Revolutinary Road

I watched the movie adaptation of Richard Yate's novel "Revolutionary Road". It kicked off a debate with Sandhya about suburban life and what it means to live and to merely exist.

For those of you who have not seen the movie, Leonardo DiCaprio and Kate Winslet are a seemingly happy couple living the suburban dream in a nice house. Kate desperately wants to get out. She convinces her husband that they can use their savings to move to Europe. She wants to stop being a housewife and take up a job there. She wants him to stop working and figure out what he wants to do. However, an unexpected pregnancy causes doubts in Leonardo and consequent rage in Kate.

It is a nice concept, but I think it is a typical 50s story. I think the more appropriate theme for our times would have been the consummation of the European desire and subsequent disenchantment with it. However, Sandhya felt differently.

In any case, it was a considerable surprise for me to come across Richard Yates in an article about - alcoholic writers!

The revealing phrase to me is a quote from Yates after an AA meeting - “Is just functioning living at all?”. Stripped of his poetic minimalism, what he is asking is whether it is worth getting sober. His decision is that clearly it is not. Revolutionary Road was his first and last acclaimed novel. The article clearly suggests this had something to do with him "living" - i.e. drinking.

Revolutionary Road, in light of this revelation seems to me to be nothing but a defense of drinking and escaping into another world. It may be harsh, but I am simply unable to ascribe to this work the same importance that I did during my discussion with Sandhya. I cannot take it seriously any more. It would have been more credible coming from an author caught in the suburban life and writing at night - cold sober.

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