The author, Richard Yates, seemingly captures the tiniest detail of the human expression and behaviour. So much attention was put into portraying the display of emotions of the characters, that sometimes, I feel it might be a little too much.
It is what I would say, an interesting story about the most blatant things of life.
The story was set in the 50s , which incidentally, is an era that I love and find romantic. But unfortunately, this is not a love story. And as a matter of fact, it speaks of the 50s as an era of conformity, of boredom, and safety. The characters, April and Frank, were a young suburban couple, who abhorred the suburban life, and who felt they were different from everyone else. And they were afraid too, that they would become just like everyone else- too comfortable for change.
As their marriage started to fray, April came up with the idea to move to Paris, a place that Frank often reminsced about and loved. This sounded like a last ditch effort to save their marriage. But alas, things did not go as planned, with Frank, morphing into the very type of person that he looked down upon.
This is rather ironic to me. Frank did not want to be like his father, stuck in a dead-end job for years, and never raising to the ranks. He vowed not to be like his father but strangely, he took on a job in the same company his father worked in, in a job he hated. He stepped into the very shoes that he did not want to wear. Just like, how it was, with him and the surbanites of the 50s.
The story did not end well. You could almost feel the boredom driving April crazy, how sick she was playing the suburban wife. She wanted an adventure that Frank was afraid to embark on. How disappointed she was that she had no way of breaking free. At the very end, she chose to die, with her unborn child, which was also an excuse that Frank used to abandon their plans of adventure.
How sad.
Fear often stopped us from doing the things we wished or dreamt to do. Craving comfort and safety are all part of human nature.Aren't those the very things all of us strive to achieve- the comfort and saefty of shelter, food, clothing, etc. Sometimes you just can't fight evolution.
