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Revolutionary Road
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 Product Description
Originally published in 1961 to great critical acclaim, Richard Yates's Revolutionary Road subsequently fell into obscurity in the UK, only to be rediscovered in a new edition published in 2001. Its rejuvenation is due in large part to its continuing emotional and moral resonance for an early 21st-century readership. April and Frank Wheeler are a young, ostensibly thriving couple living with their two children in a prosperous Connecticut suburb in the mid-1950s. However, like the characters in John Updike's similarly themed Couples, the self-assured exterior masks a creeping frustration at their inability to feel fulfilled or happy in their relationships or careers. Frank is mired in a well-paid but boring office job and April is a housewife still mourning the demise of her hoped-for acting career. Determined to identify themselves as superior to the mediocre sprawl of suburbanites who surround them, they decide to move to France where they will be better able to develop their true artistic sensibilities, free of the consumerist demands of capitalist America. However, as their relationship deteriorates into an endless cycle of squabbling, jealousy and recriminations, their trip and their dreams of self-fulfilment are thrown into jeopardy. Yates's incisive, moving and often very funny prose weaves a tale that is at once a fascinating period piece and a prescient anticipation of the way we live now. Many of the cultural motifs now seem quaintly dated--the early evening cocktails, Frank's illicit lunch breaks with his secretary, the way Frank isn't averse to knocking April around when she speaks out of turn all seem to belong to a different world--and yet the quiet desperation at thwarted dreams reverberates as much now as it did 40 years ago. Like F Scott Fitzgerald's The Great Gatsby, this novel conveys, with brilliant erudition, the poverty at the soul of many wealthy Americans and the exacting cost of chasing the American Dream. --Jane Morris
Customer Reviews
Richard Yates - Revolutionary Road, 30 Aug 2008
Revolutionary Road deserves all the praise and adulation it's had over the years. Rarely are two protagonists so heartbreakingly real, rarely are they so convincing as living, breathing human beings stuck in the monotonous machine of life, yearning to escape, to break free. Yates advances their arc, their developments and realisations and dreams, brilliantly, and conveys relationship breakdown as realistically as Ian McEwan. This is a great indictment of the American way of life, where individuality and humanity is so easily stifled, and also a strange defense of it. There are times when Frank is happy, and it is only when they strive to break free that things gang agly. And the only person who empathises with the Wheelers is mad.
A great book, full of the kind of brilliant writing that makes you startled to realise you're actually reading. Very sad, but full of warm compassion. There's no way you'll regret reading it.
Understand the modern world, 06 Aug 2008
If you want to get an insight into the break down of family life and the obsession with celebrity and appearance in the post modern world then look no further. The need to be different in the ridiculous stylised modern world of work is covered with great insight. Love and the lust underneath it for what we don't have are there too. Everyone might be flawed in some way but don't worry about that as it's a great read from start to finish.
Stifled by mediocrity, 02 Jul 2008
"Revolutionary Road" is a brilliantly written novel of the American Dream gone bad. It tells the story of a bright young couple whose marriage, personalities and eventually more are stifled and destroyed by the happy medium of society's dictates. On the surface, April and Frank appear to be a 1950s model of perfection with their beautiful house, their beautiful kids, their beautiful car. But underneath, frustration, alienation and despair begin to eat away eventually causing the surface to crumble away and be revealed for what it was.
The writing is superb: a tension makes every sentence seem 3-D. You know that no happy ending awaits April and Frank but you are compelled to read on and accompany them to certain destruction. The 1950s setting is beautifully conveyed, from Frank's IBM-like corporation to the seedy dive with the has-been drummer.
The strength of "Revolutionary Road" lies also with the identification potential of the reader. Which bright young person has not imagined themself superior to the rest and surely destined for something greater than smug suburbia? Which corporate employee has not imagined that their dreary job is "only for the interim" before their real potential is discovered? And I'm sure I'm not the only middle-aged reader to think "there, but for the grace of God....."
How come I only just heard about this fantastic book?, 27 Jun 2008
How come I only just heard about this fantastic book? Set in 1950s suburban Connecticut, it tells the story of the less than idyllic relationship of Frank and April Wheeler. Although an onlooker may see them as an ideal couple in an ideal situation they both have layers and layers of dissatisfaction which come to the surface as their marriage crumbles.
The book was written in 1961 and seems to encapsulate all that we have come to associate with the previous decade. April appears willing to give up any pretence of a career to look after house and children while Frank goes each day to his "boring" office job (but he manages to find time for an affair with a secretary). Everyone drinks and smokes to excess - even in pregnancy. Frank's boss declares electronic computers to be the coming thing.....
Although both Frank and his neighbour Shep sometimes reflect on their time in the army during the war very little of the wider outside world creeps into the empty surburban world of Frank and April and their small circle of acquaintances. April comes up with a plan to move the family to France believing this will give Frank a fresh impetus to "find himself" but from the start you wonder if this will never happen.
Revolutionary Road is powerfully written and draws you into the lives of the Wheelers and their neighbours the Campbells and the Givings. It has some darkly comic moments and many flashes of brilliance. Yes, an American classic.
Did the creators of Mad Men (US TV series) get some of their inspiration from this book?
The Pain of Being 29, 08 Jun 2008
Expectations. This book is about fulfilling your own expectations and not being overwhelmed by bourgeois reality. Yates is the perfect antidote to American positive thinking. He's an American Philip Larkin or Evelyn Waugh mixed in with a bit of Tolstoyan revulsion at the banality and sadness of life.
He's a novelist for writers, I think. His preoccupation with fulfilling talent, doing something exceptional with your life, the desire to escape convention and drudgery is not going to have a wide appeal. His bitterness has a certain Ivy League quality to it. I must admit I kept saying to myself while reading it, life isn't that bad.
Yates manages to wallow in the bad smells, personal failings, corrupt longings, shameful secrets, interpersonal cruelty and huge disappointments of life. Yates illuminates every dark and mouldy corner of snobbery, insensitivity, anger, pain, selfishness, lust, resentment and ingratitude in our social relations. No wonder he struggled to win respect and praise in his lifetime.
Then again. 29 was by far the worst year of my life. One of my dinner party speeches is about how these days, if a person is single, unhappy in their job and living in a place they don't like, something horrible usually happens as 30 looms, because you're just so terrified of what you've got yourself into, and you're old enough to realise just how difficult it is to get out of a bad situation. It seems that it's not just single people who have the problem, married people also have to re-evaluate.
I read this book in Paris, which had a certain piquancy given that the two main characters aspire to move to Paris. Being 39 this year, I can appreciate the terror of life evoked by Yates. He does it so beautifully and with such sublime humour. But things can get better in your thirties. As much as anything the book is a satire on the destructive self-absorbtion and stupidity of the characters.
Look out for the film with Kate Winslet and Leonardo DiCaprio coming in December 2008.
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Customer Reviews
Richard Yates - Revolutionary Road, 30 Aug 2008
Revolutionary Road deserves all the praise and adulation it's had over the years. Rarely are two protagonists so heartbreakingly real, rarely are they so convincing as living, breathing human beings stuck in the monotonous machine of life, yearning to escape, to break free. Yates advances their arc, their developments and realisations and dreams, brilliantly, and conveys relationship breakdown as realistically as Ian McEwan. This is a great indictment of the American way of life, where individuality and humanity is so easily stifled, and also a strange defense of it. There are times when Frank is happy, and it is only when they strive to break free that things gang agly. And the only person who empathises with the Wheelers is mad.
A great book, full of the kind of brilliant writing that makes you startled to realise you're actually reading. Very sad, but full of warm compassion. There's no way you'll regret reading it. Understand the modern world, 06 Aug 2008
If you want to get an insight into the break down of family life and the obsession with celebrity and appearance in the post modern world then look no further. The need to be different in the ridiculous stylised modern world of work is covered with great insight. Love and the lust underneath it for what we don't have are there too. Everyone might be flawed in some way but don't worry about that as it's a great read from start to finish. Stifled by mediocrity, 02 Jul 2008
"Revolutionary Road" is a brilliantly written novel of the American Dream gone bad. It tells the story of a bright young couple whose marriage, personalities and eventually more are stifled and destroyed by the happy medium of society's dictates. On the surface, April and Frank appear to be a 1950s model of perfection with their beautiful house, their beautiful kids, their beautiful car. But underneath, frustration, alienation and despair begin to eat away eventually causing the surface to crumble away and be revealed for what it was.
The writing is superb: a tension makes every sentence seem 3-D. You know that no happy ending awaits April and Frank but you are compelled to read on and accompany them to certain destruction. The 1950s setting is beautifully conveyed, from Frank's IBM-like corporation to the seedy dive with the has-been drummer.
The strength of "Revolutionary Road" lies also with the identification potential of the reader. Which bright young person has not imagined themself superior to the rest and surely destined for something greater than smug suburbia? Which corporate employee has not imagined that their dreary job is "only for the interim" before their real potential is discovered? And I'm sure I'm not the only middle-aged reader to think "there, but for the grace of God....." How come I only just heard about this fantastic book?, 27 Jun 2008
How come I only just heard about this fantastic book? Set in 1950s suburban Connecticut, it tells the story of the less than idyllic relationship of Frank and April Wheeler. Although an onlooker may see them as an ideal couple in an ideal situation they both have layers and layers of dissatisfaction which come to the surface as their marriage crumbles.
The book was written in 1961 and seems to encapsulate all that we have come to associate with the previous decade. April appears willing to give up any pretence of a career to look after house and children while Frank goes each day to his "boring" office job (but he manages to find time for an affair with a secretary). Everyone drinks and smokes to excess - even in pregnancy. Frank's boss declares electronic computers to be the coming thing.....
Although both Frank and his neighbour Shep sometimes reflect on their time in the army during the war very little of the wider outside world creeps into the empty surburban world of Frank and April and their small circle of acquaintances. April comes up with a plan to move the family to France believing this will give Frank a fresh impetus to "find himself" but from the start you wonder if this will never happen.
Revolutionary Road is powerfully written and draws you into the lives of the Wheelers and their neighbours the Campbells and the Givings. It has some darkly comic moments and many flashes of brilliance. Yes, an American classic.
