The Road (Oprah's Book Club)
by Cormac McCarthy
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Book Reviews of The Road (Oprah's Book Club)
Book Review: Boring? Yes. Well-written? I'm not so sure...
Summary: 2 Stars
Cormac McCarthy certainly has a distinctive writing style that not everyone will appreciate, and I suppose I should go ahead and number myself among the ones that don't. I read a few other reviews here that describe in good (and funny) detail the tedious and almost non-existent story of the novel, so I won't get into that too much.
I will just confirm that, yes, all that happens in this book is that the man and the boy walk down a road, stop and camp and build a fire, the man wakes early in the morning and the fire has died, they find a town or a building and search it for provisions, they get back on the road and walk, ad nauseum.
And I am serious when I say that those few things happen over and over and over, even the detail about the man waking up and the fire being out. It happens almost every five pages. Is this fun to read? Not at all. I can't imagine even those who like the book, for whatever reasons, to say that they had fun reading it. Does a book necessarily need to be fun? Not really, but it shouldn't make you wonder how it ever got published in the first place either.
Now, as for the writing, it definitely takes some getting used to. There are sentence fragments galore, and eventually you will develop the rhythm to read them properly without stumbling over what you had originally thought was going to be a sentence with a subject and verb. Writing such as this is fine when it serves a purpose, but does it truly serve a purpose when it's used on every page?
Furthermore, complaint has been made about his use of ridiculously arcane vocabulary when something simpler would suffice. And there's also his lack of apostrophe when using the word "dont", etc. Well, Faulkner did this too so it's not a new trick, but did it even serve a purpose back then either?
I recently read Roger Ebert's review of the movie No Country For Old Men, based on another McCarthy novel, and I found this comment interesting:
"The man is named Anton Chigurh. No, I don't know how his last name is pronounced. Like many of the words McCarthy uses, particularly in his masterpiece Suttree, I think it is employed like an architectural detail: The point is not how it sounds or what it means, but the brushstroke it adds to the sentence."
So in many ways it's up to the individual reader to decide if techniques like these are really "brushstrokes", or are they simply literary writing cranked up just past the level of pretentious?
In E.B. White's intro to The Elements of Style, he says this, quoting William Strunk:
"It is an old observation that the best writers sometimes disregard the rules of rhetoric. When they do so, however, the reader will usually find in the sentence some compensating merit, attained at the cost of the violation. Unless he is certain of doing as well, he will probably do best to follow the rules."
Wonderful advice, as most of that book is. My opinion on the matter is that McCarthy, in The Road, certainly relies heavily on language, and at many times overdoes it. But to soften that criticism, I will say thank god there is at least the language to ponder, because the novel otherwise is dreadfully tedious.
Book Review: One of the most powerful novels I have ever read
Summary: 5 Stars
I have long thought that Philip Roth and Cormac McCarthy are perhaps the two greatest living American novelists. This novel has fully reinforced that opinion. While I've had nothing but enormous respect for McCarthy, I've frankly found his books to be a bit too depressing to enjoy. I marveled at his poetry-like prose in books like BLOOD MERIDIAN, even while finding them too violent. THE ROAD isn't a feel-good book, but despite the nightmarish world that it depicted, it is a profoundly moving one. It is also far and away the most human of McCarthy's books.
The story is a simple one. The earth has been devastated, denuded of all life except a very small number of humans. Since there is no other life, whether plant or animal, eating becomes an overarching concern and is not, for some survivors, restricted to old human canned food. Cannibalism is something to which many resort. It has becomes Hobbes's universe, where life is "nasty, brutish, and short." We don't know what has reduced the earth to such a condition. There is apparently no radiation, which would seem to rule out nuclear conflagration, but on the other hand we see the man and boy in the story come across numerous signs of the world destroyed by fire. What has obliterated life is not important to the story; what is important is that the two main characters in the story, a man and his boy, are striving to flee from the frigid temperatures of the north to warmer weather in the south. Appropriately, to each other they affirm that they are carrying with them "the fire." This is not literal fire, but the fire of living, the refusal to give up, the insistence on preserving their humanity, to be one of the "good guys."
