The reading part,,,

So my blog is entitled Reading Running and Raising Kids. It was named after my interests. I love to read. I have been doing more reading than running here in Nicaragua (which isn't saying much about my reading). I never really intended to do book reviews on my blog but since I am here with 9 months worth of my Book Club books and I intend to read them along with my Book Club friends back home, it seems reasonable that I should jot down some thoughts about what I have read. Please do not expect deep analysis or startling revelations (who are we kidding, I know you didn't expect that?) just a few thoughts on why I did or did not like the book.

Our Book Club pick for August was Revolutionary Road by Richard Yates. I read the book reluctantly as it did not seem to be an uplifting theme. It's basically a book about a bad marriage. My initial thoughts on the book were that the characters were very self focused. They thought way too much about what they thought. The characters seemed lost. When I read the beginning of the book we had just landed in Nicaragua after a very stressful trip to Costa Rica and then from CR to Nicaragua via bus. I was feeling isolated from my friends, my routine, and my language. I was in a bit of a funk. To read this book about this couple who doesn't seem to have any real problems causing them stress but they are creating problems and issues for themselves was challenging. The couple decides to pack up the family and move to France so that Frank can "find himself". It was a little too close to home for me. It was funny to read the reactions of their friends in the book. We have had lots of different reactions to our trip to Nicaragua from friends and family. It did make me think about my marriage and relationship to my family. The book is about a couple living in the suburbs and the sheltered life they lead outside of the city. I lived in the suburbs before I came to Nicaragua. Was my existence sheltered? No. Life is what you make it (just ask Hannah Montana).

I did not care for this book. I did not feel compassion for the characters. I thought they were self absorbed and not particularly interesting. The book was depressing. I did "like" the contrast between the beginning and the end of the book. The beginning starts with a community play that the wife is acting in and she bombs. The end of the book ends with her acting like the perfect wife so convincingly for her husband that he thinks everything is fine when it's not. I guess she found her motivation.

I told Joe about half way through the book that someone better die in this book or I would be mad. In that regard it did not disappoint.

So there are my rambling thoughts on Revolutionary Road. Next month's pick....The Glass Castle by Jeanette Walls. Very interesting book!