Book Report: The Road, by Cormac McCarthy

We have a lot of time to read on this trip, so we thought we´d put together posts about what we´ve read. Here goes...

The Road, by Cormac McCarthy is a light read (bummer) about a father and son´s adventurous romp (deathmarch) through a snowy wonderland (ash-filled postapocalyptic wasteland). On their trip they meet all kinds of colorful characters (cannibals) and just like Nan and I, are always looking for their next great meal (whatever has been left behind). Its a real life-affirmer (as in some things are alive but everything kinda sucks).

Okay, seriously. The Road is really good, and inspite of the fact that its somewhat of a downer, its beautifully written. I´d never read any McCathy before, and in the first few chapters I couldn´t help but take note of how he writes. He is supremely efficient with words and seems to have no interest in complying with correct sentence structure and a fickle relationship with punctuation. Half of his sentences are fragments and none of his dialogue has quotation marks, sometimes he won´t even start a new paragraph for a line of dialogue. Save for Jack Kerouac he is an English teacher´s worst nightmare.

When I started reading I noticed the stylistc elements often. Then all of a sudden I was over halfway through the book, and I realized how well it makes the book flow. Its almost stream of consciousness writing with a purpose. Most of the narration works this way, only slowing down occasionally to make a point. After the success of No Counry for Old Men McCarthy became Hollywood gold, so of course there is a film adaptation, which I haven´t seen. After reading the book, I really wonder how well the elements that make the book translate to film. Maybe Viggo Mortensen´s blues eyes are enough. I´ll still check it out.

Perhaps The Road isn´t your standard beach read. There might be something a little off about reading it while traveling. It kept me turning the pages, and at a faster rate than I usually do, so even if a tale of hardship doesn´t sound appealing, its a quick read that is well worth the time.

-Reid