27th November, 2009
The Road
The Road by Cormac McCarthy.
A post-apocalyptic world where there is nothing left but a handful of humans, struggling to survive on a dead planet. No sun, no plants or animals and the world is rapidly cooling – not that it matters since there is no food or drinkable water outside of what can be scrounged from increasingly rare caches. Cannibalism is rampant and every encounter with another human involves a life-or-death choice. The story details the travel of a father and his son through the blasted land in their attempt to find something, anything.
No, this is not a happy novel nor is it a wordy one. I breezed through it in a couple of days which is a testament not only to its minimalistic prose, but also to Cormac’s skill as a writer. The book takes a good look at the love between a parent and a child and lot of reviews suggest also that the book is about hope. I agree with these interpretations for the most part, however, I wonder if there is a little more to it. To me, it feels like an exploration of the meaning and purpose of life; why some people continue to move on despite knowing that the end is coming and why others don’t.
My feeling is that, depending on the stage of life you’re in, you’ll take different things from this story. Being a father myself, some of the interactions between the man and his son really hit home and made me think about the relationship I have with my own daughter. Recommended.
4/5 gogs.
As an aside, I’ve seen some of the stills from the movie adaptation and I have say that I’m pretty unimpressed. Maybe it’s because I keep seeing Strider from LotR and Omar from The Wire when I see pictures of the Man and the Thief or maybe it’s because the landscapes don’t look how I pictured them (where is all the ash and mud that is so prevalent in the book?), but I doubt I’ll bother with the movie. (Although if anyone who has read the book has seen it and liked it, let me know).
Posted at 5:21 am | Comment (1)
On January 14, 2010 at 12:21 Will R said:
January 14, 2010 at 12:21
Really enjoyed The Road, McCarthy’s an excellent author. Heartbreaking ending, tho.