Did the creators of Mad Men (US TV series) get some of their inspiration from this book?
The Pain of Being 29, 08 Jun 2008
Expectations. This book is about fulfilling your own expectations and not being overwhelmed by bourgeois reality. Yates is the perfect antidote to American positive thinking. He's an American Philip Larkin or Evelyn Waugh mixed in with a bit of Tolstoyan revulsion at the banality and sadness of life.
He's a novelist for writers, I think. His preoccupation with fulfilling talent, doing something exceptional with your life, the desire to escape convention and drudgery is not going to have a wide appeal. His bitterness has a certain Ivy League quality to it. I must admit I kept saying to myself while reading it, life isn't that bad.
Yates manages to wallow in the bad smells, personal failings, corrupt longings, shameful secrets, interpersonal cruelty and huge disappointments of life. Yates illuminates every dark and mouldy corner of snobbery, insensitivity, anger, pain, selfishness, lust, resentment and ingratitude in our social relations. No wonder he struggled to win respect and praise in his lifetime.
Then again. 29 was by far the worst year of my life. One of my dinner party speeches is about how these days, if a person is single, unhappy in their job and living in a place they don't like, something horrible usually happens as 30 looms, because you're just so terrified of what you've got yourself into, and you're old enough to realise just how difficult it is to get out of a bad situation. It seems that it's not just single people who have the problem, married people also have to re-evaluate.
I read this book in Paris, which had a certain piquancy given that the two main characters aspire to move to Paris. Being 39 this year, I can appreciate the terror of life evoked by Yates. He does it so beautifully and with such sublime humour. But things can get better in your thirties. As much as anything the book is a satire on the destructive self-absorbtion and stupidity of the characters.
Look out for the film with Kate Winslet and Leonardo DiCaprio coming in December 2008. Excellent but flawed in style, 08 Feb 2008
In all honesty, I give this book just short of 4 stars. It is an excellent book and well worth reading. And like the 2007 film adaptation, it's as equally fascinating and flawed.
The film in comparison is flawed in that it attempts to squeeze an awful lot into a 100 minute running time. The book is flawed in that what it has in insight, it lacks in literary style and voice. The characters of Nietzsche and Breuer become little more than mouthpieces of psychology and analysis in action. Of course, that is a strong part of the book, but it sacrifices any real shading to the characters and neither of them has their own independent voice outside of the author's.
Another minor flaw (tackled as clumsily in the film adaptation) is a very important hypnosis scene. I won't go into details here and spoil the narrative, but where as in the film it feels a 'cop out', in the book it borders on almost dismissive. Again, this is down to Yalom's cut and dried (almost naive?) style of exposition.
And yet, despite these flaw, the book is a gripping read. The real joy comes in unravelling the obsessions (thus fears) of both protagonists, and in turn, your own self. In fact, there's very little in this book you cannot identify with and graced with moments of genuine emotion that moved this reader to tears more than once.
In a strange way, the film and the book are almost companion pieces. One succeeds where the other falls, and it is to Yalom's credit that, despite the flaws, his book is a genuinely moving account of friendship, reclaiming the self and 'amor fati'.
An ideal book for those feeling lost in their own lives or having just emerged from a broken relationship. Excellent, but like I said, give the film a try as well... Emotionally probing read, 19 Aug 2007
A fictional account of the meeting of two great historical minds from the fields of psychology and philosophy.
This book is a clever, insightful texts that autopsies a consumptive obsession and delves into the depths of human emotion and the mind; an interesting read tackling the eternal questions of love and the meaning of life. An extraordinary read, 23 Sep 2004
Dr Yalom's novel is set in Vienna at the end of the 19th century, on the eve of the birth of psychoanalysis. The main characters are the philosopher Friedrich Nietzsche, Dr Joseph Bauer, one of the founders of psychoanalysis, and a then young (the year is 1882) medical intern called Sigmund Freud. As these protagonists discuss their ideas, preoccupations and frustrations, they create an original plot of a fictional relationship between an exceptional analysand and a talented analyst. As the fictional dialogue between Breuer and Nietzsche unfolds, the reader becomes aware of the fact that at this epoch it must have been the first time that a doctor realised that what mattered is not what a patient said but that he said it. These were truly the first steps towards psychotherapy. Breuer's task was not made easy by Nietzsche's character. His social fears and his misanthropy made him select an impersonal and distant style. His tone was often harsh and brittle, particularly when he talked about his deceptive lover, Lou Salomé, a woman Nietzsche actually met in the spring of 1882. The unpleasant experience he had with this one and only love affair made him resentful towards women. He felt that they corrupted and spoiled him, he avoided them because he thought that he was ill suited for them. This partly explains Nietzsche's total isolation, his feeling of belonging nowhere, having no lover, no circle of friends, no home, no family hearth, his life sounding like a hollow echo. A wonderful achievement showing sad and troubled characters in an intriguing cross-discussion of philosophy and emerging psychotherapy, yet as gripping to read as a detective story. SAD TO HAVE FINISHED IT !!, 26 Jul 2004
Having just finished this amazing book I feel compeled to add a line. It has been a long time since a book took over my whole and outmost interest. I just had to make up time to read it. Now that its finished I feel sad as If I miss a great friend. I reccomend it to all, especially MEN... Intellectually Challenging and Personally Meaningful, 30 Nov 2002
This is one of the most intellectually stimulating, personally relevant, important books I have ever read. What a rare treat Yalom has given the world. That being said, this book may not be for everyone (but what is?). In many ways, I feel as if this novel was written just for me, and I feel sure that many other readers likewise come away feeling the book was written especially for them. Do you have to know Nietzsche in order to enjoy this book? You do not, but it will certainly appeal to you more if you do. I approached this book purely as a Nietzsche admirer, and I worried that my favorite philosopher might be portrayed poorly or unacceptably in its pages. In fact, he was not. No one can say whether this fictional treatment of Nietzsche is a true depiction of this great man, but it really does not matter. The importance of this book comes not through the descriptions of its characters, but from the meaning you as an individual take from its themes. These themes are grand and universal, the themes that Nietzsche addressed in his factual life--the meaning of life, fear of aging and death, each person's place in society, and both aloneness and loneliness. Everyone knows these themes, the emotions they stir up, the doubts they employ as daily hurdles on the living of one's life, the truly cosmic loneliness that each individual knows and combats at some point or points in his/her life. Not everyone can face these challenges or even acknowledge them; those who cannot will do well to stay away from this book. What a joy it is to read a truly intellectually challenging work in these modern times. Don't read this book to be entertained. Read this book to seek understanding of life and your place in it. I cannot stress enough how personal the message of this book seems to be. In the final pages, Nietzsche revealed to Dr. Breuer his one great fear, and that fear was my own great fear, expressed in words that described it better than I ever could. I had to put the book down momentarily and just say "My God . . ." That gave this book incredible meaning for me. I should say that I did not come away overjoyed or overly burdened from the experience of finishing the book, but I certainly came away more in tune with my own thoughts and my own philosophy, challenged to remain steadfast in my own intellectual thoughts and pursuits, and buoyed (yet not elated) to know that at least one other person on earth has knowledge of the intellectual and emotional struggles that I sometimes resigned myself to believe were solely my own. Please, do not start reading this book unless and until you are ready to devote yourself to it and to yourself. The first few chapters are not gripping and do not really offer a visionary glimpse of the meaning and magic of the book. The early conversations, particularly between Nietzsche and Breuer, are sometimes rather stilted and "phony." Do not be discouraged in the early stages of the read because intellectual stimulation and personal challenge await you soon thereafter, and I believe that you will find yourself hard pressed to stop reading until the very end. More importantly, the book will remain with you even after you have placed it back on the shelf. That is the greatest praise that a novel can be given.
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The Schopenhauer Cure
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*Best price found from Amazon Marketplace seller
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*Amazon: £4.17
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Customer Reviews
Richard Yates - Revolutionary Road, 30 Aug 2008
Revolutionary Road deserves all the praise and adulation it's had over the years. Rarely are two protagonists so heartbreakingly real, rarely are they so convincing as living, breathing human beings stuck in the monotonous machine of life, yearning to escape, to break free. Yates advances their arc, their developments and realisations and dreams, brilliantly, and conveys relationship breakdown as realistically as Ian McEwan. This is a great indictment of the American way of life, where individuality and humanity is so easily stifled, and also a strange defense of it. There are times when Frank is happy, and it is only when they strive to break free that things gang agly. And the only person who empathises with the Wheelers is mad.
A great book, full of the kind of brilliant writing that makes you startled to realise you're actually reading. Very sad, but full of warm compassion. There's no way you'll regret reading it. Understand the modern world, 06 Aug 2008
If you want to get an insight into the break down of family life and the obsession with celebrity and appearance in the post modern world then look no further. The need to be different in the ridiculous stylised modern world of work is covered with great insight. Love and the lust underneath it for what we don't have are there too. Everyone might be flawed in some way but don't worry about that as it's a great read from start to finish. Stifled by mediocrity, 02 Jul 2008
"Revolutionary Road" is a brilliantly written novel of the American Dream gone bad. It tells the story of a bright young couple whose marriage, personalities and eventually more are stifled and destroyed by the happy medium of society's dictates. On the surface, April and Frank appear to be a 1950s model of perfection with their beautiful house, their beautiful kids, their beautiful car. But underneath, frustration, alienation and despair begin to eat away eventually causing the surface to crumble away and be revealed for what it was.
The writing is superb: a tension makes every sentence seem 3-D. You know that no happy ending awaits April and Frank but you are compelled to read on and accompany them to certain destruction. The 1950s setting is beautifully conveyed, from Frank's IBM-like corporation to the seedy dive with the has-been drummer.
The strength of "Revolutionary Road" lies also with the identification potential of the reader. Which bright young person has not imagined themself superior to the rest and surely destined for something greater than smug suburbia? Which corporate employee has not imagined that their dreary job is "only for the interim" before their real potential is discovered? And I'm sure I'm not the only middle-aged reader to think "there, but for the grace of God....." How come I only just heard about this fantastic book?, 27 Jun 2008
How come I only just heard about this fantastic book? Set in 1950s suburban Connecticut, it tells the story of the less than idyllic relationship of Frank and April Wheeler. Although an onlooker may see them as an ideal couple in an ideal situation they both have layers and layers of dissatisfaction which come to the surface as their marriage crumbles.
