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The Road Cormac McCarthy 8601234572527 Books

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The Road Cormac McCarthy 8601234572527 Books

Cormac McCarthy's novel "The Road" is spare, minimalist and bleak. The book tells the story of a father and his young son, both unnamed, as they wander the wasteland of what was America in the aftermath of an unspecified catastrophe. Civilization has ended, dead bodies are everywhere, as are the rusting remnants of culture. The few survivors resort to cannibalism and to mutual distrust, and we have a Hobbseian picture of the "war of all against all".

McCarthy makes full use of the depressing, ravaged character of his story. The paragraphs are spare, the two protagonists speak tersely, laconically, and obliquely to each other (sometimes no more than "ok", "ok") and the scenes can be chilling as father and son, the "good guys" fight against others to stay alive and frequently act callously. Yet, I think there is more underlying this book, and its ultimate message is one of fortitude.

A major theme of the book is the love of the father for his son, as the father stays with his child and protects him, come what may. Another theme is the possibility of goodness, as the child protests on several occasions on the cruelties which the father deems necessary to practice on others in order to stay alive and to preserve the life of his son. The book is, in a sense a tribute to the values of the lives we currently enjoy and take for granted, as ruins from that life -- everything from ships, roads, grand pianos, books, and coca-cola -- make their cameo appearances to remind the reader of the value of life in the everyday.

Throughout the book, the father encourages the son to hope and discourages him from giving up or for indulging an understandable wish for death. There is a sense of a spiritual search in the journey for a distant and possibly non-existent God who remains present as an ideal. At the end of the novel, the father exhorts his son to "carry the fire" and when pressed for an explanation he explains:" It's inside you. It was always there. I can see it." (p.234) The message is tough and hard but with more than an edge of hope.

This book reminded me of the cliched poem "Invictus" by William Earnest Henley:

"Out of the night that covers me

Black as the Pit from pole to pole,

I thank whatever gods may be

For my uncomquerable soul".

I found this a good book, but it was ultimately predictable in its themes and approach.

Robin Friedman


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The Road Cormac McCarthy 8601234572527 Books Reviews

"The Road", is a story of unrelenting dread and nearly hopeless struggle. A father and his son are walking together in a postapocalyptic world heading to what they hope is salvation on the southern coast many miles away from where they are. They have major crosses to bare. They have to find food in a desolate landscape that suffered some catastrophic event that wiped out all living things but somehow not all humans. They have to defend themselves and avoid at all cost humans who have chosen cannibalism as a means of survival and they have to face the possibility that they are not going to find the hoped for promise land when they reach the ocean. The father and son represent the good in the world of evil. The author structured the story to highlight the father's unwavering love for his son and the son's innocent belief that there is still good in the world and that they are carrying the fire of hope. The poignancy of danger is present throughout the novel and is not lifted until the final few pages. If you can bare the melodrama the book is a stunning rendition of the deep loving bond between a parent and their child.
I hate to give this book five stars.

I'm a father. I read The Road years ago when my son was nine. I honestly had no idea at the time that I was picking up a book about a father and his roughly nine year old son. That's not a spoiler, you find that out on the first page.

Look, Cormac McCarthy writes so well I actually come back to his books on my shelves and open them up randomly, just to read a page and soothe my brain. But he digs the knife in so deep. I've actually hesitated to review his books before because there is so much beauty in the writing I just don't have the first ability to get a sense of it across.

More than that. I actually resented him after finishing this book. I wanted to shake his hand and punch him in the face. Maybe that's why I waited so long to finally admit this book deserves any accolade I could give it.

I finished The Road while sitting on a plane in Hong Kong, waiting to take off in the rain. I was a grown man, struggling so hard not to sob out loud that I started to choke. You might want to try "All the Pretty Horses" first, or even "No Country for Old Men," but those will grip you, too. I've never seen the man pull a punch. I think it also might depend where you are in your life. Just take my advice, if you're a father and you have a young boy, hold off on this, or at least read it when no one is around.
To say that The Road is a rather dark book would be quite the understatement....
As far as dystopian literature goes, this is quite a step.
The story of a father and his son, walking to the sea through a ravaged, cold and grey world, hoping to somehow, find a better place, doesn't leave much space for a happy ending. Bleak is truly bleak here, not a lot of silver linings!
And yet...and yet, this is a beautiful book.
The writing is fantastic, for starter. The style, with short and descriptive sentences, carries the story to perfection. It also has a poetic quality that softens what is said/described and gives it another dimension.
The real beauty of the novel isn't on the outside though, but resides inside, in the incredible bond uniting father and son, a love so deep and unconditional that it seems to erase age gap and life experience, to only focus on their desire to care for each other. This love and concomitant sense of humanity stripped to its essence, manage to give sense and meaning to their otherwise hopeless journey.
On a deeper level, it also seems to invite us to reflect on what makes a life meaningful beyond a primal survival instinct, what makes life worth living even when there is no hope in sight? The Road's answer is that, ultimately, what matters isn't "what" makes your life, but "how" you choose to live that "what"...
Cormac McCarthy's novel "The Road" is spare, minimalist and bleak. The book tells the story of a father and his young son, both unnamed, as they wander the wasteland of what was America in the aftermath of an unspecified catastrophe. Civilization has ended, dead bodies are everywhere, as are the rusting remnants of culture. The few survivors resort to cannibalism and to mutual distrust, and we have a Hobbseian picture of the "war of all against all".

McCarthy makes full use of the depressing, ravaged character of his story. The paragraphs are spare, the two protagonists speak tersely, laconically, and obliquely to each other (sometimes no more than "ok", "ok") and the scenes can be chilling as father and son, the "good guys" fight against others to stay alive and frequently act callously. Yet, I think there is more underlying this book, and its ultimate message is one of fortitude.

A major theme of the book is the love of the father for his son, as the father stays with his child and protects him, come what may. Another theme is the possibility of goodness, as the child protests on several occasions on the cruelties which the father deems necessary to practice on others in order to stay alive and to preserve the life of his son. The book is, in a sense a tribute to the values of the lives we currently enjoy and take for granted, as ruins from that life -- everything from ships, roads, grand pianos, books, and coca-cola -- make their cameo appearances to remind the reader of the value of life in the everyday.

Throughout the book, the father encourages the son to hope and discourages him from giving up or for indulging an understandable wish for death. There is a sense of a spiritual search in the journey for a distant and possibly non-existent God who remains present as an ideal. At the end of the novel, the father exhorts his son to "carry the fire" and when pressed for an explanation he explains" It's inside you. It was always there. I can see it." (p.234) The message is tough and hard but with more than an edge of hope.

This book reminded me of the cliched poem "Invictus" by William Earnest Henley

"Out of the night that covers me

Black as the Pit from pole to pole,

I thank whatever gods may be

For my uncomquerable soul".

I found this a good book, but it was ultimately predictable in its themes and approach.

Robin Friedman