The Road (Oprah's Book Club)
by Cormac McCarthy
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Book Reviews of The Road (Oprah's Book Club)
Book Review: Post-apocalyptic Novel
Summary: 4 Stars
The Road
Cormac McCarthy
The Road by Cormac McCarthy is a novel of survival in post-apocalyptic America. The world as it was no longer exists. Black ash years later continue to rain down on everything. There are no specifics as to what actually happened to cause this apocalypse, but the few clues the author gives us suggest a nuclear bomb: "The clocks stopped at 1:17. A long shear of light and then a series of low concussions ... A dull rose glow in the windowglass" (52). A father and his young son, survivors, are traveling "the road" from their home in the north in expectation of reaching the south, where they hope to survive the winter.
All that they own has been packed into a supermarket cart: blankets, the little food and water they have managed to salvage along the way, what extra clothes they have, anything of use they find in homes or markets that escaped the fires and overlooked by survivors before them. When the novel opens, the pistol the father carries for protection contains three bullets in it. At the end of their journey, it contains only one. He has had to kill in order to survive. And because the survivors of the apocalypse fall into two categories--the good and the bad--he has taught his son how to do what he must if something happens to him: commit suicide. The bad people consist of cannibals, pederasts, all types of evils; yet there must be others like themselves, and he hopes the south will yield those good.
We're never told the names of any of the characters because each is representative of a member of the surviving larger group.
This novel reminded me of other post-apocalyptic novels I had read, particularly The Stand by Stephen King, an allegory symbolizing the battle between good and evil, in which we are always left with the hope that good will win out. And in this case, just as things get their worst, again there is that hope resurfacing.
Black ash swirls everywhere through their entire journey. Sometimes the snow, no longer white but gray, falls; and soon it, too, is covered with black ash. When they reach the coast, the father's promise of blue water to his son is dashed by the black ash covering the surface.
Yet the south holds hope of a future. Whatever has caused the apocalypse has left many of the survivors, among them the father, with tuberculosis. His endless cough, full of blood, presages his destiny. The young boy, his son, is a Christ figure, and any hope of a future world lies in him. "He knew only that the child was his warrant. He said: If he is not the word of God God never spoke" (5). And later, after he has had to kill to protect his son, he tells him: "My job is to take care of you. I was appointed to do that by God. I will kill anyone who touches you" (77).
The entire countryside had been scavenged, but almost everywhere they stop--places that had not been completely burned or otherwise destroyed--the father ingeniously manages to find something of substance to keep them going. In one place he drains oil from long ago discarded oilcans to have enough for a lamp he improvises from a bottle and a rag. After all, he has a mission. The boy is his "warrant," and though it seems he is too ill to last much longer, he must somehow keep the boy alive.
McCarthy manipulates the language so that the mostly staccato sentences and phrases give the reader the impression of dancing, more specifically, of waltzing, thus creating a lightness in the midst of the hopelessness and dangers the two encounter throughout the entire journey. Also, this simple language reemphasizes the fact that the young son, born after the apocalypse, is learning about a world he knows nothing of from the stories his father, his only teacher, tells him. In addition, the short, simple sentences are reminders of their simple goal: stay alive.
The mother, unable to endure any more of the dangers they constantly faced in their efforts to survive, and completely without any hope of survival, had taken her life sometime before. Unable to convince her husband to do the same--as well as take the boy's life--she had used a small piece of obsidian, leaving the few bullets left in the gun for their protection. When they set out on their journey south, the son never looks back, nor does he speak of his mother. The omniscient point of view with an unknown narrator adds to the suspense, giving the reader very few clues as to how the story will end.
Book Review: Harry Potter or The Road?
Summary: 5 Stars
Cormac McCarthy's book The Road, by winning the Pulitzer Prize and being a best seller, proves the success in its own unique, descriptive style of the story. McCarthy uses short paragraphs and sentences with spaces between them, which inform the reader that time has passed, and difficult words are rarely seen, therefore convincing that it is easy to read fluently. In The Road no quotation marks are used during the conversations between characters, no chapters are set, no specific time and no numbers exist except for 1:17 a.m., and most surprisingly the only name mentioned is an old traveling man who desires to be called Ely. From not recording the exact date, time, and name, McCarthy stimulates the readers to be aware of the reality of this story. He intends to tell us that this could happen to anyone, at anytime anywhere.
