If there were a prize god
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Take a good look. If there were a prize god — an omnipotent being who correctly judged who and what should win what — this is the book He would choose: The Road by Cormac McCarthy.
It will take you one day to read and a lifetime to forget.
More about this in coming days, because I’m actually considering flipping it over and reading it again. Immediately.
October 5th, 2006 at 3:49 pm
Short reads are my specialty. I’m xdyselci, you know. That was really bad and PIC, delete this if you want.
November 10th, 2006 at 1:38 am
[…] My wife, who originally hooted at my admiration at The Road (and my preference for it over “World War Z”), now says that she keeps thinking about it and “may have to read it again.” […]
November 27th, 2006 at 1:27 am
[…] You may recall that back here I was saying that if there were a prize god, “The Road” would win. Although four — four! — people have since taken my recommendation and read “The Road,” evidently there remains a lack of a prize god, because last I checked the book hadn’t won any prizes. Except with me and others I’ve spoken with who read it. […]
March 28th, 2007 at 10:02 pm
[…] Just when I thought I was finally done talking about my admiration at The Road here, Oprah (of all people) jumped on the bandwagon. […]
April 6th, 2007 at 6:12 pm
I recently read The Road without even having read Lee’s recommendation – quelle horreur!
Although I think it is a powerful book, I’m less than enchanted at the ending, although, by golly, he had to end it somehow. It’s is very well written, and powerful, and bleak bleak bleak.
However, I still think McCarthy’s All the Pretty Horses is much the better novel. Better written, a better story, and more powerful.
I was fortunate to have read that as my first novel by the man, and, although I haven’t yet read another by him I like as much, I’ll keep trying because of ‘Horses’.
May 22nd, 2007 at 6:10 pm
I finished reading The Road a few days ago and went back to find this post. I know it might not be read because the original post was done awhile ago.
I found the book to be very well written. Some of the visual images the writing creates is terrifying. As I read the book I thought why isn’t the cause of the earth’s destruction explained. As I read the story I realized that the reason didn’t matter, that what came before did not matter. The only thing that matters is survival.
As Mark Chaet wrote I did find the ending a bit weak. The ending, to me tried to infuse some hope in a hopeless situation. Another possible ending with the boy and his father both dying could have made the bleak story even bleaker.
Paul