The Road by Cormac McCarthy

WriterInChains

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I just finished it a couple days ago. I love a good tragedy, post-apocalyptic & all kinds of dark fiction too, but didn't enjoy this one. There were some sentences I read a few times because they were so cool, but otherwise, meh. Can't see what the fuss is all about (except that Oprah said to read it, which is its own phenomenon).

I picked it up because everyone's talking about it, but I groaned out loud at a couple of the blow-by-blow descriptions of the man's actions. Parts read more like a survival manual than a novel. JMO, obviously it worked for a lot of people. I'm not sorry I read it, but was not inspired to pick up anything else by McCarthy. In fact, the opposite is true.
 

Dancre

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I find just the opposite, myself. I liked how he never used the man or boy's name. It's like they forgot their names. Now it was stay alive till tomorrow attitude. It was horrifying to see people resorting to cannibolism to survive. Ick!!! I loved the metaphores though. But there are some parts that were hard for me to read, like the people in the cellar that were to be dinner. I kept thinking, how could you leave them there, knowing their fate? I got really angry at the MC for leaving them.

I guess I've stopped reading for entertainment and I just read to learn now. The only book I've read for entertainment sake is "Trinity Blood". That's it.

kim
 

WriterInChains

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I liked how he never used the man or boy's name. It's like they forgot their names.

This is one of the things I really liked about the book. Who needs names when there's nobody around to speak them? That, and the unconventional punctuation were really wonderful -- as if, in their brutal world using quotation marks and apostrophes would waste too much energy, would be superfluous at best.
 

rwam

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The Road, by Cormac McCarthy

Anyone read this yet? I just finished it the other night. Loved it.

My thoughts:
1) I struck me as very Hemmingway-esque, mostly because of its simplicity.
2) The fragments and no quotations took awhile to get used to.
3) Since there were no chapters and only scene breaks, it made it very difficult to find a logical stopping point.

JMHO
 

Will Lavender

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One of the best I've read. Ever.

If I would've read it five years ago, I don't think I would've been so floored. But reading as a father... I dare you to find a more eloquent love story than the one McCarthy tells about in this novel.

I know it's cliche, but if there is a classic among the books written in the last decade, this might be it. Fantastic book on so many different levels.

I also recommend McCarthy's Blood Meridian, which is a much different kind of book but just as haunting and brutal.
 

joetrain

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i was quickly distracted from the the peculiarities of his writing (no quotes/chapters and the frags) by the sheer force of his simple eloquence and mercilessly goading narrative. i found the want to keep reading, rather than the lack of chapter breaks, to be the difficultly in finding a stopping point.

at first i was suspicious of such an ambitious setting, but his follow through was nothing short of pure grace.

great read.
 

Spiny Norman

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I also recommend McCarthy's Blood Meridian, which is a much different kind of book but just as haunting and brutal.

This. I haven't read The Road yet (going to buy it soon), but Blood Meridian a monstrous trip to the animalistic, godless heart of mankind without laws. It could be called a western, but it's depiction of the old west is alien and chilling. It could be a fantasy for the places it describes and the people and what they do.
 

Will Lavender

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This. I haven't read The Road yet (going to buy it soon), but Blood Meridian a monstrous trip to the animalistic, godless heart of mankind without laws. It could be called a western, but it's depiction of the old west is alien and chilling. It could be a fantasy for the places it describes and the people and what they do.

Great description.

I was enticed by David Foster Wallace's description of the book in the Salon.com Guide to Contemporary Writers. He said, simply, "Don't even ask."

That made me go out and by it.

And I found that the reason Wallace said what he said is because there's no describing that book. Fierce novel.
 
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kreati0n

McCarthy is my favorite writer.

Another book of his, "No Country For Old Men", was just adapted to film by the Coen Bros. It opened today, limited release.

So many brilliant books by this guy. Blood Meridian, Child of God, All The Pretty Horses, Suttree... he's indescribable.
 

absitinvidia

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I loved it. The attention to wordcrafting was amazing. The boy had never known another adult, so his speech was limited to what he heard from the man. The breakdown of rules of syntax, to me, mirrored the breakdown of society, so while you were reading you were uneasy because of the language. Excellent way to set a mood.
 

