Title: The Road
Author: Cormac McCarthy
Published: September 26, 2006
Date Read: Sept 1, 2016 (just realized almost the 10 year anniversary!)
A searing, post-apocalyptic novel destined to become Cormac McCarthy’s masterpiece.
A father and his son walk alone through burned America. Nothing moves in the ravaged landscape save the ash on the wind. It is cold enough to crack stones, and when the snow falls it is gray. The sky is dark. Their destination is the coast, although they don’t know what, if anything, awaits them there. They have nothing; just a pistol to defend themselves against the lawless bands that stalk the road, the clothes they are wearing, a cart of scavenged food—and each other.
I have never been a fan on McCarthy’s writing style. I read All the Pretty Horses in high school and I hated it. I honestly could not tell you a thing about the book. Except that some of it took place in Texas? (maybe? I could be wrong, call it mind-blocked). However, I knew that this book was critically acclaimed, and so I wanted to read it. I like reading masterpieces, and even if they are not my favorite (in my own humble opinion) that doesn’t mean they aren’t great books.
I had been eyeballing this book for a while, because I heard about the movie (my husband loved it, but I try not to watch movies until I read the books). I also love dystopians, end-of-the-world stories, and stories of survival. I love getting into the heads of protagonists and seeing how they are surviving, mentally and physically. Maybe this is why I was NOT a fan of The Road. There was no inner monologue, no thoughts, no feelings. There was also no plot, or any kind of explanation as to what the hell happened to society. It is literally the tale of a father and son traveling a dangerous road to try and get to the coast (why? I don’t know, because there is no dialog or monologue–btw, why are those two words, dialog and monologue, spelled so differently? They sound nearly identical. Whatevs–). I can honestly forgive the lack of plot. I LOVE survival stories, but there has to be something more there. For example, Castaway with Tom Hanks was AMAZING to me, and some people would have called that boring, but that is a book I would LOVE to read, to really get into the head of the protagonist. I crave that book! And had I watched The Road before reading the book, I would have probably been really excited to read the book, to see what I was missing. It turns out, I wasn’t missing much.
This is one case where I can say the movie (in my opinion, let’s not intentionally ruffle feathers) is better than the book. I feel the book had no emotion. It is supposed to be a compelling story of survival and love between a father and his son, but I thought the book was completely devoid of emotion and written in such a way that I could barely understand the author’s intentions. The movie at least had qualified actors (Viggo Mortensen for the win), who could portray emotion with the face and voice, something that cannot be done in a book (well, it can be, if the author chooses to write that).
Let me stress, I understand why people love this book. I understand that it is potentially groundbreaking, and the writing could be considered beautiful and poetic. Just, not for me. I have also been reading dystopians for quite some time now, so this version of the apocalypse was nothing new. My bad for not reading it in 2006b when it was published.
Verdict 2.5/5 stars for me. I’ll never read it again, but i am very glad I did read it.