The book was written in 1961 and seems to encapsulate all that we have come to associate with the previous decade. April appears willing to give up any pretence of a career to look after house and children while Frank goes each day to his "boring" office job (but he manages to find time for an affair with a secretary). Everyone drinks and smokes to excess - even in pregnancy. Frank's boss declares electronic computers to be the coming thing.....
Although both Frank and his neighbour Shep sometimes reflect on their time in the army during the war very little of the wider outside world creeps into the empty surburban world of Frank and April and their small circle of acquaintances. April comes up with a plan to move the family to France believing this will give Frank a fresh impetus to "find himself" but from the start you wonder if this will never happen.
Revolutionary Road is powerfully written and draws you into the lives of the Wheelers and their neighbours the Campbells and the Givings. It has some darkly comic moments and many flashes of brilliance. Yes, an American classic.
Did the creators of Mad Men (US TV series) get some of their inspiration from this book?
The Pain of Being 29, 08 Jun 2008
Expectations. This book is about fulfilling your own expectations and not being overwhelmed by bourgeois reality. Yates is the perfect antidote to American positive thinking. He's an American Philip Larkin or Evelyn Waugh mixed in with a bit of Tolstoyan revulsion at the banality and sadness of life.
He's a novelist for writers, I think. His preoccupation with fulfilling talent, doing something exceptional with your life, the desire to escape convention and drudgery is not going to have a wide appeal. His bitterness has a certain Ivy League quality to it. I must admit I kept saying to myself while reading it, life isn't that bad.
Yates manages to wallow in the bad smells, personal failings, corrupt longings, shameful secrets, interpersonal cruelty and huge disappointments of life. Yates illuminates every dark and mouldy corner of snobbery, insensitivity, anger, pain, selfishness, lust, resentment and ingratitude in our social relations. No wonder he struggled to win respect and praise in his lifetime.
Then again. 29 was by far the worst year of my life. One of my dinner party speeches is about how these days, if a person is single, unhappy in their job and living in a place they don't like, something horrible usually happens as 30 looms, because you're just so terrified of what you've got yourself into, and you're old enough to realise just how difficult it is to get out of a bad situation. It seems that it's not just single people who have the problem, married people also have to re-evaluate.
I read this book in Paris, which had a certain piquancy given that the two main characters aspire to move to Paris. Being 39 this year, I can appreciate the terror of life evoked by Yates. He does it so beautifully and with such sublime humour. But things can get better in your thirties. As much as anything the book is a satire on the destructive self-absorbtion and stupidity of the characters.
Look out for the film with Kate Winslet and Leonardo DiCaprio coming in December 2008. Excellent but flawed in style, 08 Feb 2008
In all honesty, I give this book just short of 4 stars. It is an excellent book and well worth reading. And like the 2007 film adaptation, it's as equally fascinating and flawed.
The film in comparison is flawed in that it attempts to squeeze an awful lot into a 100 minute running time. The book is flawed in that what it has in insight, it lacks in literary style and voice. The characters of Nietzsche and Breuer become little more than mouthpieces of psychology and analysis in action. Of course, that is a strong part of the book, but it sacrifices any real shading to the characters and neither of them has their own independent voice outside of the author's.
Another minor flaw (tackled as clumsily in the film adaptation) is a very important hypnosis scene. I won't go into details here and spoil the narrative, but where as in the film it feels a 'cop out', in the book it borders on almost dismissive. Again, this is down to Yalom's cut and dried (almost naive?) style of exposition.
And yet, despite these flaw, the book is a gripping read. The real joy comes in unravelling the obsessions (thus fears) of both protagonists, and in turn, your own self. In fact, there's very little in this book you cannot identify with and graced with moments of genuine emotion that moved this reader to tears more than once.
In a strange way, the film and the book are almost companion pieces. One succeeds where the other falls, and it is to Yalom's credit that, despite the flaws, his book is a genuinely moving account of friendship, reclaiming the self and 'amor fati'.
An ideal book for those feeling lost in their own lives or having just emerged from a broken relationship. Excellent, but like I said, give the film a try as well... Emotionally probing read, 19 Aug 2007
A fictional account of the meeting of two great historical minds from the fields of psychology and philosophy.
This book is a clever, insightful texts that autopsies a consumptive obsession and delves into the depths of human emotion and the mind; an interesting read tackling the eternal questions of love and the meaning of life. An extraordinary read, 23 Sep 2004
Dr Yalom's novel is set in Vienna at the end of the 19th century, on the eve of the birth of psychoanalysis. The main characters are the philosopher Friedrich Nietzsche, Dr Joseph Bauer, one of the founders of psychoanalysis, and a then young (the year is 1882) medical intern called Sigmund Freud. As these protagonists discuss their ideas, preoccupations and frustrations, they create an original plot of a fictional relationship between an exceptional analysand and a talented analyst. As the fictional dialogue between Breuer and Nietzsche unfolds, the reader becomes aware of the fact that at this epoch it must have been the first time that a doctor realised that what mattered is not what a patient said but that he said it. These were truly the first steps towards psychotherapy. Breuer's task was not made easy by Nietzsche's character. His social fears and his misanthropy made him select an impersonal and distant style. His tone was often harsh and brittle, particularly when he talked about his deceptive lover, Lou Salomé, a woman Nietzsche actually met in the spring of 1882. The unpleasant experience he had with this one and only love affair made him resentful towards women. He felt that they corrupted and spoiled him, he avoided them because he thought that he was ill suited for them. This partly explains Nietzsche's total isolation, his feeling of belonging nowhere, having no lover, no circle of friends, no home, no family hearth, his life sounding like a hollow echo. A wonderful achievement showing sad and troubled characters in an intriguing cross-discussion of philosophy and emerging psychotherapy, yet as gripping to read as a detective story. SAD TO HAVE FINISHED IT !!, 26 Jul 2004
Having just finished this amazing book I feel compeled to add a line. It has been a long time since a book took over my whole and outmost interest. I just had to make up time to read it. Now that its finished I feel sad as If I miss a great friend. I reccomend it to all, especially MEN... Intellectually Challenging and Personally Meaningful, 30 Nov 2002
This is one of the most intellectually stimulating, personally relevant, important books I have ever read. What a rare treat Yalom has given the world. That being said, this book may not be for everyone (but what is?). In many ways, I feel as if this novel was written just for me, and I feel sure that many other readers likewise come away feeling the book was written especially for them. Do you have to know Nietzsche in order to enjoy this book? You do not, but it will certainly appeal to you more if you do. I approached this book purely as a Nietzsche admirer, and I worried that my favorite philosopher might be portrayed poorly or unacceptably in its pages. In fact, he was not. No one can say whether this fictional treatment of Nietzsche is a true depiction of this great man, but it really does not matter. The importance of this book comes not through the descriptions of its characters, but from the meaning you as an individual take from its themes. These themes are grand and universal, the themes that Nietzsche addressed in his factual life--the meaning of life, fear of aging and death, each person's place in society, and both aloneness and loneliness. Everyone knows these themes, the emotions they stir up, the doubts they employ as daily hurdles on the living of one's life, the truly cosmic loneliness that each individual knows and combats at some point or points in his/her life. Not everyone can face these challenges or even acknowledge them; those who cannot will do well to stay away from this book. What a joy it is to read a truly intellectually challenging work in these modern times. Don't read this book to be entertained. Read this book to seek understanding of life and your place in it. I cannot stress enough how personal the message of this book seems to be. In the final pages, Nietzsche revealed to Dr. Breuer his one great fear, and that fear was my own great fear, expressed in words that described it better than I ever could. I had to put the book down momentarily and just say "My God . . ." That gave this book incredible meaning for me. I should say that I did not come away overjoyed or overly burdened from the experience of finishing the book, but I certainly came away more in tune with my own thoughts and my own philosophy, challenged to remain steadfast in my own intellectual thoughts and pursuits, and buoyed (yet not elated) to know that at least one other person on earth has knowledge of the intellectual and emotional struggles that I sometimes resigned myself to believe were solely my own. Please, do not start reading this book unless and until you are ready to devote yourself to it and to yourself. The first few chapters are not gripping and do not really offer a visionary glimpse of the meaning and magic of the book. The early conversations, particularly between Nietzsche and Breuer, are sometimes rather stilted and "phony." Do not be discouraged in the early stages of the read because intellectual stimulation and personal challenge await you soon thereafter, and I believe that you will find yourself hard pressed to stop reading until the very end. More importantly, the book will remain with you even after you have placed it back on the shelf. That is the greatest praise that a novel can be given.
Look what they've done to my brains, ma... , 10 Sep 2007
If you happen to be of the opinion that:
a) Life is a pretty unpleasant experience, full of silly cravings, boredom and suffering;
b) This world really does not offer much comfort, rather resembling, as Hamlet would say, "a foul and pestilent congregation of vapours" (and this was before humans were surrounded by factories and roads!);
c) Most (if not all) human beings you meet are not only incredibly dull but full of unrealistic opinions and expectations...
Well then, look no further, Yalom has got just the cure for you! (Not that you had thought you were ill, of course, but believe us, you are!) In his wonderfully enlightening novel you can learn all about your true ailment. However sane (and soothing) your ideas may appear to yourself, if they aren't upbeat and optimistic and full of hope, then oh dear, you are an antisocial character in urgent need of help!
Yalom offers a very easy solution for your anomaly: group therapy. All you have to do is expose yourself to hour-long superficial chattering sessions with a bunch of strangers about their private little expectations and frustrations (as if one didn't get enough of that day in and day out). This, the experienced psychiatrist turned novelist explains, will help you understand just how WRONG you are. Forget about centuries of wisdom - from Buddha through Aristotle to the infamous Schopenhauer - that might in any way support your endeavour to distance yourself from the banalities and pains of everyday life. After all, as Yalom will gladly prove to you, those great sages lived in the awful past, when there was poverty and hunger and toil and wars and violence and hatred and ignorance - things we have long overcome, as you have surely noticed (if not, you're obviously reading/watching questionable things). What you need is to appreciate the elevating powers of human contact: such as evenings spent with your pals in a crowded bar, drinking beers and discussing the Giants (metaphysical issues are so passé!); or ever exciting emotional involvements with people who just crave to give you some love (never mind what that's supposed to be).
