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 | The Road (Oprah's Book Club)
Author: Cormac McCarthy
Publisher: Vintage Books
Binding: Paperback
Released: 2007-03-28
Sales Rank: 38
ISBN: 0307387895
Edition:
Cover
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 2008-08-20 - The Road
This beautifully written work is quite intelligent and evocative. It provokes deep emotion and thoughts in this reader. Both poignant and horrifying all at once, this tale of post apocalyptical earth and the father and son trying to survive is breathtakhing. I could not put it down.
 2008-08-17 - audiobook review
So, here's my first review of anything on Amazon, hopefully I can make some sense.
First off, if you are looking at reading this because it has been tagged as post apocalyptic fiction, and you like that type of story, you might want to think twice about this one. I have read numerous books in that genre, and like that type of fiction, but this one is probably not what you are looking for. With that said, it is somewhat in that genre, but the post apocalyptic world really isn't the point of the book.
Like many others, I ended up trying this book out because of all the good reviews it has garnered. I also got a new GPS that included 2 downloads for audio books, so this was one I chose.
I have read a good bit of the pros/cons of the writing style used here, but since this was an audiobook, many of the issues people had with the style weren't as obvious. Personally, if you have any concerns about the odd writing style, try out the audio version. I'll bet many local libraries would have it available, so you wouldn't need to worry about the expense of an audiobook. Besides, if you think this is a tough one to read, go try Russell Hoban's "Riddley Walker".
As for why I gave the book only 2 stars; basically because to me, it was boring beyond belief. This is the gist of the book as I saw it (although sometimes they happened in a different order):
We are starving
We are in danger, but miraculously get out of it
We find food, again miraculously
Boy convinces father to help someone
We are starving
Rinse, repeat... until the end, which really, is not uplifting in the least, but at least its different than the rest of the book.
I'm sure I will get some people trying to tell me I just didn't get it, that there are all sorts of hidden meanings; in the way it was written; in the way the conversations went; in how the imagery meant this or that; and God knows what else. To me, a good book needs to have at least some of those meanings explored. Otherwise, everything is guesswork, and you really have no idea what those hidden meanings actually do mean. How can you enjoy a book if the entire time you are reading it, you are guessing if the author is trying to hide a meaning in something? Be honest, those that have given the book a good review and said that there are all these hidden meanings - do you really know that, do you really think you got all those meanings? Or are you just trying to justify why this book should be praised so highly by pretending to "get" it?
Also, I might have been able to see some of the meanings and imagery, but the boring, repetitive nature of the whole book overshadowed everything else so much, that I ended up just wanting it to be over.
For example, to me, the complete bleakness of the world can be looked at 2 ways (and yes, I can understand either point). It was either a really easy out for the author - hell, why try to paint a worthwhile background? Let's just make it always the same, easier to write it that way. Or; it was done that way to deftly portray just how bleak and desolate the world had become without that overshadowing the more important story of the father and son.
If the story of the father and son was really fleshed out more, with much more to that story that led to at least a partial understanding of what happened to the world to make it as bleak as it is, then I could accept the second idea. However, since that story was just as desolate in what was said and done (other than a few places here and there), it just made the lack of the other imagery stand out that much more (which, in this case, is not a good thing).
2008-08-16 - Beautiful
Possibly the most depressing book I've ever read and yet the writing and description is so beautiful that I couldn't stop reading it. McCarthy does an amazing job making you know and feel the world he creates. I don't think I've read a more perfect novel and I think people will still be reading this book 50 or a 100 years from now.
 2008-08-16 - "Where men cant live gods fare no better."
This was my second Cormac McCarthy novel, after "No Country for Old Men".
While that book was a breathless, rollercoaster ride, "The Road" entertains in a completely different way.
The survival of a father and his son on a desolate, dying earth is the focus of this novel. After an unspecified catastrophe (man-made or natural we do not know and actually it does not matter) small groups of humans try to scavenge for food and shelter as best as they can. There is no escaping these absolutely wretched conditions. McCarthy does a wonderful job of injecting an eerie atmosphere and endless dread, a world where many would rather face death by their own hand than to keep going on. There are a couple of horrific scenes that might unsettle some readers but make perfect sense in the context of this story.
The most memorable, electric scene for me, though was the few pages where the father talks to his wife, talking about their future. Their brief discussion is raw and merciless.
The son seems to be the man's shadow and perhaps acts as his conscience. Situations arise when the two of them have to make tough decisions. Their discussions had me thinking of what I would have done in their positions. If nothing else this book should make you appreciate a lot of things we take for granted, the simple pleasure of seeing the sun in the sky, or flipping a switch on a wall to receive light, for example.
The ending, for me, was surprisingly satisfying, even though it felt a little rushed. But for a work of art and Pulitzer Prize winning novel, "The Road" is certainly is a page-turner.
2008-08-16 - Depth Expressed through Brevity
Cormac McCarthy's "The Road" covers topics of great depth, including the nature of a father's relationship with his son, in austere brevity. As in McCarthy's book, No Country for Old Men (Vintage International), the author utilizes a staccato and direct prose to address and probe issues of great scale and scope.
The dark and foreboding background of this story is always hovering around the storyline in a manner that is rarely duplicated across literature. The simplicity with which the story arc evolves, combined with this ever-present background, make for a framework around which topics such as a father-son relationship stand out in interesting relief.
I highly recommend this book.
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