Welcome to Litsy!

This book destroyed me. An unflinching look at the boredom of a suburban 1950s marriage, Frank and April Wheeler find themselves unsatisfied with how the romantic dreams they once envisioned for themselves haven‘t materialized. Both are trying to regain the youthful passion they had for life and each other in innocent and devastating ways. An incredibly emotional novel with still something to say about the fallacy of the American Dream. 4⭐️

#TBT

I‘ll join in @ChaoticMissAdventures initiative to recommend a book from your backlist reading each Thursday.

I‘ll post quotes from my favorite books and believe me, you should read those books😊!

“It‘s a disease. Nobody thinks or feels or cares any more; nobody gets excited or believes in anything except their own comfortable little God damn mediocrity.”

My #bookspin list for August! I have some catching up to do from July, but excited to see what the new picks are!

The brutal honesty of who you think you are and what you are. Frank presented his world and it simply collapses. Reading how this couple fails each other is heart wrenching. Frank portrayed himself as a French speaking world traveler to his wife. They dreamt of leaving this white picket fence world and keeping up with the Jones. Turns out he doesn‘t mind the world and in my view fails his marriage or at least lies time and again. Picture for fun

Somehow this novel still seems very relevant 50+ years after its first publication. I believe that speaks to the truth of the story & writing. Told through a male perspective, we get a glimpse of a 1950‘s marriage that is fracturing. Behind the beautiful suburban facades of pastel homes live ugly secrets. I really enjoyed both print and audio. #Classics2020 #BookClubWorthy

Still engrossed with this #classic 🥰I believe it stands the test of time. Does not feel dated or irrelevant. I really like the writer‘s voice. It‘s vey authentic. The narration is really well matched. I‘m using this for book 12 of #ReadingClassics2020

Up next/ IRL bookclub pick 😊

From: BlindDateWithABook.com
Tagged: What‘s love got to do with it - Dysfunctional family - Affairs - Modern classic

Frank and April Wheeler move to the suburbs in search of a starter home and the American dream. What they end up with is an American nightmare. Brilliantly written.

This is difficult to assess earnestly. In recent decades, suburban ennui has sprawled beyond a genre to a cliché. The storyline, then, is easy to anticipate. Even still, it has enough particulars to make it readable, if not surprising. As this is more of a recommendation than an evaluation, it‘s ultimately more of a question of the reader‘s feeling about this realm. Lacking linguistic brilliance but having competence, it did not dazzle or dull me.

I‘ve updated my #bookspin list for March! Still hoping to get to my #doublespin book this week, so I kept it off the list.

I tried to make at least 1/2 of this list books that have been on my TBR shelves for YEARS. 😄

Couldn't get in to this, didn't finish ut

#LMPBC #Round7 #GroupC here are my picks! I originally thought I was leaning toward the tagged book, but now I'm torn lol. I have a mix of modern and traditional classics. Let me know your thoughts! Books tagged in the comments.

#SoaringScores #WhenTheRingGoesSouth I‘ve heard this is a dark story of a marriage imploding #BonusCoverCrush

If anyone had #groundsfordivorce it was April Wheeler IMO. If only she‘d had access to reliable birth control...

#RedRoseSeptember

Not a book that I could get into, had to bail

Up next! #tbr #amreading

#motivation #anewchapter

Such a good book. Very dark at the end, but a wonderful story of flawed characters.

I‘ve been enjoying this one this weekend. I had started it years ago and for some reason, put it aside. I‘m loving it. It‘s such well written, sad, and despondent book.

FINISHED WHOYAH #litsyclassics #classics #litsyclassic

Certainly well-written, but I just couldn‘t connect to this book. The purposeful choice to stay in the mind of sexist, full-of-himself, clueless Frank Wheeler worked for the point of the book but not for my reading pleasure.

If you thought watching Frank and April Wheeler suffer through a dying marriage in the movies was painful wait til you read the book! #litsyatoz

R is for Revolutionary Road, keeping the Books-into-film streak alive and well. #litsyatoz #litsyatoz2018

Current snapshot #litsyatoz #litsyatoz2018

What famous book is identified with your state? Fun! #statebooks

http://www.businessinsider.com/famous-book-set-in-every-state-2016-4?utm_source=...

But he knew better than to interrupt her now. She must have spent the morning in an agony of thought. She must have spent the afternoon in a frenzy of action at the shopping center, racing in and out of stores to buy the birthday gifts and the roast of beef and the cake and the cocktail apron. Her whole day had been a heroic build-up for this moment of self-abasement; now it was here, and she was damned if she‘d stand for any interference.

