Haunting. First word that comes to mind to describe Cormac McCarthy's The Road. It's funny, this was a Pulitzer prize winner, and an Oprah selection, and I certainly had a lot of people ask for it and put it on hold at the library, but I had no idea what it was about. It wasn't until I read an interview with McCarthy in Rolling Stone that I heard more about it and decided I wanted to read it.
A capsule description: A man and his son wander in a post-apocalyptic world, making their way down "the road" toward they know not what. A few, but not many details emerge about their past, but most of their time is concerned with survival. Like I said, haunting. Tender. Thought provoking. The kind of book that I wanted to finish, but at the same time was uneasy picking up. Very, very good.
Book 5
4 comments:
I went to put this on hold and discovered it's on books on tape so decided to try that. I didn't realize it's by the same author as "No Country for Old Men", a current Oscar contenter. "...Old Men" sounds way too violent for me.
Um, if "No Country for Old Men" sounds too violent, you should be warned that "The Road" is extremely violent.
It is a brilliant novel and I highly recommend it, but you should be warned that it includes some pretty shocking scenes, especially the ones involving cannibalism.
Ugh. Violence and cannibalism? How is that book tender?
I don't know about "extremely violent". There are only a couple of scenes involving violence, but there was some pretty vivid imagery that stayed with me. But yes, the man's relationship with his son, which is kind of the focal point, is heart wrenchingly tender.
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