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Cormac McCarthy: The Road

I really enjoyed reading the Road. It was a very quick read which is good for me now and then. I know many people thought it was over-rated because it was an Oprah book and a Publizer Prize winner but I thought it lived up to both. I tell you it kills me being a straight guy who actually likes Oprahs taste in books.

SPOILER

This book really left me wondering what happens to the kid and his new "family" at the end. I hope he eventually finds some sort of town or life for that matter, if not I cant say I blame his mother for what she did.
 
Hey my first post:) anyway I just finished the Road and after reading "No Country for old men" and seeing the film, does anyone feel that the dream of the Sheriff Ed Tom at the end of No Country somehow was a reference to the Road? somehow it felt to me like it was. Thoughts?
 
To me, Ed Tom's dream was about him outliving his father.

There's a good article on McCarthy in the year end issue of Rolling Stone and in it, he confirms that it's not a nuclear holocaust but the Earth's collision with an asteroid or meteors that brings about the end.
 
read all the opinions positive and negative

i think it may be the best book i've ever read

i like mccarthy's language,i like the way he makes words up,turns nouns into adjectives and vice versa,makes you hit the dictionary

i'm just glad my library hadn't yet put an oprah sticker on it
 
I had no idea this was an Oprah book. Kind of glad I didn't know that beforehand.

Although the subject matter was bleak, I found the style of The Road to be refreshing. Stylistically, McCarthy is different from any other author I'm familiar with.

The story itself was hard to swallow. I went back and forth--hope is a great thing to have, but had it been me in that situation, I wouldn't have had the personal strength.

As for the ending, I battle with that too. Faith and hope was what got them through the past few years but, at the same time, I wanted and expected them to be together./
 
Cormac McCarthy's The Road

This is a book I couldn't pick up and couldn't put down. Harrowing, haunting and spine chilling, but it is the bond of love between the boy and his father, so intense and so strong that you cannot help wanting to read on. This book deserves to become a classic.
 
miya74 said:
Me too. Don't let the heavy commentary put you off. Forget 'bleak', forget 'depressing', just read it. Absolutely compelling.
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Yes. compelling. The book dragged me along and wouldn't let go, I was happy to oblige. This was my first McCarthy, and I'm kicking myself for not starting earlier.
 
This is one of the many books that my husband has finished in the past few months.

He is a HUGE McCarthy fan, and has read a majority of his books. He is looking forward to the movie that is coming out soon enough and we both hope that it plays out well with the book. I am sure it will be good, with the cast that has been set up for the roles.

I'm hoping to get the book read before we go to see the movie, as the books are always better, and I don't want to use the line, "I've already seen the movie, so why should I?"

:)
 
I would definitely agree that this is among the (If not the) best books I have ever read. Cormac McCarthy is definitely one of my favorite authors as I have read almost all of his books.

Anyone who enjoyed The Road might also try The Orchard Keeper.
 
I have not read this book yet but with all the good remarks about it...I may just pick it up. Seems to be a good read. Who would recommend it?
 
Vanilla said:
I have not read this book yet but with all the good remarks about it...I may just pick it up. Seems to be a good read. Who would recommend it?
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I would definitely recommend it. I recently read it for the first time (who cares if it's an Oprah book? It is first and foremost a McCarthy book). It had me gripped so well that I had some fears turning the pages to see what would happen next. McCarthy's style of writing is a bit strange to get used to, at least for me, as it was my first book of his that I read.

But definitely read it. It was excellent. Maybe one of the best books I've ever read.
 
Here is me posting and hoping for some recommendations.

I loved this book. Here is some of the reasons that made it happen thus.