NemoBook

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3) Since there were no chapters and only scene breaks, it made it very difficult to find a logical stopping point.

I think this is another brilliant aspect of the form of The Road. There was no logical stopping point for the characters in the book either, so the bleak, no-light-at-the-end-of-the-tunnel experience of reading the book (without chapters) mirrors the experience of the characters.
 

josephwise

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I haven't read this either, but I probably will.

I like Cormac McCarthy, though I was a little under whelmed by No Country for Old Men. I loved the movie, but the book fell slightly flat, I thought. The movie followed the book almost exactly, but the book did a poorer job of building suspense, and of conveying Anton Chigurh's chilling human logic. He seemed robotic in the book, where Javier Bardem's performance in the film turned him into a compelling and fascinating character. The book did an otherwise great job in terms of developing characters that were both relatably human and symbolically iconic. But it was, I don't know, atmospherically clumsy I guess.

I'd be interested to see if The Road is a step up. I expect that it is.
 

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I read it in a day. It's funny - I didn't even realize there weren't chapters. Wouldn't have made me stop for a break anyway - I was absolutely enthralled - the story is just starkly, devastatingly beautiful. My only complaint is that it was so short.

I'd put it right up there with the classic TEOTWAWKI novels - Lucifer's Hammer, Earth Abides, Alas Babylon, The Stand. It's definitely one that I'll read again.
 

David Erlewine

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Hmmm...

This may be why I'm working full-time and not writing much anymore. I tried reading it last year and grew weary after about 10 pages. I folded up shop.

I have only read one of his books, "All the Pretty Horses", about 15 years ago or so. Loved it.
 

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I finished it Saturday. I thought it was good. The whole not having chapters and dialog were not confusing at all but I've read other authors that do the same things so I'm used to it. I am also used to stopping anywhere while reading (2 kids, reading at stop lights, on breaks at work, ect.) Overall i enjoyed it and thought it was better than some of his other work that I have read. The last several pages are heartbreaking, then uplifting.
 

chonnychonny

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I was completely enthralled in this book. I tend to enjoy the way books read when not punctuated...more like a dream than a story. The imagery is completely dark and at times, grotesque, but the story has such a warm tone to it with the father/son relationship. You can't help but be captivated.
 

Priene

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I'll file this one in the 'I can see why others like it, but...' drawer.

True, it's atmospheric and descriptive. But I could have done without the overt grisliness - Primo Levi's real life experiences, for instance, were much more upsetting. The Road did give me nightmares last night, though, so it was effective.

Like most roads, it's grey and dirty and doesn't lead anywhere worthwhile in the end.
 

KansasWriter

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I just finished it. Absolutely brilliant book. It reminds me of the first time I understood the meaning of the word "dystopia".

Chartreuse - I also read it in a day! Also, thanks for teaching me the new acronym (TEOTWAWKI)!
 

brainstorm77

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I just finished reading this book and I found it to be a boring read. I'm curious to know others views on this book.
 

alleycat

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I thought about reading it three or four times, but always decided it just wasn't the right time to try another McCarthy book. I start out really enjoying his books, then about half-way through have a hard time wanting to finish them. I also still have something of a "bad taste in my mouth" from No Country for Old Men.

Just an opinion.
 

brainstorm77

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I thought about reading it three or four times, but always decided it just wasn't the right time to try another McCarthy book. I start out really enjoying his books, then about half-way through have a hard time wanting to finish them. I also still have something of a "bad taste in my mouth" from No Country for Old Men.

Just an opinion.

I think I can't get his style. I read the book in a day and walked away with nothing from it. It's hard to explain....
 
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Cranky

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I liked it a lot, well enough to review it (ha ha) on my blog. I've not done that very often at all, so make of that what you will.

I like a lot of his stuff, though, so perhaps I am a bit biased.
 

alleycat

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I read the first couple of chapters some time ago. They were just beginning their journey then.
 

alleycat

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Off-topic . . .

One of my favorite scenes in any of his books is when John Grady Cole and the others go to the whorehouse (I think it was from All the Pretty Horses). I think I laughed out loud at that scene. "Come one, John Grady, all the fat ones will be taken!" and "It looked like her face caught on fire and someone put it out with a rake." (Paraphrasing, I don't have the book in front of me to get the quotes exactly right.)