In The Road, McCarthy drags us into a world after the catastrophic disaster or war where no colors and no beliefs among people are recognized. People don't believe in gods, they don't trust each other and fight, and they just follow the road and aren't aware of where they are heading. It is clear that the author has imagined the extremity of our earth led by some kind of a fatality that happened after scientific implements developed on human greed. The Road not only is produced to recommend the lively experience through the darkness in a book but also to show the author's opinion about the tragedy that human beings might ultimately face after their endless desire and avarice. Even after a woe, minority survivors set clear boundaries among each other with mistrust.
This book has made a goal and obtained the pride of winning the 2007 Pulitzer Prize, given only to one book per year and remaining as the citizen's best seller. Despite the fact that The Road is dark, gloomy, and depressing, the novel takes the readers to the future world that we dare to think of with its vivid, detailed, and delicate short paragraphs and seriousness of the story.
The protagonists in The Road are just two people, a father and his son. Through out the book their names aren't mentioned or at least never called. The son calls his dad "Papa" and the father doesn't call his son with a specific designation. It is a world where secrets, special codes, and words are unnecessary since living creatures rarely exist in The Road. Every person they encounter has conflicts with them and argue severely. In the abandoned world where no god, no hopes, and no miracles remain, needless to say, no allies can be searched. The father and his son suffer in thirst of a warm place and sumptuous food. Since McCarthy remarkably describes how much the main characters starve and are cold, the novel makes the readers go grab a peanut butter sandwich to soothe their stomach and a blanket to cover their shoulders. The short conversations that the father and his son have, give the chill and sadness that swirls around them. In contrast, a strong love between the two protagonists heats up the cold world a little. The father tries to sacrifice himself with passion in order to protect his son from danger and wildness. The father rips off his coat to wrap his son's foot when he shouts in pain after his foot froze.
When the father is urged by many survivors for rescue, he mostly avoids or jangles with them. In the domain of the father and his son, they are the only trustworthy people. Although the son shows sympathy towards the suffering people they confront, his father teaches him to be strong and self confident to make right choices and leave them alone.
The Road is the best of the best among all the books that were purposed to show melancholic settings and environments. It truly possesses the quality and profundity to win a triumph over the Pulitzer Prize and become the best seller. A lamenting background of a father and son, their enthusiastic aspirations after survival, a persistent love between each other that supports their passion magically draws the readers into the book despite the dominance of the devastating atmosphere. The Road is strongly recommended to the readers who heartily desire to experience one of the future paths that human beings might take, and to people who search for books with unique style. The readers of The Road, when asked a question about a high quality book recommendation, would not say Harry Potter but The Road.
Book Review: The Spiritual Reviewer rates this book 10 on a scale of 1-10
Summary: 5 Stars
Summary
The Road is a wholly believable science fiction story about a young boy and his father who take a walking journey together. This, however, is not just another light-hearted walk in the park. Rather, the walk is the duo's only chance for physical salvation. Father and son have to get out of the devastated, cold, northern environment that used to be home and try to find some warmer place that will support life. With the help of an old oil company map that they piece together whenever it's needed, the boy and his father are able to find their way south on what's left of the U.S. road system - hence the name of the book.
"They passed through the city at noon...The city was mostly burned. No sign of life. Cars in the street caked with ash, everything covered with ash and dust. Fossil tracks in the dried sludge. A corpse in the driveway dried to leather...". We never know for sure what caused the dust and ash, which makes it impossible for earth life to grow or to see the sun or the moon. We only know that a catastrophic event occurred several years ago, just before the young boy was born. The story is a chronicle of the conversations and activities that take place while father and son walk the road and search for food, clothing, shelter and safety.
Message of Love: Score 10
The Road was selected for spiritual review because it explores the concept of goodness. In the ash-covered dark world created by Cormac McCarthy, goodness is no longer mandated through laws or social conventions because there are no laws and there are no conventions. The environment is so harsh, so inhospitable, and so hopeless it seems unlikely that goodness could manifest at all. Yet it does. The first immutable truth that McCarthy brilliantly demonstrates to us is that goodness does not depend on any condition and is available even in a world that is imperfect to an extreme.