First I love the silent epic quality of this one. It was so harsh and bleak, which made it believable. Because if I think of the situation that the world was in, the writing, the conversations (both which many have not liked apparently) are like that because in all honesty, when you have tried to survive for so and so long, I don't think that you are going to start philosophizing in that situation. You wouldn't care how things are like they are if you are just out there, hiding in bushes or abanoned buildings, killing if it goes that far, just surviving. Then you just say what needs to be said. You are tired and words take up your energy... So keep it short motherfucker! ( ;))

Other book that I loved was Richard Matheson's I am Legend. It felt close, penetrating the skin. Another silent epic. No bullshit, just killing cool. And I think something can be concluded from the fact that I have read Edward Bunker's Education of a Fellon 5 times.

With me, when it come to many other books that I have started (and after this there has been numerous other ones, but not THE one), the biggest downfall is the "writers writing" aspect. How they feel the need to describe, to build the setting just to SHOW that they can write. And frankly, if they haven't done that when I reach page 3, they have failed.

Here is a list of books I have started in couple of months, but not finished a single one.

One was Jack Kerouac's On The Road, a book that I think Henry Rollins (read his Broken Summers or Get in The Van if you want to kill mentally) describes best when he says "Kerouac, what a pussy". Might have been great in the 50's and 60's, but now it is stale and boring.

Others

Dan Simmons - Hyperion

Couldn't get past page 30. Sounded too grand and oh so amazing. Too many people.

Mika Waltari - The Etruscan

Writing was pure genius and mental orgasms followed. Just too lingering and slow.

Mihail Bulkagov - The Master and Margarita

Same as with Waltari. Have trouble finishing it. But not because the pace.

Will Self - How the Dead Live

Too close to home when it came with ideas. Or normal everyday talk.

Herman Melville - Moby Dick

At parts little dry reading. I got to the page 182, there are 848 pages in the book... Well written and I liked it, but felt like walking in a swamp.

Joseph Heller - Catch 22

Pretty good fuckimcrazygetmeoutofthisfuckingwar type of deal. Just didnt feel like reading it.

Ursulua K. Leguin - The Dispossessed

2 weeks, got to page 18.

H. G. Wells - War of the Worlds

Bored immediately.

Alan Weisman - The World Without Us

I didnt want to read how some fucking roof degenerates after time. Gay.

Walter M. Miller, Jr - A Canticle for Leibowitz

Just didnt like it.

I also started Robert Heinlein's book, something about some war. Bored me. Its HARD to find good books. Really hard.


So, I am in need of some serious recommendations.

Thank you

ps. Sorry for my poor grammar...
 
A first post!! "The Road" was a harrowing ride for me. My husband, handed me the book in the library thinking I might be interested--why --I don't know since it is not the type of book I would pick up. Yet I took it home and from the first page, I was in "that world" cold, hungry, and scared. I do not understand the negative reactions to this book except to say there is indeed a psychology of reading and what one is bringing or not bringing to a book will decides the assessment at the close of it. I was sobbing at the end of this story and believe me this is a rare occurence for me no matter how caught up I might be. This was a Tour de Force and I will look forward to seeing the film that has been made ---not sure if it has come and gone already or is coming soon--anyone know?
 
CharringCross said:
A first post!! "The Road" was a harrowing ride for me. My husband, handed me the book in the library thinking I might be interested--why --I don't know since it is not the type of book I would pick up. Yet I took it home and from the first page, I was in "that world" cold, hungry, and scared. I do not understand the negative reactions to this book except to say there is indeed a psychology of reading and what one is bringing or not bringing to a book will decides the assessment at the close of it. I was sobbing at the end of this story and believe me this is a rare occurence for me no matter how caught up I might be. This was a Tour de Force and I will look forward to seeing the film that has been made ---not sure if it has come and gone already or is coming soon--anyone know?
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The film (starring Viggo Mortenson as the man) hasn't been released yet. It was slated for this fall, but it got pushed back. I would look for it in early 2009. I can't wait for it! :)
 
Many thanks to Stewart and Garnet for the info regarding the upcoming film.
Will look forward to it. I have yet to see a movie that captures the depth of a book but than screenwriting is like trying to fit an elephant into a sardine can!!
 
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