The highly therapeutic way in which Yalom chooses to prove just how lonely one may end up being if one indulges in the slightest negative thoughts regarding the company of other bipeds is quite astonishing and does deserve some careful reading: by creating a highly antisocial, arrogant and detached character supposedly resembling a modern-day Schopenhauer, the author shows us step by step the uselessness of following that great philosopher's wise advice in order to make life (slightly) more bearable. Confronting this (quite superficial) Schopenhauer-like character with a wonderfully caring psychotherapist plus his entourage of regularly confused but life-loving patients, Yalom's novel actually provides a very good example of the power of group-enforced conformity. Indeed, in the hands of this helpful bunch of astonishingly appealing one-dimensional characters, our protagonist undergoes a great transformation, gradually distancing himself from the most down-to-earth, but alas unappetizing, teachings of his supposed master, Schopenhauer.
You see, that German philosopher really was a cranky chap. Reading Yalom's novel will in fact provide you with countless quotations from his works, as well as a pretty good overview of his life. Sure, he was a genius and influenced many other brains (such as Nietzsche, Cekhov, Freud, Thomas Mann). But Yalom concludes also that Schopenhauer was an unhappy human (as compared to the rest of us, apparently) who could have well used a heavy dose of therapy to cure him from his dreadful pessimism and socio-phobia! Unfortunately for him (but very fortunately for his readers/followers), the wonderful business of psychotherapy had still not been invented back then. So our friend the philosopher was doomed to content himself with thinking and writing.
We are only so lucky nowadays that we can resort to doctors as soon as the slightest feeling of spiritual discomfort sets in. And there's even rumour of an anti-pessimism pill being manufactured as we speak... Schopenhauer no more!
But just in case you are mad enough to actually want to hold on to your negative views (at your own risk!), I would strongly advise you to skip this book and go to the sources instead: Schopenhauer's "Counsels and Maxims" is not only a great introduction to his wise words, but just about indispensable for anyone interested in understanding the roots of our sufferings (and how to deal with them). And Rudiger Safranski's "Schopenhauer and the Wild Years of Philosophy" will provide you with a much more accurate (and less judgemental) portrait of this amazingly realistic philosopher's life and influences.
A must for anyone interested in group psychotherapy, and a good read too, 22 Dec 2006
The Schopenhauer Cure may not be the great novel that When Nietsche Wept is but it is a brilliant text. As a fictional account of group therapy at its best, it offers excellent insights into group dynamics and the way that a skillful group analyst can guide and encourage them to unfold. There are sections of the book that read like therapeutic versions of Plato's Symposium, where the dynamics of the characters, enable them to discover voices within themselves that they would not have known otherwise.
The book's central character, Dr Julius Hertzfeld, a group analyst with a year to live makes his final year of weekly meetings with a group of patients his last will and testament. The accounts of what goes on during these sessions are utterly compelling, the best feature of the book. The presence in these group sessions of a patient from Hertzfeld's past, Philip Slate (a meaningful name for those familiar with 'microcosms'), a self-confessed sex addict who found solace and a cure for his addiction in the philosophy of Arthur Schopenhauer, is what gives them their unforgettable quality. Slate does not preach Schopenhauer, he lives him or at least tries to do so. The presence in the group of a victim of Slate's earlier addiction makes forces Slate to put his philosophy of life to the test. In the course of the therapy sessions, we rediscover the central characters afresh, share some of their preoccupations and struggles.
Two features of the book left me with more mixed feelings. The account of Julius, a man who has a year of life, is not as rich as that of the other characters. He comes across through the idealizing lenses through which his patients see him, or maybe Irvin Yalom, a fellow-psychotherapist, choses to portray him. When all patients confess a hidden part from their past, Julius, prompted by Philip, also makes a confession but it seems anodyne and defensive to the point where even cursory self-analysis would suggest that much more is hiding there. Julius's idealization of his dead wife also seems to conceal more than we are let in on. His attempt to live with the knowledge of imminent dying is only half-developed in the novel. What, however, is excellently portrayed is how his patients learn to live with their therapist's death, without experiencing him as a 'corpse', someone contact with whom is painful or embarrassing.
The other thing I found somewhat less compelling are the chapters that take us back to the life, thought and work of Schopenhauer. As a genre, it reminded me of Kundera's, episodic return to the world of Goethe in Immortality, but it does not work so well. Schopenhauer is a curious philosopher - I am not sure that anyone can get to know him through these brief excursions into his life. A misanthrope who came to advocate compassion, a fame-hunter who excoriated fame, a truly great thinker who disclocated Western philosophy from its firm pedestal of LOGOS and sought to relocate it on the WILL, he needs far more time and patience to understand than is available to Yalom. All the same, this is a formidable achievement and a must for anyone interested in group psychotherapy.
Yalom reached a target, I couldn't see, 18 Apr 2006
I found it hard to put this book down. I read it in evey spare moment, until it was finished. Philosophy often poses the queston, 'how should we live'. The beauty of this novel, is it weaves many different perspectives on this question. Firstly it has the lives of the characters in the theapy group. How they are attempting to change themselves based on the fact that, how they act in a therapy group situation, is how they will act in the real world. If they can analyse and change, how they act in the group they can identify their problems and combat them. Secondly Yalom uses a character Philip Slate as modern day version of Arthur Schopenhauer. He becomes a mouthpiece for the philosophy of Schopenhauer, focusing on how Schopenhauer thought we should live and his pessimistic account of human existence. To add a futher dimension, biographical accounts of Schopenhauer's life are added and selected quotes begin each chapter. Although certain view-points are seen more sympathetically than others, different characters expess doubt and alternative opinions. We are not just force-fed Schopenhauers bleak opinions. I think that the book does two things, firstly it criticises psychotherapy for ignoring the fagitily and inherent weakness/ anxieties of the human condition. Our proplems are not all the result of individual neurosises. At the same time it highlights the fact that philosophical speculation on how we should live and how we view the world are heavily influenced by individual concerns, and personal past-experiences. This is just an overview, its well worth reading the book to find as it touches on subjects relevant to everyone. Yalom has created a book that any mere biped can understand, but leaves no easy answers.
Fascinating Until the Very End, 07 Aug 2005
As a psychiatrist, now newly retired, who has read most of Yalom's books, including his standard textbook on group therapy, I knew more or less what to expect in terms of the descriptions of group process. What surprised me was the heavy interlarding of both biography and exegesis of the pessimistic and misanthropic Schopenhauer, surely one of the least understood and oft-lampooned philosophers -- I'm reminded of that line from one of Ira Gershwin's lyrics: "My evenings were sour/Spent with Schopenhauer" -- whose writings are quoted, in translation, extensively to make certain points. As one of the group's participants says late in the book, the quotations are highly selected to make a certain kind of point, and many of Schopenhauer's other writings that contradict those quotations are conveniently passed over. Still, it's a daring literary conceit and one that Yalom very nearly pulled off. One certainly admires his daring is attempting it. As a novel, one comes to care for the characters -- with some exceptions -- and the story carries one along. Unfortunately, the last fifty pages or so feel arbitrary, casually tossed off, and thus disappointing. One senses that Yalom cares for his characters, toward the end, as little as Schopenhauer cared for 'human bipeds,' to use his term. I am glad to have read this novel. Yalom is an interesting writer. I do wish it had been better edited, though.
A Book That Matters, 28 Dec 2004
Yalom writes about things that matter. Anyone who practices therapy (or not), individual or group, - on either side of the couch - must read Yalom. The Schopenhauer Cure takes us on a journey from disconnection to connection, a matter of life and death. Death turns our awareness to life: we connect "through the commonality of our suffering..." (p. 323). Not only is Yalom a great novelist, but also a brilliant therapist. His earlier work touches on the essence of human nature. It is hard to believe that a single writer can get down to the core of so many vital issues. He began his work with a textbook - The Theory and Practice of Group Psychotherapy (1970), and writing novels in 1991 - coming full circle from a text on the subject of group therapy to a novel about it. If I would have only discovered Yalom 35 years ago I would be much further along. But then the readiness is all - and I am now ready. After his diagnosis of malignant cancer and having only a year of life left, psychotherapist Julius Hertzfeld looks up Phillip - a patient from the past who he felt had failed in treatment years earlier. Julius invites him into his group on a deal - the group in exchange for supervision. In some odd way I love Phillip - a Schopenhauer scholar whose life parallels the philosopher's and whose philosophy is woven throughout the novel - men who could not bond with others. In The Schopenhauer Cure I watch Phillip unfold. Philosophy, endings/beginnings, connections/disconnections, life/death, and suffering are woven throughout. The Schopenhauer Cure is a message in living life to the fullest - even in the face of imminent death. Although Julius has cancer, he continues to live to do what he loves most - group therapy. Death takes care of itself - our job is to live; but "to learn to live well, one must first learn to die well." (p. 69). Yalom's novel depicts group therapy at its finest. If there is one message that Yalom cries over the roof tops, it is this: "It's not ideas, nor vision, nor tools that truly matter in therapy.... - it's always the relationship." (p. 62). Yalom gets into the hearts of the participants as well as the therapist - and the thoughts that pass through their minds. Julius learns along with the group members - they are traveling the path together, and I with them. It is a journey through the emotional-relational world of the characters that Yalom so realistically creates - it is a real world. I wait for The Schopenhauer Cure to appear as a screenplay. But all things must come to an end - even this novel. That's the nature of life. I don't want the group to end, for Julius Hertzfeld to end, for the novel to end. I read more slowly to keep them with me longer - Julius, Phillip, Tony, Pam and the others. They talk about things that matter - relationships, emotions, and together we move through broken pasts, ultimately arriving at connection.