Father and son continually refer to themselves as the good guys. Here's a typical conversation:
Are we still the good guys? He said. [son]
Yes. We're still the good guys. [father]
And we always will be. [son]
Yes. We always will be. father]
Okay.[son]
But how exactly do they recognize themselves as good? When every other measure is stripped away, it's clear and easy to see that goodness is a willingness to be harmless to self and to others. Father and son "know" they are good because they do not engage in the killing of other humans for sport or for food. Even more, through the continual reassurances of basic "okayness," which are expressed from father to son, McCarthy shows that harmlessness is also a relentless dedication to the undoing of fear at every level.
Inspiration.: Score 10
The boy and his father share many conversations with us, but none so profound as when the father is on his deathbed:
I want to be with you. [son]
You can't. [father]
Please. [son]
You can't. You have to carry the fire. [father]
I don't know how to. [son]
Yes you do. [father]
Is it real? The fire? [son]
Yes it is. [father]
Where is it? I don't know where it is. [son]
Yes you do. It's inside you. It was always there. I can see it. [father]
The Road reminds us of a second immutable truth, and it's this: goodness is our birthright. It's there inside us, waiting to be rediscovered. Like the boy, we are inspired to carry the fire and to look within for nourishment.
Practicality or Relevance: Score 10
Most of us turn the experience of love into a complicated, rigid, predictable cliché. We think that love has to conform to certain particular circumstances with certain special people. We think that certain special words and actions have to be expressed and that certain special outcomes need to be achieved. And if all those expected things don't happen - well, we say it's not love. Yet, through the boy and his father, we find out that we are mistaken about all these unnecessary roles and expectations. All that's needed to experience love is a willingness to become harmless and to see the goodness that is our truth.
Readability: Score 10
This book is an easy, enjoyable and uplifting read for men, women, teenagers, and older children.
TOTAL SCORE: 40.0
AVERAGE SCORE: 10.0
Book Review: A review of the reviews
Summary: 4 Stars
First, let me say that I would place _Blood Meridian_ in the top five 20th century American novels, along with _The Grapes of Wrath_, and _Sometimes a Great Notion_. Second, I borrowed the audio version of _The Road_, which allowed me to bypass the issues that some readers had with dialogue and punctuation. Narrator Tom Stechschulte does a wonderful job animating very difficult material. I highly recommend the audio version. First audio book I've listened to like this, but the story lends itself well to lying in bed with one's eyes closed just listening to the haunting tale. Third, I am a huge fan of dystopian science fiction, and apocalyptic tales in general. The only reason I give this 4 instead of 5 stars is because it's not perfect, nor nearly the masterpiece of _Blood Meridian_.
CONTAINS SPOILERS
I read through every review on Amazon to date. This is obviously difficult material. It shows in the divergence of opinions. I'm going to ignore the negative comments due to the depressiveness of the subject matter. This is one of the most bleak stories I've ever encountered. It holds no punches about humanity. The themes of man's inhumanity to man are equally as evident in _Blood Meridian_, which is in many ways a better book. In many ways, McCarthy appears to have stripped off most of the excesses in BM and really pushed this book towards the questions of humanity, compassion, and hope.
Some people just don't "get it". For all the complaints of lack of convention, the story is quite conventional. McCarthy is dealing in archetypes. The parallels to _Lone Wolf and Cub_ that somebody mentioned in the discussions are apt. The reasons for the apocalypse are as inconsequential as the audio gear on the shelves of the stores that these characters enter. Why are some of you getting caught up in the why? It could have been the Christian Rapture, valcanoes, meteors, nuclear weapons, the Mayan Calendar, aliens. It just doesn't matter. You bring to it your own interpretation. Focus on what he does describe, as there's the wealth.
The names of the father and son are unimportant, and I don't get why some readers got so hung up on that point. Call the father Dean Moriarity (Neal Cassady) from _On The Road_, off on some wild hallucinatory experience in the future. It just doesn't matter what their names are. It's almost better we don't get them. These are mythical characters we're dealing with on one hand, and everyman and his son on the other. It's not surprising that more than one father noted a great emotional connectedness in his review.
Others seem to be seeking far more action, and less repetition. The story about the clan of marauders with the red scarves, pikes, and slaves is another story. So is the story about the cellar of human food. These seem to be the stories that some lusted for. Instead the story you get is about the dull monotony of survival. Notice that the greatest level of detail in the story is applied to the four necessities of survival: water, food, shelter, movement. The first three of those are obvious.
