Wednesday, March 25, 2009

Of course, you're wondering . . .

I know, I left you in suspense. “What book did she take with her?” is the question that kept you distracted at work yesterday. It robbed you of all sleep last night.

The answer? Richard Yates’ Revolutionary Road. It was his first novel and was a finalist for the National Book Award in 1962 along with Catch-22 and The Moviegoer.

It received critical claim at publication, and the New York Times reviewed it as "beautifully crafted... a remarkable and deeply troubling book."

In 2005 the novel was chosen by Time as one of the 100 best English-language novels from 1923 to the present.

William Styron, who once gave a reading of the novel's opening chapter at Boston University, called Revolutionary Road "a deft, ironic, beautiful novel that deserves to be a classic."

Kurt Vonnegut called it "The Great Gatsby of my time... one of the best books by a member of my generation."

Tennessee Williams also praised the book: "Here is more than fine writing; here is what, added to fine writing, makes a book come immediately, intensely and brilliantly alive. If more is needed to make a masterpiece in modern American fiction, I am sure I don't know what it is."

I’ll let you know what I think after I’ve finished it.

1 comment:

Anonymous said...

I've downloaded the first chapter on my kindle app. Can't decide whether to buy the whole thing...Any advice?