Yalom is up there with Nietzsche. He is bold enough to face the inevitable - death. "Of all that is written, I love only what a person hath written with his blood", (Nietzsche in Thus Spake Zarathustra; p. 39). And Yalom writes with his blood.
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Customer Reviews
Richard Yates - Revolutionary Road, 30 Aug 2008
Revolutionary Road deserves all the praise and adulation it's had over the years. Rarely are two protagonists so heartbreakingly real, rarely are they so convincing as living, breathing human beings stuck in the monotonous machine of life, yearning to escape, to break free. Yates advances their arc, their developments and realisations and dreams, brilliantly, and conveys relationship breakdown as realistically as Ian McEwan. This is a great indictment of the American way of life, where individuality and humanity is so easily stifled, and also a strange defense of it. There are times when Frank is happy, and it is only when they strive to break free that things gang agly. And the only person who empathises with the Wheelers is mad.
A great book, full of the kind of brilliant writing that makes you startled to realise you're actually reading. Very sad, but full of warm compassion. There's no way you'll regret reading it. Understand the modern world, 06 Aug 2008
If you want to get an insight into the break down of family life and the obsession with celebrity and appearance in the post modern world then look no further. The need to be different in the ridiculous stylised modern world of work is covered with great insight. Love and the lust underneath it for what we don't have are there too. Everyone might be flawed in some way but don't worry about that as it's a great read from start to finish. Stifled by mediocrity, 02 Jul 2008
"Revolutionary Road" is a brilliantly written novel of the American Dream gone bad. It tells the story of a bright young couple whose marriage, personalities and eventually more are stifled and destroyed by the happy medium of society's dictates. On the surface, April and Frank appear to be a 1950s model of perfection with their beautiful house, their beautiful kids, their beautiful car. But underneath, frustration, alienation and despair begin to eat away eventually causing the surface to crumble away and be revealed for what it was.
The writing is superb: a tension makes every sentence seem 3-D. You know that no happy ending awaits April and Frank but you are compelled to read on and accompany them to certain destruction. The 1950s setting is beautifully conveyed, from Frank's IBM-like corporation to the seedy dive with the has-been drummer.
The strength of "Revolutionary Road" lies also with the identification potential of the reader. Which bright young person has not imagined themself superior to the rest and surely destined for something greater than smug suburbia? Which corporate employee has not imagined that their dreary job is "only for the interim" before their real potential is discovered? And I'm sure I'm not the only middle-aged reader to think "there, but for the grace of God....." How come I only just heard about this fantastic book?, 27 Jun 2008
How come I only just heard about this fantastic book? Set in 1950s suburban Connecticut, it tells the story of the less than idyllic relationship of Frank and April Wheeler. Although an onlooker may see them as an ideal couple in an ideal situation they both have layers and layers of dissatisfaction which come to the surface as their marriage crumbles.
The book was written in 1961 and seems to encapsulate all that we have come to associate with the previous decade. April appears willing to give up any pretence of a career to look after house and children while Frank goes each day to his "boring" office job (but he manages to find time for an affair with a secretary). Everyone drinks and smokes to excess - even in pregnancy. Frank's boss declares electronic computers to be the coming thing.....
Although both Frank and his neighbour Shep sometimes reflect on their time in the army during the war very little of the wider outside world creeps into the empty surburban world of Frank and April and their small circle of acquaintances. April comes up with a plan to move the family to France believing this will give Frank a fresh impetus to "find himself" but from the start you wonder if this will never happen.
Revolutionary Road is powerfully written and draws you into the lives of the Wheelers and their neighbours the Campbells and the Givings. It has some darkly comic moments and many flashes of brilliance. Yes, an American classic.
Did the creators of Mad Men (US TV series) get some of their inspiration from this book?
The Pain of Being 29, 08 Jun 2008
Expectations. This book is about fulfilling your own expectations and not being overwhelmed by bourgeois reality. Yates is the perfect antidote to American positive thinking. He's an American Philip Larkin or Evelyn Waugh mixed in with a bit of Tolstoyan revulsion at the banality and sadness of life.
He's a novelist for writers, I think. His preoccupation with fulfilling talent, doing something exceptional with your life, the desire to escape convention and drudgery is not going to have a wide appeal. His bitterness has a certain Ivy League quality to it. I must admit I kept saying to myself while reading it, life isn't that bad.
Yates manages to wallow in the bad smells, personal failings, corrupt longings, shameful secrets, interpersonal cruelty and huge disappointments of life. Yates illuminates every dark and mouldy corner of snobbery, insensitivity, anger, pain, selfishness, lust, resentment and ingratitude in our social relations. No wonder he struggled to win respect and praise in his lifetime.
Then again. 29 was by far the worst year of my life. One of my dinner party speeches is about how these days, if a person is single, unhappy in their job and living in a place they don't like, something horrible usually happens as 30 looms, because you're just so terrified of what you've got yourself into, and you're old enough to realise just how difficult it is to get out of a bad situation. It seems that it's not just single people who have the problem, married people also have to re-evaluate.
I read this book in Paris, which had a certain piquancy given that the two main characters aspire to move to Paris. Being 39 this year, I can appreciate the terror of life evoked by Yates. He does it so beautifully and with such sublime humour. But things can get better in your thirties. As much as anything the book is a satire on the destructive self-absorbtion and stupidity of the characters.
Look out for the film with Kate Winslet and Leonardo DiCaprio coming in December 2008. Excellent but flawed in style, 08 Feb 2008
In all honesty, I give this book just short of 4 stars. It is an excellent book and well worth reading. And like the 2007 film adaptation, it's as equally fascinating and flawed.
The film in comparison is flawed in that it attempts to squeeze an awful lot into a 100 minute running time. The book is flawed in that what it has in insight, it lacks in literary style and voice. The characters of Nietzsche and Breuer become little more than mouthpieces of psychology and analysis in action. Of course, that is a strong part of the book, but it sacrifices any real shading to the characters and neither of them has their own independent voice outside of the author's.
Another minor flaw (tackled as clumsily in the film adaptation) is a very important hypnosis scene. I won't go into details here and spoil the narrative, but where as in the film it feels a 'cop out', in the book it borders on almost dismissive. Again, this is down to Yalom's cut and dried (almost naive?) style of exposition.
And yet, despite these flaw, the book is a gripping read. The real joy comes in unravelling the obsessions (thus fears) of both protagonists, and in turn, your own self. In fact, there's very little in this book you cannot identify with and graced with moments of genuine emotion that moved this reader to tears more than once.
In a strange way, the film and the book are almost companion pieces. One succeeds where the other falls, and it is to Yalom's credit that, despite the flaws, his book is a genuinely moving account of friendship, reclaiming the self and 'amor fati'.
An ideal book for those feeling lost in their own lives or having just emerged from a broken relationship. Excellent, but like I said, give the film a try as well... Emotionally probing read, 19 Aug 2007
A fictional account of the meeting of two great historical minds from the fields of psychology and philosophy.
This book is a clever, insightful texts that autopsies a consumptive obsession and delves into the depths of human emotion and the mind; an interesting read tackling the eternal questions of love and the meaning of life. An extraordinary read, 23 Sep 2004
Dr Yalom's novel is set in Vienna at the end of the 19th century, on the eve of the birth of psychoanalysis. The main characters are the philosopher Friedrich Nietzsche, Dr Joseph Bauer, one of the founders of psychoanalysis, and a then young (the year is 1882) medical intern called Sigmund Freud. As these protagonists discuss their ideas, preoccupations and frustrations, they create an original plot of a fictional relationship between an exceptional analysand and a talented analyst. As the fictional dialogue between Breuer and Nietzsche unfolds, the reader becomes aware of the fact that at this epoch it must have been the first time that a doctor realised that what mattered is not what a patient said but that he said it. These were truly the first steps towards psychotherapy. Breuer's task was not made easy by Nietzsche's character. His social fears and his misanthropy made him select an impersonal and distant style. His tone was often harsh and brittle, particularly when he talked about his deceptive lover, Lou Salomé, a woman Nietzsche actually met in the spring of 1882. The unpleasant experience he had with this one and only love affair made him resentful towards women. He felt that they corrupted and spoiled him, he avoided them because he thought that he was ill suited for them. This partly explains Nietzsche's total isolation, his feeling of belonging nowhere, having no lover, no circle of friends, no home, no family hearth, his life sounding like a hollow echo. A wonderful achievement showing sad and troubled characters in an intriguing cross-discussion of philosophy and emerging psychotherapy, yet as gripping to read as a detective story. SAD TO HAVE FINISHED IT !!, 26 Jul 2004
Having just finished this amazing book I feel compeled to add a line. It has been a long time since a book took over my whole and outmost interest. I just had to make up time to read it. Now that its finished I feel sad as If I miss a great friend. I reccomend it to all, especially MEN... Intellectually Challenging and Personally Meaningful, 30 Nov 2002
This is one of the most intellectually stimulating, personally relevant, important books I have ever read. What a rare treat Yalom has given the world. That being said, this book may not be for everyone (but what is?). In many ways, I feel as if this novel was written just for me, and I feel sure that many other readers likewise come away feeling the book was written especially for them. Do you have to know Nietzsche in order to enjoy this book? You do not, but it will certainly appeal to you more if you do. I approached this book purely as a Nietzsche admirer, and I worried that my favorite philosopher might be portrayed poorly or unacceptably in its pages. In fact, he was not. No one can say whether this fictional treatment of Nietzsche is a true depiction of this great man, but it really does not matter. The importance of this book comes not through the descriptions of its characters, but from the meaning you as an individual take from its themes. These themes are grand and universal, the themes that Nietzsche addressed in his factual life--the meaning of life, fear of aging and death, each person's place in society, and both aloneness and loneliness. Everyone knows these themes, the emotions they stir up, the doubts they employ as daily hurdles on the living of one's life, the truly cosmic loneliness that each individual knows and combats at some point or points in his/her life. Not everyone can face these challenges or even acknowledge them; those who cannot will do well to stay away from this book. What a joy it is to read a truly intellectually challenging work in these modern times. Don't read this book to be entertained. Read this book to seek understanding of life and your place in it. I cannot stress enough how personal the message of this book seems to be. In the final pages, Nietzsche revealed to Dr. Breuer his one great fear, and that fear was my own great fear, expressed in words that described it better than I ever could. I had to put the book down momentarily and just say "My God . . ." That gave this book incredible meaning for me. I should say that I did not come away overjoyed or overly burdened from the experience of finishing the book, but I certainly came away more in tune with my own thoughts and my own philosophy, challenged to remain steadfast in my own intellectual thoughts and pursuits, and buoyed (yet not elated) to know that at least one other person on earth has knowledge of the intellectual and emotional struggles that I sometimes resigned myself to believe were solely my own. Please, do not start reading this book unless and until you are ready to devote yourself to it and to yourself. The first few chapters are not gripping and do not really offer a visionary glimpse of the meaning and magic of the book. The early conversations, particularly between Nietzsche and Breuer, are sometimes rather stilted and "phony." Do not be discouraged in the early stages of the read because intellectual stimulation and personal challenge await you soon thereafter, and I believe that you will find yourself hard pressed to stop reading until the very end. More importantly, the book will remain with you even after you have placed it back on the shelf. That is the greatest praise that a novel can be given.
