Monday, January 5, 2009

Nothing in Life but to be Legit

REVOLUTIONARY ROAD is the best book I've ever read.

And I've read a lot of books.

I'm not going to waste time blathering on about all the fantastic things about it- as soon as you read the first paragraph, you'll see why it's a masterpiece, too.

But I thought this was interesting: this book feels absolutely true, yet every character in it seems to assume women aren't as valuable as men.  

In a lesser book, I'd think: jeez, this author is a misogynist and I don't want to read any of this.

But because this book is so well written and everyone in it feels so real, I wind up thinking, "Wow!  Back in the fifties, people sure had a strange concept of masculinity!"

(Btw, this book was written and is set in the late fifties and very early sixties, and I really do think it was society at the time that was misogynist, NOT this particular author.)

Isn't it funny how, the more authentic characters feel, the more cruel and immoral- and likable!- they can be?

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