinking some fruity drink with an umbrella, then this is your book.





"A bad dream. To the person in the bell jar, blank and stopped as a dead baby, the world itself is the bad dream."

Switching from the feel-good empowerment ride of Night Swimming to the ultra dark novel The Bell Jar by Sylvia Plath. This one I'm sure a lot of you have already read. I, myself, had already read it once before after I was given it as a present for my 19th birthday from my friend Taryn. But this time reading it was nothing like the first time I read it. I don't think I really grasped and connected with it the first time around, because I just don't think I was ready for it. This time it was like reading it with a new pair of eyes. Everything that has happened in the 5 years since first reading it made me identify so much more with Esther. Sure, I never tried to commit suicide, or got shock treatments, or got admitted into an asylum, but I still understood where she was coming from and on a level, how she felt. Like when she went to see her psychiatrist for the first time and him asking her if she could tell him what she thought was wrong, as if nothing was really wrong, but she only thought was wrong. "I had imagined a kind, ugly, intuitive man looking up and say, 'Ah!' in an encouraging way, as if he could see something I couldn't, and then I would find words to tell him how I was so scared, as if I were being stuffed farther and farther into a black, airless sack with no way out." How when you feel so isolated and hopeless and all you want is for some doctor to be able to just look at you and know what's wrong and what will help, and that's just not the case. And knowing, while reading, that the majority of the story mirrors Plath's own life makes you even more sympathetic to Esther, knowing that Plath was writing with true emotion from first-hand experience. It's just an interesting insight into someone's nervous breakdown that will stay with me for awhile.

Have you guys read either of these? What did you think? What books did you read in May?

January Book Reviews

"Heroes don't have to be public figures of any kind. Heroes are right in your family. There's amazing stories in all of our families, you just have to ask, 'and then what happened?'"

700 Sundays by Billy Crystal. I heard from a couple different websites that this book was funny, and since I enjoy a funny book, when I saw it for $3 at Big Lots I decided to give it a shot. While it wasn't the funniest book I'd ever read, it was humorous, but more than that it was sad and surprising and heartwarming all at the same time. Billy Crystal's childhood spent around famous jazz musicians was something I was very surprised to learn about. I mean, Billie Holiday took him to his first movie and he watched a Yankees game from Louis Armstrong's seats at Yankee Stadium, really now. It was heartbreaking reading about how he lost his father when he was a teenager, but encouraging how his family dealt with it. It's definitely a book that shows you the importance of family and that's what I loved most about it.

"Irenka, my dear girl, war makes men animals. You must not let this ruin your life. God has plans for you. He did not let you die. God has plans for you."

In My Hands: Memories of a Holocaust Rescuer by Irene Gut Opdyke. I must state that Holocaust memoirs are my favorite books to read. Not that the subject matter, or reading about people dying, is one of my favorite things to read about, but I find them infinitely interesting. I am so intrigued by World War II and the unthinkable things people went through, and the amazing stories that came from it. I feel that these people's stories deserve to be heard, and even though they are extremely upsetting, you can always take away the strength and courage of the human spirit that these people show.
Other than just reading memoirs about the war, I like reading different perspectives of it. This one was a Polish Catholic girl's story. It spans from ages 17 to 23 and the many, many events that happened during those years. From being imprisoned by the Russians, to being Forced to work for the Nazis to risking her life to help a dozen Jews escape execution, this book will astonish you. I found myself laying in bed, unable to sleep because I needed to know what happened next and before I knew it, the lamp on my nightstand was on and the book was in my hands. I talked to everyone I knew about it after I was done reading it. It is simply amazing what one person went through and the strength and determination she had to make a difference. It is truly inspiring. I cannot recommend it enough.

"Perhaps there is some secret sort of homing instinct in books that brings them to their perfect readers. How delightful if that were true."

The Guernsey Literary and Potato Peel Pie Society by Annie Barrows and Mary Ann Shaffer. While I stated above that my favorite books to read are Holocaust memoirs, I had no idea this was going to be (but not really) a Holocaust fictional book. I actually bought it not knowing what it was about or what to expect. It's a book made up entirely of fictional letters between numerous different characters. From an author to her publisher to her best friend and ultimately to the members of a literary society on the island of Guernsey in England that formed during The Occupation. It takes place after the war, in 1945, when the Nazi no longer had control over the island. At first it was a bit confusing trying to keep all the characters straight and remember who the letter was being written to, and written by but after awhile everything kind of straightens out.
While I love the idea of it being about books and literature and the war and that it's entirely made up of letters, the book just kind of fell flat. It didn't really seem believable, and it read like a movie to which you could predict the ending. It was entertaining, but when I read about the war and the people in it, I'd rather it be true.

Did you read anything good in January?