Thursday 7 August 2008

The Road, by Cormac McCarthy


The current book is The Road, by Cormac McCathy. Next meeting on September 15 at Julia's house

Synopsis

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 grey. 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.

4 comments:

Unknown said...

Am getting into this book slowly, but I think it will be a really good read

Anonymous said...

I am now about two thirds through and loving it. While the subject is bleak, the poetry is sublime.

There are a couple of interesting reviews at
blogcritics.org/archives/2007/04/17/193404.php
www.nybooks.com/articles/19856

There are some interesting frames from the forthcoming movie version at www.usatoday.com. It's due for release in November: perhaps we should have a group trip to see it.

fernroyder said...

This is an extremely bleak view of the future following an event which has decimated the planet. Cormac McCarthy's writing is as usual very well crafted although the absence of any real chapters and well spaced out typesetting make it really quite a short book. Not really for anyone who is seeking a cheery read!

Peter Debney said...

As I am currently reading "The Gospel According to Science Fiction", I thought that I would check out the author's blog. He has an interesting review, which you can find here: http://sfgospel.typepad.com/sf_gospel/2006/12/its_not_as_orig.html