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The Road - Cormac McCarthy -Discussion and Reviews
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For the main part, I found the story didn’t really go anywhere. For no discernible reason, a father and son are heading south across an apocalyptic wasteland. The prose sometimes became confusing and stilted, and I had to stop and read much of it a couple of times to understand what was happening. But then at other times, the prose took on a poetic, beautiful quality that made the words come alive, so I was in a quandary about whether I was actually enjoying the story or not. Another thing that irked me was that the author flitted between the past and present without a marked delineation and it would take me a couple of sentences to realise we actually had ‘gone back in time’. All in all, it was an interesting story about the relationship between a father and son, but not one that I would read again.
I sometimes found myself a bit confused by the randomly switching to the past and back again and I also took a couple of lines before realising it had happened but that didnt bother me so much :o) I loved the way it was written, I could imagine myself in that situation thinking exactly the same thing in the same way it was like the fathers thoughts straight down on paper. And I agree with Shaun to a point about the story line, but I think its meant to be a metaphorical representation of the emotional/mental journey they are on, at least thats how I like to look at it.
My favourite theme in the story is between the father, the son and the gun. It is never definitely said but throughout it is obvious that the father is saving the last bullet with the intention of using it on his son if the need ever arose, or indeed getting the son to use it on himself. It's like the ultimate sacrifice so his boy wouldn't have to face the horrors if they got caught. I loved how this was resolved though with the father realising that he could never have done it. What a difficult desicion to make!
It also struck me how unchild like the son was it was almost as if he wasn't completely human, or was that just the authors impression of what it would be like growing up in a post apocalyptic world having spoken only to your father.
I also noticed that it was mentioned a lot that "He held the boy and after a while he stopped shivering and after a while he fell asleep" the same sentence was repeated a few times and I was wondering if there was a meaning behind it?
And is it just me or are names not used? I'm trying for the life of me to remember their names but I cant.
Unremittingly dreary.A two word review that I think says it all. Sadly my elder daughter is now studying The Road for her Higher English exam, I've tried not to put her off!
where's everyone else who enjoyed it? I'm feeling all alone hereSTEVE!!! STTEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEVE?
Well I did! I found it gripping and I couldn't put it down. It made me wonder what I would do in that post apocalyptic world. The temptation would be to lie down in a ditch and try to die but the human spirit (mine at least) would want to continue as long as possible. I felt that if I'd found the great underground cache of food as they had, I'd be tempted to stay there.
but then you'd freeze probably and the possiblility of someone finding you and then killing you for the food...
Well hey, we're all going to die of something and a post-apocalyptic world isn't going to be a barrel of laughs! I'd die full!
There's only one post apocalyptic world I like, and that's the one envisaged in Mad Max 2, my favourite film of all time :)
i think i'd rather try to fight and stay alive, so long as i had someone else with me. If it was just me on my own I dont know what I'd do
I was staying out of here because I've still to finish my re-read which, as I said in the other thread, I'm enjoying more this time around than before for some reason. For a writer, I think it's a good lesson in creating tension because it's always there in ways I really seemed to feel along with the sense of hopelessness and the main characters' impending demise. I agree with Jud on the use of the gun. It seemed to me almost like another character in the story. Yes, the past/present transitions could have been handle a little better. Keywords that let the reader know where they are could sometimes have been dropped in earlier to make it clear, but you do soon realise and it didn't spoil the story for me. Parts had me thinking about George A Romero's zombie films, only the zombie-like people in the cellar scene called for your pity and forced you to imagine yourself like that, which made it far worse.
Jud (Krisztof) wrote: "wow did you actually hear me?! ;o)"What, clutching your hands to chest and doing that little bounce you do when you're terrified?
I know, but I was picturing you as the boy in the story as you yelled it.And yes, I think I must have heard you. Spooky.
oh right yes I missed the reference there... Sorry. I'm good at doing that. ruining peoples jokes by missing the joke part, nobody's fault but my own
I read it a couple of years ago, but it wasn't what I'd call a pleasureable read. I'm looking forward to the film with Viggo Mortenson (he's mine, girls, btw..) to see how they interpreted it. I remember being engrossed but also figuring out the ending way before it happened.
I don't want to be around if that's where society is headed. Or what's left of it.
Don't get too excited Libby... I say that but maybe you will enjoy it, just because I didnt doesnt mean no one else will
Oh and Viggo doesnt even do us the decency to look hot.
Viggo..mmmmmmmm...
Alas, Libby, he's not quite the Strider/Arragorn figure you're no doubt picturing. Think hairy, smelly tramp and you'll be getting close.
I just finished it again. I don't have much to add that I've not already said. I think that creating depth and strong themes in a story is difficult and getting to a reader in a way they can feel and go on feeling after they've read a book is one of the hardest things to achieve. To do it with such brevity is all the more difficult and I take my hat off to Cormac McCarthy. I think the sparse writing style helped those passages of lyrical prose to stand out all the more and suited the tone of the book very well.
Hello people. This is my first post in this group and my first read of the monthly selections. What a book to begin with! I read it in a centrally heated room and felt cold from start to finish.The episodic style, the short bleak sentences, the lack of a true beginning or end, all added up to a reading experience I won't forget and yet I won't be gagging to return to on a regular basis.
So, for a bit of light relief, on to "War of the Worlds"...