Look what they've done to my brains, ma... , 10 Sep 2007
If you happen to be of the opinion that:
a) Life is a pretty unpleasant experience, full of silly cravings, boredom and suffering;
b) This world really does not offer much comfort, rather resembling, as Hamlet would say, "a foul and pestilent congregation of vapours" (and this was before humans were surrounded by factories and roads!);
c) Most (if not all) human beings you meet are not only incredibly dull but full of unrealistic opinions and expectations...
Well then, look no further, Yalom has got just the cure for you! (Not that you had thought you were ill, of course, but believe us, you are!) In his wonderfully enlightening novel you can learn all about your true ailment. However sane (and soothing) your ideas may appear to yourself, if they aren't upbeat and optimistic and full of hope, then oh dear, you are an antisocial character in urgent need of help!
Yalom offers a very easy solution for your anomaly: group therapy. All you have to do is expose yourself to hour-long superficial chattering sessions with a bunch of strangers about their private little expectations and frustrations (as if one didn't get enough of that day in and day out). This, the experienced psychiatrist turned novelist explains, will help you understand just how WRONG you are. Forget about centuries of wisdom - from Buddha through Aristotle to the infamous Schopenhauer - that might in any way support your endeavour to distance yourself from the banalities and pains of everyday life. After all, as Yalom will gladly prove to you, those great sages lived in the awful past, when there was poverty and hunger and toil and wars and violence and hatred and ignorance - things we have long overcome, as you have surely noticed (if not, you're obviously reading/watching questionable things). What you need is to appreciate the elevating powers of human contact: such as evenings spent with your pals in a crowded bar, drinking beers and discussing the Giants (metaphysical issues are so passé!); or ever exciting emotional involvements with people who just crave to give you some love (never mind what that's supposed to be).
The highly therapeutic way in which Yalom chooses to prove just how lonely one may end up being if one indulges in the slightest negative thoughts regarding the company of other bipeds is quite astonishing and does deserve some careful reading: by creating a highly antisocial, arrogant and detached character supposedly resembling a modern-day Schopenhauer, the author shows us step by step the uselessness of following that great philosopher's wise advice in order to make life (slightly) more bearable. Confronting this (quite superficial) Schopenhauer-like character with a wonderfully caring psychotherapist plus his entourage of regularly confused but life-loving patients, Yalom's novel actually provides a very good example of the power of group-enforced conformity. Indeed, in the hands of this helpful bunch of astonishingly appealing one-dimensional characters, our protagonist undergoes a great transformation, gradually distancing himself from the most down-to-earth, but alas unappetizing, teachings of his supposed master, Schopenhauer.
You see, that German philosopher really was a cranky chap. Reading Yalom's novel will in fact provide you with countless quotations from his works, as well as a pretty good overview of his life. Sure, he was a genius and influenced many other brains (such as Nietzsche, Cekhov, Freud, Thomas Mann). But Yalom concludes also that Schopenhauer was an unhappy human (as compared to the rest of us, apparently) who could have well used a heavy dose of therapy to cure him from his dreadful pessimism and socio-phobia! Unfortunately for him (but very fortunately for his readers/followers), the wonderful business of psychotherapy had still not been invented back then. So our friend the philosopher was doomed to content himself with thinking and writing.
We are only so lucky nowadays that we can resort to doctors as soon as the slightest feeling of spiritual discomfort sets in. And there's even rumour of an anti-pessimism pill being manufactured as we speak... Schopenhauer no more!
But just in case you are mad enough to actually want to hold on to your negative views (at your own risk!), I would strongly advise you to skip this book and go to the sources instead: Schopenhauer's "Counsels and Maxims" is not only a great introduction to his wise words, but just about indispensable for anyone interested in understanding the roots of our sufferings (and how to deal with them). And Rudiger Safranski's "Schopenhauer and the Wild Years of Philosophy" will provide you with a much more accurate (and less judgemental) portrait of this amazingly realistic philosopher's life and influences.
A must for anyone interested in group psychotherapy, and a good read too, 22 Dec 2006
The Schopenhauer Cure may not be the great novel that When Nietsche Wept is but it is a brilliant text. As a fictional account of group therapy at its best, it offers excellent insights into group dynamics and the way that a skillful group analyst can guide and encourage them to unfold. There are sections of the book that read like therapeutic versions of Plato's Symposium, where the dynamics of the characters, enable them to discover voices within themselves that they would not have known otherwise.
The book's central character, Dr Julius Hertzfeld, a group analyst with a year to live makes his final year of weekly meetings with a group of patients his last will and testament. The accounts of what goes on during these sessions are utterly compelling, the best feature of the book. The presence in these group sessions of a patient from Hertzfeld's past, Philip Slate (a meaningful name for those familiar with 'microcosms'), a self-confessed sex addict who found solace and a cure for his addiction in the philosophy of Arthur Schopenhauer, is what gives them their unforgettable quality. Slate does not preach Schopenhauer, he lives him or at least tries to do so. The presence in the group of a victim of Slate's earlier addiction makes forces Slate to put his philosophy of life to the test. In the course of the therapy sessions, we rediscover the central characters afresh, share some of their preoccupations and struggles.
Two features of the book left me with more mixed feelings. The account of Julius, a man who has a year of life, is not as rich as that of the other characters. He comes across through the idealizing lenses through which his patients see him, or maybe Irvin Yalom, a fellow-psychotherapist, choses to portray him. When all patients confess a hidden part from their past, Julius, prompted by Philip, also makes a confession but it seems anodyne and defensive to the point where even cursory self-analysis would suggest that much more is hiding there. Julius's idealization of his dead wife also seems to conceal more than we are let in on. His attempt to live with the knowledge of imminent dying is only half-developed in the novel. What, however, is excellently portrayed is how his patients learn to live with their therapist's death, without experiencing him as a 'corpse', someone contact with whom is painful or embarrassing.
The other thing I found somewhat less compelling are the chapters that take us back to the life, thought and work of Schopenhauer. As a genre, it reminded me of Kundera's, episodic return to the world of Goethe in Immortality, but it does not work so well. Schopenhauer is a curious philosopher - I am not sure that anyone can get to know him through these brief excursions into his life. A misanthrope who came to advocate compassion, a fame-hunter who excoriated fame, a truly great thinker who disclocated Western philosophy from its firm pedestal of LOGOS and sought to relocate it on the WILL, he needs far more time and patience to understand than is available to Yalom. All the same, this is a formidable achievement and a must for anyone interested in group psychotherapy.
Yalom reached a target, I couldn't see, 18 Apr 2006
I found it hard to put this book down. I read it in evey spare moment, until it was finished. Philosophy often poses the queston, 'how should we live'. The beauty of this novel, is it weaves many different perspectives on this question. Firstly it has the lives of the characters in the theapy group. How they are attempting to change themselves based on the fact that, how they act in a therapy group situation, is how they will act in the real world. If they can analyse and change, how they act in the group they can identify their problems and combat them. Secondly Yalom uses a character Philip Slate as modern day version of Arthur Schopenhauer. He becomes a mouthpiece for the philosophy of Schopenhauer, focusing on how Schopenhauer thought we should live and his pessimistic account of human existence. To add a futher dimension, biographical accounts of Schopenhauer's life are added and selected quotes begin each chapter. Although certain view-points are seen more sympathetically than others, different characters expess doubt and alternative opinions. We are not just force-fed Schopenhauers bleak opinions. I think that the book does two things, firstly it criticises psychotherapy for ignoring the fagitily and inherent weakness/ anxieties of the human condition. Our proplems are not all the result of individual neurosises. At the same time it highlights the fact that philosophical speculation on how we should live and how we view the world are heavily influenced by individual concerns, and personal past-experiences. This is just an overview, its well worth reading the book to find as it touches on subjects relevant to everyone. Yalom has created a book that any mere biped can understand, but leaves no easy answers.
Fascinating Until the Very End, 07 Aug 2005
As a psychiatrist, now newly retired, who has read most of Yalom's books, including his standard textbook on group therapy, I knew more or less what to expect in terms of the descriptions of group process. What surprised me was the heavy interlarding of both biography and exegesis of the pessimistic and misanthropic Schopenhauer, surely one of the least understood and oft-lampooned philosophers -- I'm reminded of that line from one of Ira Gershwin's lyrics: "My evenings were sour/Spent with Schopenhauer" -- whose writings are quoted, in translation, extensively to make certain points. As one of the group's participants says late in the book, the quotations are highly selected to make a certain kind of point, and many of Schopenhauer's other writings that contradict those quotations are conveniently passed over. Still, it's a daring literary conceit and one that Yalom very nearly pulled off. One certainly admires his daring is attempting it. As a novel, one comes to care for the characters -- with some exceptions -- and the story carries one along. Unfortunately, the last fifty pages or so feel arbitrary, casually tossed off, and thus disappointing. One senses that Yalom cares for his characters, toward the end, as little as Schopenhauer cared for 'human bipeds,' to use his term. I am glad to have read this novel. Yalom is an interesting writer. I do wish it had been better edited, though.