Well that was depressing....

Thanks for the awesome giveaway @TheLibrarian This is my old man Cosmo! #50kgiveaway2

This is one of those book that breaks your heart because it feels incredibly realistic. The suburban setting is very common, which makes the tragedy of this story all the more tragic and devastating. It‘s a hard read, for sure, but also a necessary one.

From 1-10-18: #scenesfromabook Watch a Movie. One of the rare occasions that I loved both!!! 📖💖 @JoeStalksBeck

#litsyclassics #litsyclassicsmatches

@TheBookHippie @shendrix413

Thanks so much to @ReadingEnvy I am the lucky recipient of one of her 100th episode giveaways and I received my lovely package and note today! I actually listened to the crossover podcast episode with the ReadingWomen and so enjoyed your book selections! Thank you again and Congratulations on 100 episodes!!👏👏👏👏🎉🎉🎉

Such a well-written novel — but to see into the mind of Frank is often crushing. His wife April somehow knows. It‘s obvious from the start this story will not end well 💔. I definitely want to read more by Yates. Read this for Letter Y for #LitsyAtoZ. One more left and I‘m done!

Moving along to #LetterY for #LitsyAtoZ. Almost done with this challenge 🎉🎊! So far this novel seems good. The movie tie-in cover is the only cover I‘ve ever seen of this, and that probably has kept me from reading sooner (have not seen the movie yet either; not crazy about Leo 🤷‍♀️)

I thoroughly enjoyed this book! I‘m trying to introduce a wider variety of genre‘s into my life and I was not disappointed by this, considering it was published in the early 60‘s, it tackled subjects that would‘ve been quite controversial at the time, which is what made me love how raw and unapologetic Richard Yates made his characters.

5 stars all the way 🌟🌟🌟🌟🌟

#richardyates #revolutionaryroad

Day 25 #awesomeautumnbooks #troubledrelationship
The Wheelers dream of escape from their mundane suburban lifestyle and go to France to start a new way of life, but their attempts meet unexpected complications and their relationship deteriorates.

I don't know why, but this one was #notforme
I tried reading it years ago and just couldn't get into it...

#jubilantjuly

Devastating in its anti feminist masculinity, although the focus is usually placed more on suburbia. Only the men are allowed imperfections or inner lives ... I wish I knew if the author was trying to make the reader uncomfortable in pointing out these issues or is immune to them. My rating gives him the benefit of the doubt. Book 6 finished during #24in48

Hmm maybe I shouldn't have used an ice cream scoop for the cookies. 🤣
I've noticed our piles and reading corners get messier as #24in48 goes on. Mine too!

A reminder that Book of the Month goes way back!! (This book was published in 1961.)

#24in48

Second book finished during #24in48

This book is beautifully written, but so dark and sad. It's hard to really like any of the characters, but at the same time I just felt bad for all of them.

⭐️⭐️⭐️1/2

I always find these early-morning #shelfies of myself for #24in48 incredibly flattering after very little sleep and lots of reading in the dark. 😳😜

That's a shelf of some of my favorites, though, and they look nice! 😍

It's far too hot to go anywhere or do anything this evening, so I will just sit here in the air conditioning and start a new book. This was one of my summer solstice gifts from the lovely @quietjenn ❤️

It is also set in Connecticut, which is my next state to visit on the #readingroadtrip. 😃

This is a bleak view of middle class life in mid-century America that still speaks to today. Frank and April Wheeler seem particularly lost, and Yates exaggerates the dire hopelessness of conventional suburban life and all it entails, but his critiques are valid. It's a life that can lead one to wonder what's it all for? (This book may have hit close to home.)
A few heavy-handed passages but mostly the writing is beautiful. And the ending is 👌

I LOVED Book 2/5 and devoured it. Well-crafted characters suffering from frustration & "hopeless emptiness" show us the devastating effects of marital unhappiness (with its "promises of failure") and the fragile male ego. Set in candy-colored suburbia of 1955 (our neighborhood of New Town, in Saint Charles, MO pictured).

"being always the first one athletically up and out of bed in the morning, so that she might never see his face lying swollen and helpess in sleep"

Whoa, you know your marriage is effed up when...?

This book offers a pretty depressing view of marriage and life in the suburbs...but I can't look away.