The Road by Cormac McCarthy

The Road
by Cormac McCarthy
Pub. Date: March 2007
Genre: Fiction
307pp

Synopsis from BN.com:
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.

The Road is the profoundly moving story of a journey. It boldly imagines a future in which no hope remains, but in which the father and his son, "each the other's world entire," are sustained by love. Awesome in the totality of its vision, it is an unflinching meditation on the worst and the best that we are capable of: ultimate destructiveness, desperate tenacity, and the tenderness that keeps two people alive in the face of total devastation.

Why I Picked It:
I've heard so many differing opinions about this book - depressing, sad, horrible, brilliant... Of course, I had to find out for myself, but it took me a while to get started on this one.

My Review:
I went into this book with some apprehension, not really sure if I wanted to delve into something that was dreary or depressing as many had told me this book was. Instead, I found a love story between a father and his son. I was immediately struck by the absolute dependence the child had upon his father - for survival, for companionship, for education, for love - and the caring, tender way the father instructed and cared for him.

Imagine parenting with danger all around. No food, no water, no home, no security. You must keep moving. A small child who doesn't truly understand, who is cold, tired, hungry, and terrified. An America in total destruction. Scavenging for anything useful, having to defend against anyone who comes along, unable to help anyone you find who might honestly need help. It's a bleak world. Dark, cold, covered in ash.

But the love is clear. And the man and his son are so genuine. Their simple conversations about whether those are good guys or bad guys, and the child's repeated requests to clarify that they are in fact, the good guys, because they are "carrying the fire". What does that mean? Well, I won't say.

The story absolutely hooked me. Taking me from a circumstance of terrible, horrific brutality to the father preparing his son for the absolute violent worst thing imaginable to blissful fortuitous moments. But the true reality of their situation is that they must keep moving on, carefully along The Road. It's one I shouldn't have listened to as I was trying to fall asleep - it was too vivid. I found myself staring wide-eyed in the darkness, listening to every word of the narration, not wanting to hit pause for the night. One night it was 3:00am, I was truly trying to sleep, and yet the narration continued. Not able to sleep, not wanting to sleep.

I understand why it's gotten the praise it has. But prepare yourself because this is not light summer reading. If you have a vivid mind, it might be a hard one. On that note, do I want to see the film? Um, no, not so much. It was hard enough to visualize some of the scenes for myself. My opinion? I really think the film is going to have a limited audience base.