The Road is the story of a nameless man and boy(father&son)trying to make it to the unknown coast after the world had been destroyed by nuclear war. The snow is gray,the world is covered in a layer of ash,and it's cold enough to crack a stone. Nothing grows,there is no water,no animals,and very few people left alive. Those who are alive survive by scavenging what little clings to the bones of civilization.
Some have formed into lawless bands all too eager to kill and eat the other remaining survivors. The man and the boy have little to keep them alive. They hide in the woods a great deal of the time with only a pistol and a mere two bullets for protection.
The prose in this novel is very spare which may turn off some people however I feel this is essential considering the subject,there is just nothing left in the world portrayed in this novel,it's a brutal story.
This is a story that will make you wince because it lays bare the absolute worst humanity is capable of and to say it's ugly is putting it mildly. Fortunately cruelty and survival are not all The Road has to offer us. Hidden in the ashes,love glows like a polished diamond. It is love that sustains the father and the son. They are,to quote the book,"each others world entire". This love infuses this nightmare of a story with a breath taking beauty.
Cormac McCarthy said in his only T.V. interview that this book was inspired by the love he has for his eight year old son whom he fathered late in life. Cormac McCarthy is considered one of America's greatest living authors and THE ROAD which won the Pulitzer prize in 2007 is regarded by many as his masterpiece.
OTHER GREAT BLEAK FUTURE NOVELS I RECOMMEND
1984 by George Orwell (reread this every three to five years)
BRAVE NEW WORLD by Aldous Huxley
THE HANDMAIDS TALE and ORYX AND CRAKE both by Margaret Atwood
I love to read.I read about hundred books a year(no joke,i list them)...since i shared this fact on my profile and invited other book worms to write me i've recieved a ton of mail from others who love books.This is wonderful,i hope
i continue to get a lot of this mail...but because i get so much of it and i need a new project i've decided to create this blog about books.I hope you like it.
*Ruby*