A Book That Matters, 28 Dec 2004
Yalom writes about things that matter. Anyone who practices therapy (or not), individual or group, - on either side of the couch - must read Yalom. The Schopenhauer Cure takes us on a journey from disconnection to connection, a matter of life and death. Death turns our awareness to life: we connect "through the commonality of our suffering..." (p. 323). Not only is Yalom a great novelist, but also a brilliant therapist. His earlier work touches on the essence of human nature. It is hard to believe that a single writer can get down to the core of so many vital issues. He began his work with a textbook - The Theory and Practice of Group Psychotherapy (1970), and writing novels in 1991 - coming full circle from a text on the subject of group therapy to a novel about it. If I would have only discovered Yalom 35 years ago I would be much further along. But then the readiness is all - and I am now ready. After his diagnosis of malignant cancer and having only a year of life left, psychotherapist Julius Hertzfeld looks up Phillip - a patient from the past who he felt had failed in treatment years earlier. Julius invites him into his group on a deal - the group in exchange for supervision. In some odd way I love Phillip - a Schopenhauer scholar whose life parallels the philosopher's and whose philosophy is woven throughout the novel - men who could not bond with others. In The Schopenhauer Cure I watch Phillip unfold. Philosophy, endings/beginnings, connections/disconnections, life/death, and suffering are woven throughout. The Schopenhauer Cure is a message in living life to the fullest - even in the face of imminent death. Although Julius has cancer, he continues to live to do what he loves most - group therapy. Death takes care of itself - our job is to live; but "to learn to live well, one must first learn to die well." (p. 69). Yalom's novel depicts group therapy at its finest. If there is one message that Yalom cries over the roof tops, it is this: "It's not ideas, nor vision, nor tools that truly matter in therapy.... - it's always the relationship." (p. 62). Yalom gets into the hearts of the participants as well as the therapist - and the thoughts that pass through their minds. Julius learns along with the group members - they are traveling the path together, and I with them. It is a journey through the emotional-relational world of the characters that Yalom so realistically creates - it is a real world. I wait for The Schopenhauer Cure to appear as a screenplay. But all things must come to an end - even this novel. That's the nature of life. I don't want the group to end, for Julius Hertzfeld to end, for the novel to end. I read more slowly to keep them with me longer - Julius, Phillip, Tony, Pam and the others. They talk about things that matter - relationships, emotions, and together we move through broken pasts, ultimately arriving at connection.
Yalom is up there with Nietzsche. He is bold enough to face the inevitable - death. "Of all that is written, I love only what a person hath written with his blood", (Nietzsche in Thus Spake Zarathustra; p. 39). And Yalom writes with his blood.
Eleven out of Ten, 14 Mar 2006
The first of many things to love about this book is the bold-as-you-like title. Eleven Kinds of Loneliness. Eleven Kinds of Loneliness? Man goes into publisher's office: Man: I've got this book of stories I want you to publish. Publisher: Oh yeah? Let me see that. Man: Try this one. Publisher: [reading] Well, this is gloomy as hell, buddy, but there's something there. Maybe we can get them in with a cheery title, they won't know what hit 'em. Man: I have a title. Publisher: How many stories have you got for the book? Man: Eleven. Publisher: And what's your title? Man: ...Eleven Kinds of Loneliness. Publisher: Don't let the door hit your ass on the way out, buddy. And yet - it worked. Eleven Kinds of Loneliness was published, and acclaimed, shortly after Revolutionary Road. Didn't sell, of course, but what do you expect? It is gloomy as hell - but there's most certainly something there. More than something: misery, humiliation, pity, desperation, weakness, ignorance, bullying - oh and loneliness. But despite all this, the stories are bright-eyed and pink-tongued. They shine or bristle with life, even if it's not the sort of life you would conceivably care to share in. This is the sort of thing you get, from the second story, The Best of Everything, about a couple who are about to get married without either really wanting to: "She'd have time for a long talk with her mother that night, and the next morning, "bright and early" (her eyes stung at the thought of her mother's plain, happy face), they would start getting dressed for the wedding. Then the church and the ceremony, and then the reception (Would her father get drunk? Would Muriel Ketchel sulk about not being a bridesmaid?), and finally the train to Atlantic City, and the hotel. But from the hotel on she couldn't plan any more. A door would lock behind her and there would be a wild, fantastic silence, and nobody in all the world but Ralph to lead the way." The pleasure in Yates's stories is not some sort of misanthopric delight in seeing the downtrodden trodden yet further down. His characters are unfortunate yet resilient (admittedly because sometimes they're unaware how unfortunate they are); they bear their fate with stoicism, and there are no culpably dramatic Perfect-Day-for-Bananafish endings. Even, in a rare moment of generosity, there is compassionate relief for a character at the end of his story (A Glutton for Punishment), albeit only in the sense that he gets to share his burden with his wife, rather than concealing it as he had intended to. Whatever the pleasure, it's undeniable and unopposable, because the stories kept me reopening them - just one more - like some sort of anti-candy, as unsweet as can be but nonetheless addictive.
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Customer Reviews
Richard Yates - Revolutionary Road, 30 Aug 2008
Revolutionary Road deserves all the praise and adulation it's had over the years. Rarely are two protagonists so heartbreakingly real, rarely are they so convincing as living, breathing human beings stuck in the monotonous machine of life, yearning to escape, to break free. Yates advances their arc, their developments and realisations and dreams, brilliantly, and conveys relationship breakdown as realistically as Ian McEwan. This is a great indictment of the American way of life, where individuality and humanity is so easily stifled, and also a strange defense of it. There are times when Frank is happy, and it is only when they strive to break free that things gang agly. And the only person who empathises with the Wheelers is mad.
A great book, full of the kind of brilliant writing that makes you startled to realise you're actually reading. Very sad, but full of warm compassion. There's no way you'll regret reading it. Understand the modern world, 06 Aug 2008
If you want to get an insight into the break down of family life and the obsession with celebrity and appearance in the post modern world then look no further. The need to be different in the ridiculous stylised modern world of work is covered with great insight. Love and the lust underneath it for what we don't have are there too. Everyone might be flawed in some way but don't worry about that as it's a great read from start to finish. Stifled by mediocrity, 02 Jul 2008
"Revolutionary Road" is a brilliantly written novel of the American Dream gone bad. It tells the story of a bright young couple whose marriage, personalities and eventually more are stifled and destroyed by the happy medium of society's dictates. On the surface, April and Frank appear to be a 1950s model of perfection with their beautiful house, their beautiful kids, their beautiful car. But underneath, frustration, alienation and despair begin to eat away eventually causing the surface to crumble away and be revealed for what it was.
The writing is superb: a tension makes every sentence seem 3-D. You know that no happy ending awaits April and Frank but you are compelled to read on and accompany them to certain destruction. The 1950s setting is beautifully conveyed, from Frank's IBM-like corporation to the seedy dive with the has-been drummer.
The strength of "Revolutionary Road" lies also with the identification potential of the reader. Which bright young person has not imagined themself superior to the rest and surely destined for something greater than smug suburbia? Which corporate employee has not imagined that their dreary job is "only for the interim" before their real potential is discovered? And I'm sure I'm not the only middle-aged reader to think "there, but for the grace of God....." How come I only just heard about this fantastic book?, 27 Jun 2008
How come I only just heard about this fantastic book? Set in 1950s suburban Connecticut, it tells the story of the less than idyllic relationship of Frank and April Wheeler. Although an onlooker may see them as an ideal couple in an ideal situation they both have layers and layers of dissatisfaction which come to the surface as their marriage crumbles.
The book was written in 1961 and seems to encapsulate all that we have come to associate with the previous decade. April appears willing to give up any pretence of a career to look after house and children while Frank goes each day to his "boring" office job (but he manages to find time for an affair with a secretary). Everyone drinks and smokes to excess - even in pregnancy. Frank's boss declares electronic computers to be the coming thing.....
Although both Frank and his neighbour Shep sometimes reflect on their time in the army during the war very little of the wider outside world creeps into the empty surburban world of Frank and April and their small circle of acquaintances. April comes up with a plan to move the family to France believing this will give Frank a fresh impetus to "find himself" but from the start you wonder if this will never happen.
Revolutionary Road is powerfully written and draws you into the lives of the Wheelers and their neighbours the Campbells and the Givings. It has some darkly comic moments and many flashes of brilliance. Yes, an American classic.
Did the creators of Mad Men (US TV series) get some of their inspiration from this book?
The Pain of Being 29, 08 Jun 2008
Expectations. This book is about fulfilling your own expectations and not being overwhelmed by bourgeois reality. Yates is the perfect antidote to American positive thinking. He's an American Philip Larkin or Evelyn Waugh mixed in with a bit of Tolstoyan revulsion at the banality and sadness of life.
He's a novelist for writers, I think. His preoccupation with fulfilling talent, doing something exceptional with your life, the desire to escape convention and drudgery is not going to have a wide appeal. His bitterness has a certain Ivy League quality to it. I must admit I kept saying to myself while reading it, life isn't that bad.
Yates manages to wallow in the bad smells, personal failings, corrupt longings, shameful secrets, interpersonal cruelty and huge disappointments of life. Yates illuminates every dark and mouldy corner of snobbery, insensitivity, anger, pain, selfishness, lust, resentment and ingratitude in our social relations. No wonder he struggled to win respect and praise in his lifetime.
Then again. 29 was by far the worst year of my life. One of my dinner party speeches is about how these days, if a person is single, unhappy in their job and living in a place they don't like, something horrible usually happens as 30 looms, because you're just so terrified of what you've got yourself into, and you're old enough to realise just how difficult it is to get out of a bad situation. It seems that it's not just single people who have the problem, married people also have to re-evaluate.
I read this book in Paris, which had a certain piquancy given that the two main characters aspire to move to Paris. Being 39 this year, I can appreciate the terror of life evoked by Yates. He does it so beautifully and with such sublime humour. But things can get better in your thirties. As much as anything the book is a satire on the destructive self-absorbtion and stupidity of the characters.
