One Minute Book Review: The Road
The Road was my first stab at reading Cormac McCarthy (author of No Country for Old Men, All The Pretty Horses, Child of God), and it was, in a word, intense.
In one of the more incredibly contrasting works I've ever read, McCarthy beautifully describes a wretched world, where a father and son traverse a large, unspecified section of the United States, in post-apocalyptic times. The father and son, who are nameless throughout the book, walk this road in hopes of making their way to the coast where the possibility of a better, safer life exists. The Road details their journey of survival in a lawless land, cataloguing their few triumphs and many pitfalls along the way.
As you can guess, the book is dark and depressing -- very dark and depressing -- as most post-apocalyptic tales are. Though The Road is unquestionably sad and dreary, McCarthy's writing is stunningly simple and beautiful. Never has death and destruction so eloquently been captured, and it's no wonder McCarthy won the Pulitzer for his creation of The Road.
In unique fashion, McCarthy purposely strips out most of the core elements of a novel -- names of characters and places, dates, situations (i.e. any mention of a "nuclear holocaust"), so you're left with just these anonymous people trying to get by in some freakishly awful environment (where ash blocks out the sun and covers everything else). McCarthy even leaves out punctuation in his sentences, leaving the reader with nothing but an unpolished, rough-edged diamond that is impossible to put down.
I found all of McCarthy's descriptions and accounts of his characters and their situations absolutely breathtaking, but I most enjoyed the way McCarthy chronicles the relationship between The Road's two main characters -- the father and son. Their loving bond is what makes their journey possible, and only McCarthy could construct such a beautiful, poignant relationship amidst such a hellish backdrop... a remarkable feat.
I highly recommend picking up The Road, even if you don't normally read darker, disturbing material. It's like nothing you've ever absorbed, and you'll find yourself tearing through the pages to get to the end. And once you finish, you'll definitely call your mom.
My rating...? Four-and-a-half "Mitch's" out of five.
My next book: Under the Banner of Heaven, by Jon Krakauer
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