The Road by Cormac Mcarthy

[Lozzer]

What the hell did I just read? It was 300 pages of non-standard grammar with a completely underwhelming finish. The story is splashed with random bits of irrelevance 'poetry' of some form which leave the reader confused as to whether it's narration or view point. The story is set in some post-apocalyptic Earth which has been left in ruins and fire. It's centred around a road which is patrolled by bands of cannibals. The protagonists are a boy and his father who purport to retain morality but often end up not practising what they preach--leaving them confused. The other 'good guys' spend their time hiding from each other (particularly the boy and his father) but conveniently appear at the end.





I'd like to believe this story has some underlining allegorical point, but unfortunately, that's wishful thinking.

[Trolldor]

Read it and was fucking underwhelmed. The characters were flat and the plot had no point and the ending was Deus-ex Machina.

Epic premise for a survival-based video game though.

[Stephen]

Tried to read Blood Meridian recently. Artful and sometimes beautiful language, but to a fault- every third line or so I'd zone out in a little miniature daydream and lose track of what was supposed to be happening. Got bored and gave up.

[mmmcheezy]

YOU ARE ALL INSANE.
I'm a huge McCarthy fan...and the Road was no exception. I can see getting frustrated with his quirky [lack of] punctuation...I was never able to take ee cummings seriously for the same reason.

He also wrote No Country for Old Men, and the movie stayed remarkably faithful to the book, so if you want to give him another shot, watch the movie

[Varangian]

I read it about a year ago, and was floored. While the writing style took some getting used to (like 10-20 pages), I found it to be one of the most chilling post-apocalyptic novels I've read. I mean, there was almost no hope at all. Not a deus ex machina ending, IMO, but just a tiny hint at hope.

I'd like to believe this story has some underlining allegorical point, but unfortunately, that's wishful thinking.

Well, there's a bit of allegory in it. McCarthy became a father (again) when he was 64 years old (give or take a year), and he knows that he will probably not be around when his son reaches adulthood.

[nastler]

"The heavens declare the glory of God; the skies proclaim the work of his hands" (Psalm.19.1),
"since the creation of the world, God's invisible qualities—his eternal power and divine nature—have been clearly seen, being understood from what has been made" (Romans.1.20).

Sorry to start like that, but this book is about how horrible it would be if we could not experience Natural Revelation - knowledge of (the Christian) God via his creation. The road McCarthy places us on leads eventually back to an appreciation of a Creator. The journey will be hard because the map to knowing your Creator is His works and nature has been destroyed by those nasty "Secular Winds" leaving us "barren, silent, godless".

Let Anna Cates explain, as she did for me!

http://www.irosf.com/q/zine/article/10637

[Varangian]

"The heavens declare the glory of God; the skies proclaim the work of his hands" (Psalm.19.1),
"since the creation of the world, God's invisible qualities—his eternal power and divine nature—have been clearly seen, being understood from what has been made" (Romans.1.20).

Sorry to start like that, but this book is about how horrible it would be if we could not experience Natural Revelation - knowledge of (the Christian) God via his creation. The road McCarthy places us on leads eventually back to an appreciation of a Creator. The journey will be hard because the map to knowing your Creator is His works and nature has been destroyed by those nasty "Secular Winds" leaving us "barren, silent, godless".

Let Anna Cates explain, as she did for me!

http://www.irosf.com/q/zine/article/10637

Some reviewers have too much time on their hands...