Revolutionary Road, a novel by Richard Yates, is set to come out as a movie in January. The movie is pairing up Leonardo DiCaprio and Kate Winslet in their first movie together since Titanic. I'm not a big DiCaprio fan, but I do think he could really pull off the part of Frank Wheeler. I read the book in my early twenties; now I'm reading it again in my late late twenties. I have to admit the book has a lot more resonance with me now that I have a wife, two kids, two dogs, and live in the suburbs. If you've read the book, then you know why. Richard Yates writes so well that when Frank Wheeler is discussing "American life" and "consumerism" I can't help but think of how closely it resembles Guy Montag in Fahrenheit 451. Yates is a great cultural critic, which also reminds me of Don DeLillo and how closely Revolutionary Road resembles Americana. DeLillo definitely develops the character of David Bell with more darkness of soul and paints a more disturbing, haunting, and dangerous portrait of America than Yates, but the connection is still there.
I'm also reading the poetry of W.S. Merwin and Joseph Brodsky.
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