It’s been called a cult masterpiece and its fans include writers  David Hare, Nick Hornby, Lionel Shriver, Kurt Vonnegut, Tennesse Williams, Dorothy Parker and Julian Barnes.

The book is Revolutionary Road and all the people who love it will be feeling that vague sense of aggrievement that you get when something you and you alone loved makes it big. 

It could be a band whose audience consisted of you and their mums and dads. It could be stuff that you used to be able to pick up for next to nothing in second-hand shops but then some Aucklander is featured in the Sunday papers as a ‘collector’ and suddenly everyone wants a painting of a woman with a green face.

It’s interesting working in a library when a book that has languished on the open shelves for years, saved from being cancelled because it’s a classic, but one that few people want to read even when it’s strongly recommended by librarians when asked “what’s a good book to read” gets made into a movie.

Suddenly the reserve lists burgeon, extra copies with new covers featuring the stars of the movie have to be ordered and everyone just has to read it. Those who loved it for years await the film version with nervous anticipation and debate with themselves about whether to go and see it or not.

Still, there’s no point in being bitter, better to be grateful that a wonderful novelist will finally get the attention he deserves, and hopeful that Julian Barnes is right when he said in Vogue that “Revolutionary Road is resilient enough  to survive any film of it.”

Want to see the movie? Read our post on how to win tickets