McCarthy does an adequate job of describing that for the father, staying put for too long was anethema. Movement avoided stasis, and allowed them to continue to search for food supplies. Remaining in one place for too long in such a society would only make one a target. Staying at the bunker wouldn't have solved any problems, except for passing the time. I believe that movement in space was far more important to the father than movement in time. In some ways, this was how he kept up hope for the both of them.
The son kept up hope, by showing compassion for humanity that the disillusioned father could no longer muster. I think it's also a bit too extreme to label the father as a "bad guy". Perhaps he wasn't the "goodest" of "good guys", but he was a survivor. He wasn't interested in bothering anyone else, and seemed to almost practice the Golden Rule in reverse ... doing unto others as they had or showed intentions of doing onto them. Hence forcing the thief at the end to strip, as they had been deprived of their clothing and left to die. The ending was ambiguous enough to lend itself to multiple interpretations, but generally was a lot more hopeful than most of the rest of the story.
Book Review: A Setting Isn't Just Furniture
Summary: 2 Stars
I wrestled with a final rating for this. "The Road" definitely has merit. The style is purposefully minimalist. As others have noted there are very few apostrophe's, no commas, no quotation marks. The font is dull. The paragraphs carry extra spacing. The words are clipped. This all works very well for setting the atmosphere.
As others have offered it is also not the job of the author to explain away all questions. Leaving a sense of mystery can be very good for a story. We should expect that in the end there should be some questions left unanswered. We should expect this all the more when the story is written in a third person form that has a nearly claustrophobic attachment to the characters perspective.
However, we should always expect the story to make sense based on what we know of how the world works. The setting is not just furniture. This is true in all settings, even fantasy and science fiction. In Tolkien's world dragons may breath fire but apples still fall down. As the setting becomes grittier we should expect the rules to be tighter and more menacing.
Unfortunately, rules don't apply in "The Road". We are presented with an apocalyptic world where every meal counts and where people have turned to cannibalism to survive. And here we are presented with our first problem. Cannibalism as a survival technique isn't very efficient. Eating people that are emaciated by hunger doesn't result in a good transfer of calories. If you're eating people, there's not much time left. Yet the book strongly implies that the cannibalistic cults have been active for years and probably from very shortly after the disaster.
Also odd is that they have avoided the bodies. The father and son are constantly coming across corpses. Some of them still smell. More than a few are mummified. Why not boil those down, since they seem to be plentiful, before having to chase and hunt humans "on the hoof"? It isn't that this makes the cults suicidal and stupid, the problem is that there is no reason for them still existing. They should have died long ago.
There are other logical inconstancies. The father and son eat dried apples from a field in a world were clouds, rain, and snow seem to be constant. How exactly are they dry? The sun can't dry them out and neither can the heat. All of that is gone.
Nothing grows except one instance of fungus. If everything is dead, except the humans, where did the fungus come from? If fungus survived, why not moss? If moss survived why not birds? After all of this time why isn't life coming back? Even Chernobyl is virtual a parkland now, radiation and all. There appears to be no radiation in this world yet nothing lives, why? There are fires being set by the cults yet houses, and the author spends some time describing what is wooden frame construction sitting next to the burnt out houses, still stand. Fires are also being set to what, charcoal? The author doesn't have to explain all of these things, but he does have to be consistent.
Since humans, lumbering giants at the tip of the food pyramid, survived he has to show what happened to the mice. And no, canned food doesn't count. Even a survivalist will only pack enough for his family for six months to a few years. The book implies that the son was born at the time of the disaster and he's old enough now to hold a conversation and be useful which implies that he's at least four years old. Why isn't the food all gone? Given that nothing lives, why not avoid the calorie expenditure and sit on any store of food you find rather than tromping through freezing weather to find the shore. Most critical of all, if there is a reason, why not impart this reason to your son before you die?
Since the book never answers these questions it has to rely on style, which is done well, and a questionable emotional appeal. It is, in many ways, the worst of modern decadence. It expects us to not ask any important questions about the setting and instead feel for the horrors that the characters face. It is a very subtle and powerful form of emotional blackmail. It teaches us to be less than human, to fear and not to think about what we fear.