The Road by Cormac McCarthy is my first read from the list of Pulitzer Prize winners. This book, I thought, was quite interesting. Why? I was able to conjure up possibilities of all human kind being eliminated due to wars, rampant diseases, or catastrophic climatic changes. The end result being one or a few individuals left to survive on their own without all of the amenities that we have become accustomed to. The book relates the experiences of a boy and his father traveling along a road to somewhere (perhaps nowhere). As they make this journey, they are faced with various encounters all along the road. This consists of finding adequate food supplies, staying away from strangers, and locating resources for shelter. All throughout the story, I felt, the father was trying to impart knowledge to his son that would insure his son's survival after his death. All said, I thought the book was a good read. Although, sometimes, I found it difficult to establish who was speaking at times. This was because of a lack of affirmation to indicate such. (This may be the writer's technique. I would have to read more of the writer's works to know for sure.) It took me 4 solid days from cover to finish to complete the novel.
Monday, December 22, 2008
The Road....................a Short Review
The Road by Cormac McCarthy is my first read from the list of Pulitzer Prize winners. This book, I thought, was quite interesting. Why? I was able to conjure up possibilities of all human kind being eliminated due to wars, rampant diseases, or catastrophic climatic changes. The end result being one or a few individuals left to survive on their own without all of the amenities that we have become accustomed to. The book relates the experiences of a boy and his father traveling along a road to somewhere (perhaps nowhere). As they make this journey, they are faced with various encounters all along the road. This consists of finding adequate food supplies, staying away from strangers, and locating resources for shelter. All throughout the story, I felt, the father was trying to impart knowledge to his son that would insure his son's survival after his death. All said, I thought the book was a good read. Although, sometimes, I found it difficult to establish who was speaking at times. This was because of a lack of affirmation to indicate such. (This may be the writer's technique. I would have to read more of the writer's works to know for sure.) It took me 4 solid days from cover to finish to complete the novel.
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6 comments:
Thanks for the wonderful review - I have this one on my nightstand for post-holiday reading. :)
I thought this book was rather powerful, but I remember having a hard time with the dialogue also.
It seems to be a common problem with readers of this book, to distinguish the dialog of the boy and his father. Do you think that's a problem with the writing -- i.e., shouldn't each character have a unique "voice" or perhaps use slightly different vocabulary so their personality shows through? Or was this a literary technique to show that, because the father & son were together all the time and actively avoiding / not interacting with others, their words and outlook were nearly identical? I haven't read it (yet), so I can't say. What do you guys think?
I usually have faith in experienced and/or gifted authors that they have a purpose in the way they write. I thought maybe it was to blur the distinction between father and son that they are somehow interchangeable in this extreme world. It's been a while since I read it so I can't give any specific support for that idea.
i think the road was a very intersteding and enjoyable book as well...
I think many stories have a challenge capturing the "father" "son" relationship, and the fact that this book is being made into a film is exciting as well -- I am very interested to see how they create the look, feel, and emotion associated with mccarthy's work.
Wow. I feel so odd. How did people enjoy this book? What was it that people thought it had to say. I can imagine a number of metaphors but honestly the graphic scenes of how humans are butchered alive kind of took the wind out of my sails. I found myself thinking that McCarthy gets credit for what we think he could say, not what he does say.
Suffice it to say I will not be reading this book again.
P.S. I can't really imagine how people were confused by the voices. McCarthy actually did do a good job capturing how little kids talk.
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