Look out for the film with Kate Winslet and Leonardo DiCaprio coming in December 2008. Excellent but flawed in style, 08 Feb 2008
In all honesty, I give this book just short of 4 stars. It is an excellent book and well worth reading. And like the 2007 film adaptation, it's as equally fascinating and flawed.
The film in comparison is flawed in that it attempts to squeeze an awful lot into a 100 minute running time. The book is flawed in that what it has in insight, it lacks in literary style and voice. The characters of Nietzsche and Breuer become little more than mouthpieces of psychology and analysis in action. Of course, that is a strong part of the book, but it sacrifices any real shading to the characters and neither of them has their own independent voice outside of the author's.
Another minor flaw (tackled as clumsily in the film adaptation) is a very important hypnosis scene. I won't go into details here and spoil the narrative, but where as in the film it feels a 'cop out', in the book it borders on almost dismissive. Again, this is down to Yalom's cut and dried (almost naive?) style of exposition.
And yet, despite these flaw, the book is a gripping read. The real joy comes in unravelling the obsessions (thus fears) of both protagonists, and in turn, your own self. In fact, there's very little in this book you cannot identify with and graced with moments of genuine emotion that moved this reader to tears more than once.
In a strange way, the film and the book are almost companion pieces. One succeeds where the other falls, and it is to Yalom's credit that, despite the flaws, his book is a genuinely moving account of friendship, reclaiming the self and 'amor fati'.
An ideal book for those feeling lost in their own lives or having just emerged from a broken relationship. Excellent, but like I said, give the film a try as well... Emotionally probing read, 19 Aug 2007
A fictional account of the meeting of two great historical minds from the fields of psychology and philosophy.
This book is a clever, insightful texts that autopsies a consumptive obsession and delves into the depths of human emotion and the mind; an interesting read tackling the eternal questions of love and the meaning of life. An extraordinary read, 23 Sep 2004
Dr Yalom's novel is set in Vienna at the end of the 19th century, on the eve of the birth of psychoanalysis. The main characters are the philosopher Friedrich Nietzsche, Dr Joseph Bauer, one of the founders of psychoanalysis, and a then young (the year is 1882) medical intern called Sigmund Freud. As these protagonists discuss their ideas, preoccupations and frustrations, they create an original plot of a fictional relationship between an exceptional analysand and a talented analyst. As the fictional dialogue between Breuer and Nietzsche unfolds, the reader becomes aware of the fact that at this epoch it must have been the first time that a doctor realised that what mattered is not what a patient said but that he said it. These were truly the first steps towards psychotherapy. Breuer's task was not made easy by Nietzsche's character. His social fears and his misanthropy made him select an impersonal and distant style. His tone was often harsh and brittle, particularly when he talked about his deceptive lover, Lou Salomé, a woman Nietzsche actually met in the spring of 1882. The unpleasant experience he had with this one and only love affair made him resentful towards women. He felt that they corrupted and spoiled him, he avoided them because he thought that he was ill suited for them. This partly explains Nietzsche's total isolation, his feeling of belonging nowhere, having no lover, no circle of friends, no home, no family hearth, his life sounding like a hollow echo. A wonderful achievement showing sad and troubled characters in an intriguing cross-discussion of philosophy and emerging psychotherapy, yet as gripping to read as a detective story. SAD TO HAVE FINISHED IT !!, 26 Jul 2004
Having just finished this amazing book I feel compeled to add a line. It has been a long time since a book took over my whole and outmost interest. I just had to make up time to read it. Now that its finished I feel sad as If I miss a great friend. I reccomend it to all, especially MEN... Intellectually Challenging and Personally Meaningful, 30 Nov 2002
This is one of the most intellectually stimulating, personally relevant, important books I have ever read. What a rare treat Yalom has given the world. That being said, this book may not be for everyone (but what is?). In many ways, I feel as if this novel was written just for me, and I feel sure that many other readers likewise come away feeling the book was written especially for them. Do you have to know Nietzsche in order to enjoy this book? You do not, but it will certainly appeal to you more if you do. I approached this book purely as a Nietzsche admirer, and I worried that my favorite philosopher might be portrayed poorly or unacceptably in its pages. In fact, he was not. No one can say whether this fictional treatment of Nietzsche is a true depiction of this great man, but it really does not matter. The importance of this book comes not through the descriptions of its characters, but from the meaning you as an individual take from its themes. These themes are grand and universal, the themes that Nietzsche addressed in his factual life--the meaning of life, fear of aging and death, each person's place in society, and both aloneness and loneliness. Everyone knows these themes, the emotions they stir up, the doubts they employ as daily hurdles on the living of one's life, the truly cosmic loneliness that each individual knows and combats at some point or points in his/her life. Not everyone can face these challenges or even acknowledge them; those who cannot will do well to stay away from this book. What a joy it is to read a truly intellectually challenging work in these modern times. Don't read this book to be entertained. Read this book to seek understanding of life and your place in it. I cannot stress enough how personal the message of this book seems to be. In the final pages, Nietzsche revealed to Dr. Breuer his one great fear, and that fear was my own great fear, expressed in words that described it better than I ever could. I had to put the book down momentarily and just say "My God . . ." That gave this book incredible meaning for me. I should say that I did not come away overjoyed or overly burdened from the experience of finishing the book, but I certainly came away more in tune with my own thoughts and my own philosophy, challenged to remain steadfast in my own intellectual thoughts and pursuits, and buoyed (yet not elated) to know that at least one other person on earth has knowledge of the intellectual and emotional struggles that I sometimes resigned myself to believe were solely my own. Please, do not start reading this book unless and until you are ready to devote yourself to it and to yourself. The first few chapters are not gripping and do not really offer a visionary glimpse of the meaning and magic of the book. The early conversations, particularly between Nietzsche and Breuer, are sometimes rather stilted and "phony." Do not be discouraged in the early stages of the read because intellectual stimulation and personal challenge await you soon thereafter, and I believe that you will find yourself hard pressed to stop reading until the very end. More importantly, the book will remain with you even after you have placed it back on the shelf. That is the greatest praise that a novel can be given.
Look what they've done to my brains, ma... , 10 Sep 2007
If you happen to be of the opinion that:
a) Life is a pretty unpleasant experience, full of silly cravings, boredom and suffering;
b) This world really does not offer much comfort, rather resembling, as Hamlet would say, "a foul and pestilent congregation of vapours" (and this was before humans were surrounded by factories and roads!);
c) Most (if not all) human beings you meet are not only incredibly dull but full of unrealistic opinions and expectations...
Well then, look no further, Yalom has got just the cure for you! (Not that you had thought you were ill, of course, but believe us, you are!) In his wonderfully enlightening novel you can learn all about your true ailment. However sane (and soothing) your ideas may appear to yourself, if they aren't upbeat and optimistic and full of hope, then oh dear, you are an antisocial character in urgent need of help!
Yalom offers a very easy solution for your anomaly: group therapy. All you have to do is expose yourself to hour-long superficial chattering sessions with a bunch of strangers about their private little expectations and frustrations (as if one didn't get enough of that day in and day out). This, the experienced psychiatrist turned novelist explains, will help you understand just how WRONG you are. Forget about centuries of wisdom - from Buddha through Aristotle to the infamous Schopenhauer - that might in any way support your endeavour to distance yourself from the banalities and pains of everyday life. After all, as Yalom will gladly prove to you, those great sages lived in the awful past, when there was poverty and hunger and toil and wars and violence and hatred and ignorance - things we have long overcome, as you have surely noticed (if not, you're obviously reading/watching questionable things). What you need is to appreciate the elevating powers of human contact: such as evenings spent with your pals in a crowded bar, drinking beers and discussing the Giants (metaphysical issues are so passé!); or ever exciting emotional involvements with people who just crave to give you some love (never mind what that's supposed to be).
The highly therapeutic way in which Yalom chooses to prove just how lonely one may end up being if one indulges in the slightest negative thoughts regarding the company of other bipeds is quite astonishing and does deserve some careful reading: by creating a highly antisocial, arrogant and detached character supposedly resembling a modern-day Schopenhauer, the author shows us step by step the uselessness of following that great philosopher's wise advice in order to make life (slightly) more bearable. Confronting this (quite superficial) Schopenhauer-like character with a wonderfully caring psychotherapist plus his entourage of regularly confused but life-loving patients, Yalom's novel actually provides a very good example of the power of group-enforced conformity. Indeed, in the hands of this helpful bunch of astonishingly appealing one-dimensional characters, our protagonist undergoes a great transformation, gradually distancing himself from the most down-to-earth, but alas unappetizing, teachings of his supposed master, Schopenhauer.
You see, that German philosopher really was a cranky chap. Reading Yalom's novel will in fact provide you with countless quotations from his works, as well as a pretty good overview of his life. Sure, he was a genius and influenced many other brains (such as Nietzsche, Cekhov, Freud, Thomas Mann). But Yalom concludes also that Schopenhauer was an unhappy human (as compared to the rest of us, apparently) who could have well used a heavy dose of therapy to cure him from his dreadful pessimism and socio-phobia! Unfortunately for him (but very fortunately for his readers/followers), the wonderful business of psychotherapy had still not been invented back then. So our friend the philosopher was doomed to content himself with thinking and writing.
We are only so lucky nowadays that we can resort to doctors as soon as the slightest feeling of spiritual discomfort sets in. And there's even rumour of an anti-pessimism pill being manufactured as we speak... Schopenhauer no more!
But just in case you are mad enough to actually want to hold on to your negative views (at your own risk!), I would strongly advise you to skip this book and go to the sources instead: Schopenhauer's "Counsels and Maxims" is not only a great introduction to his wise words, but just about indispensable for anyone interested in understanding the roots of our sufferings (and how to deal with them). And Rudiger Safranski's "Schopenhauer and the Wild Years of Philosophy" will provide you with a much more accurate (and less judgemental) portrait of this amazingly realistic philosopher's life and influences.
A must for anyone interested in group psychotherapy, and a good read too, 22 Dec 2006
The Schopenhauer Cure may not be the great novel that When Nietsche Wept is b | | |