The Road
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Did anyone find the writing style an absolute turn off?
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I did struggle with the way this was written. I found myself rereading some paragraphs repeatedly, and then translating it. So, yeah, it did bum me out that I couldn't just get stuck in and lose myself in the book. The style kept taking me out of the book, at least at first. Once you get used to it, it's not so bad, but it is odd.
Griffin wrote: "Sandra wrote: "Absolutely not. His writing style is beautiful and flows. You have to just let it roll and stop worrying about details. I haven't read No Country, but All the Pretty Horses is th..."... While reading "THE ROAD" I simply allowed the book to be told as if it was being actively recounted by somebody. This allows the dialogue to blend and become more fluent, in my opinion.
I feel the same way, Griffin.
Let go and allow the book to impose its own reality, rather than trying to impose rules on it. Go where it goes.
Not sure which would be more depressing, waiting to die, or waiting to finish this book. I couldn't do it. If you like darkness and a hungry child, it might be your thing.
Ayny wrote: "Not sure which would be more depressing, waiting to die, or waiting to finish this book. I couldn't do it. If you like darkness and a hungry child, it might be your thing."Your comment sounds like it's more about the content than the writing style referenced in this thread. Certainly The Road is not a feel-good story and would not be, regardless of the style in which it had been written.
Leroy wrote: "Ayny wrote: "Not sure which would be more depressing, waiting to die, or waiting to finish this book. I couldn't do it. If you like darkness and a hungry child, it might be your thing."Your comme..."
Ayny wrote: "Not sure which would be more depressing, waiting to die, or waiting to finish this book. I couldn't do it. If you like darkness and a hungry child, it might be your thing."
That's true, my comment was more about the content. I'd say,the topic characters and writing style were not enjoyable enough to read further.
Oh, it's dark and depressing and I thought I was going to slit my wrists — longways — before I finished, but the writing itself is masterful; cogent and compelling, intuitive and fresh.That's what kept me reading.
jeric6389 wrote: "Sandra wrote: "Absolutely not. His writing style is beautiful and flows. You have to just let it roll and stop worrying about details. I haven't read No Country, but All the Pretty Horses is th..."Understandable - different strokes. The book worked for me. It seemed very emotionally realistic regarding someone's narration of a post-apocalyptic world.
I enjoyed Blood Meridian leagues more than The Road. The Road definitely has some gorgeous lines, and I can admire his meticulous experimentation, but as a doomed trek through a charred world I can't say I felt moved or provoked by the darkness or emptiness of the novel, nor did I care about the ambiguous ending or even the wrecked galleon. Something about this novel simply felt flat and cheap -- a pointless world to look at. Perhaps that's how it's supposed to feel: hopeless with a glimmer of light at the end, but I didn't really care by the end of it. That dream sequence with the father and the boy's "light playing on the walls?" Cheesy writing. Some of the stark dialogue? Dull. It's irrelevant if his intention is to achieve bleak emptiness with a skeletal style: the style sometimes seems forced and awkward for this reason. Moments of eloquence out of nowhere like poems taped onto a corpse. This is subjective but such language to me is just trying to sound poetic and poignant without actually saying anything. I felt Blood Meridian also had moments of sudden, lengthy philosophizing or poetic language that disrupted the barren desert descriptions but they were much better executed than here. Blood Meridian achieved the soul of an epic nightmare, while The Road just sat there throwing charred black descriptions and awkwardly poetic lines at the reader hoping it actually sounded interesting.
Even though this is far from my favorite genre, I found the writing style a perfect fit for the story. I don't believe anything else would have given the same effect.
Took me the whole first chapter or so...I would say about an hour to settle in, but after that I was hooked, and cried like a baby through out this book...it really imprinted on me...the writing is beautiful!
Jeremy wrote: "His non-existent punctuation, endless adjectives and basic dialogue killed this for me about 5 pages in. Did anyone else find the same?I'm a die-hard fan of the PA genre and was expecting so much..."
Try listening to it....I listen to most of my books...you will love it!!
The economy of language requires a master of the language in order to communicate mood - stark, lonely, rotten, dead, lost, groping, hoping. The road, while obviously necessary for the characters to get to a destination, is also a metaphor for the journey of the faithful to discover the good in others.
No. I loved this book. Nothing compares to Blood Meridian.
He created the scene well and the modd etc but the whole book is just tedious. The characters are not engaging at all, the style doesn't reflect well what he is trying to say and simply I found this entire work a total chore!
tedious, glum and too dark.
My son was in his last year of university when he put me on to this book. His mother and I had separated just a few years earlier and he had lived with me during his breaks from university - and had a strained relationship with her. He had told me that the story had a resonance to him of the travails that we had endured together after her choice to leave. So... the grammar, although potentially a show stopper to a pedant like me, was actually an aid to the post-apocalyptic atmosphere that McCarthy so adroitly created. I, for one, loved it and it will ever stay with me for very personal reasons.
I like McCarthy's style, but I think he's gotten better over the years. It's a question of romanticism. His early works rely on tone and minute description to create something reminiscent of drama, and how nature gauges everything that's going on inside the protagonist, whereas No Country for Old Men and The Road stick closer to characters and the way their actions guide the plot.
I found it an absolute turn on and I loved it when the book was dripping wet after I had finished "reading" it.
Jeremy wrote: "His non-existent punctuation, endless adjectives and basic dialogue killed this for me about 5 pages in. Did anyone else find the same?I'm a die-hard fan of the PA genre and was expecting so much..."
OMG this yes. His word choice and use of phrasing is beautiful but I just can't with the lack of grammar. I finished the book but it felt like a wanted to edit the whole way through. Being a teacher didn't help.
Same thing with The Road; this is beautiful prose. The descriptions are limited because the world is literally a field of ash dotted with dead trees and surrounded by water. How much description would you give that?
The conversations are terse because the father is angry, scared, and wrapped up in regrets and fears. He doesn't talk much, he doesn't have anything to say. The boy is afraid of his dad's anger and dismissals and keeps quiet.