I'd say it's a good book but not a great book. I like the way he's dispensed with any of the writing conventions that might get in the way. The stripped down style does really well on conveying a stripped down world. And I like the way the cause of the calamity is left for the reader to worry about. (Contrast that with the usual post apocalyptic concerns for how it happened.)But I don't like the man/boy relationship and the way this is handled. If the author has trusted the reader with everything else, for some reason this element seems far to literal and for me, in he end, exploitative of the reader's emotions.
My favorite bit: It starts to snow and the snow is grey!
Best wishes
Seb
It was like reading a black and white film, nothing gave me any colour and I began to feel quite dispirited, I doubt I'll finish it.
I read The Road on holiday this year. Not exactly a beach read! I thought it was compelling, beautifully written and one of those books that stays with you long after you've read the final page. Powerful stuff.
I'm afraid in in the camp that didn't enjoy this book - I must confess I never got past the first chapter.I think Lynne's comments sum the book up for me.
It featured as one of the books on "A Good Read" on Radio 4 in November (I think). The reviewers there seemed more taken with it.
I read The Road a while ago, and the themes from the book still keeping coming to mind. I felt the main theme was saying: Unless we are able to trust, we begin to lose our humanity, and ultimately, this may threaten our survival.A man and a boy travel across a post-apocalyptic land in search of other good people with whom they may make a community. Because of the threat from others, the man is unable to trust anyone they meet. As a result, he begins to lose his humanity by refusing to help those who are in a worse position than themselves. This reduces the chances of them finding those good people with whom to establish a community, and so threatens their survival, as they are unlikely to make it on their own.
The man's last words to his son are, "…you need to find the good guys, but you can’t take any chances."
So we have the final scene set where the boy comes out of the woods and sees another man. Will he follow his father's example and distrust all those who he meets, or will he take a chance and trust, as this might ensure his survival.
I loved it, and agree with the views that it's "one of those books that stays with you long after you've read the final page."
"I felt that if I'd found the great underground cache of food as they had, I'd be tempted to stay there." I felt that also, until I read your other sentence "the human spirit (mine at least) would want to continue as long as possible." And then I thought the human spirit also needs companionship - and the man suspects that he is dying, so he is seeking this for the boy.
This was my third McCarthy book and the best so far for me. I think his slightly unorthodox style suits the apocalyptic scenario perfectly. But it's each to their own. My wofe couldn't finish the book, she found it too depressing. Here's my review.It’s taken me several days to come back from the place that The Road took me. Oh, yes, I’ve seen the film. So there weren’t a lot of surprises. Nevertheless, I found myself as the man pushing the shopping trolley, trying to avoid cannibals and persevering in the face of fate, all for the love of a son. As a father I can completely understand that.
During the final pages of the book I found myself looking around the train carriage I was travelling in, wondering whether I could bring myself to eat any of the passengers. Not even the old lady opposite, who smelled of ham, seemed appetising. The Road had me so strongly in its grip, but I found that I was one of the good guys. I would never consume human flesh.
I think that McCarthy’s style is ideal for The Road. He eschews the punctuation that normal humans require around dialogue, mixes direct and reported speech, and joins everything together with description of setting and action that colours the canvas like a speed painter. There is just enough to set the reader thinking about what has been left unsaid and the subject matter is perfect for that minimalism. Apocalypse, infanticide, slavery, cannibalism, starvation, futility of being. It sounds grey and ashen, the devastated world that is The Road, but I want back in. Like a dream interrupted by extreme outcomes or some external stimulus, I need to get back in. The man went through so much to protect his son, a continual search for hope and safety. I was that man and I died too, but I’m praying tonight that sleep will set me back on The Road.
I loved it. I am glad there are still writers out there brave enough to piss off half of the readership! So few people try risky books or take any risks at all (Stephanie Plum 18 and Children of the Corn 7, anyone?)The dude gets props from me just for writing that is not cute or happy ever after. Lots of research, detail, description--although not colorful, the whole effect is potent.
"I would never consume human flesh." I'm sure that's what the Argentinian rugby players whose plane crashed in the Andes said, before they tucked in. The instinct to survive will probably make us do things that will make us unrecognizable.
Still, it'd have to be a very extreme situation for me to eat the old lady that smelt of ham. Hasn't put me off ham, in fact.
I also found this a dreary book. It is well written and I read it quite quickly but not a happy read. There is nothing to look forward to in the book. As for eating human flesh, not something I would relish but given the choices what could you do.
I would need lots of relish...
I did wonder what had happened to all the animals. Presumably every living thing that was in the open was destroyed. Definitely an argument for factory farming. Only in the event of an apocalypse, of course. Free range until then.
Once when buying eggs I turned to Dave and jokingly said 'I don't want free range. I want battery farmed eggs' Some guy overheard me and started to berate me. Honestly. Some people have no sense of humour. ...wonder if he posts in the amazoo....;)
My wife claims the free range chickens she buys are smaller than battery because they lose weight through chasing.
Rosemary wrote: "Unremittingly dreary.A two word review that I think says it all. Sadly my elder daughter is now studying The Road for her Higher English exam, I've tried not to put her off!"
Jud (Disney Diva) wrote: "phew! novel finished"
Agreed: unremittingly dreary. Also, haunting. The images that the novel paints still stick with me years after putting it down.
I must say I found this book haunting, and dreary. There was little happiness in it at all. I don't really know if I liked it or not. I am not very keen on post apocalyptic stories in the first place but this was an excellent book.
One effect of the book is to make real life seem really quite appealing and hopeful ;-]
Spoilers allowed here