In keeping with the simplicity of the story, McCarthy employs a clean, plain prose style, much simpler than what one encounters in his other novels. His sentences, like life in the novel, have been reduced to the bare minimum. So also with the events in the story. Highpoints are reduced to finding dried out apples or old cans of food. And the Man is a genuinely heroic figure.
The end of the novel - which I won't reveal - is one of the most moving that I have ever read. In the hands of a lesser writer it might have come across as too neat, but it felt right. I defy anyone not to cry like a little baby in the novel's final pages.
I have to thank my brother for encouraging me to read this. I knew about it, of course, given McCarthy's stature as a writer, but I usually have so many books that I'm hoping or planning to read that it is hard to squeeze new books in. But my brother convinced me that this was something that I would need to read sooner rather than later. He, by the way, is currently working on a critical survey of eco-disaster fiction. This novel, as one of the finest dystopian novels ever written, will play a major role in his study.
I strongly recommend this novel to any mature reader. I do not recommend this for beginning readers. Just notice the low ratings given the book by students who have been forced to read it for classes. But I can't imagine any competent, experienced reader not finding this brilliant novel as anything less than a masterpiece.
Book Review: Well Worth the Terror
Summary: 5 Stars
The first science fiction novel I read was Kurt Vonnegut's Player Piano which I checked out of the local library when I was twelve years old, lured by its startling cover and the promise of a "prophetic, nightmarish vision of the future." Before Vonnegut the only thing I'd read that dealt with the future was the "Book of Revelations" in the "King James Bible." So imagine my surprise when I discovered an entire genre of books set in the future, far-flung stories of distant times and worlds, alien people and technologies.
I vividly remember staying up late at night reading "Player Piano"--a futuristic story about our world dominated by super computers, where we no longer have a sense of purpose because machines do everything for us--and being frightened in an indescribable, but incredibly visceral way. I was horrified by what I read, and yet I was fascinated, too. I started looking for similar books and over time I discovered Aldous Huxley's "Brave New World," Margaret Atwood's "The Handmaid's Tale" & "Oryx and Crake," Ray Bradbury's "Fahrenheit 451," Ocatvia E. Butler's "Parable of the Sower," and, of course, the always terrifying world of George Orwell's "1984."
Cormac McCarthy's latest novel, "The Road," certainly has many elements in common with earlier futuristic dystopias. Set in a post-nuclear holocaust of an unending winter, a wasteland where every green blade has vanished, where even the rats and cockroaches have been wiped from the face of the earth, "The Road" gave me some of the worst nightmares of my life. Before "The Road" I thought "1984" was the worst of the worst possible scenarios, but I'd much rather be mentally controlled and physically brutalized by Big Brother then find myself wandering a bleak, frozen wilderness with a starving child in tow.
The terrors our heroic, broken protagonist encounters as he struggles to survive and provide for his young son recall the most horrific atrocities we've encountered as a human race: think Nazi concentration camps. Beyond the reach of law and order, science, even God, these two thin scraps of life have only each other and the hope of a quick death in the form of two remaining bullets.
So why read it? Why subject yourself to such a mournful, infernal vision of the future? Because, as with the best of futuristic dystopias, McCarthy manages to celebrate what still matters when all else has been stripped away, in this case the bond between father and son. Thus, this is not an action-packed sci-fi story full of the usual roller coaster plot twists or excitingly inventive technologies. Instead it is a meditation on that which sustains us, on that which makes even a decent into hell worth surviving.
In short, this is a book about love, and McCarthy writes about it in a way that makes you realize just how few authors manage this subject without dipping into sentimental clichés. McCarthy's stunning prose makes us realize that love is simple and powerful and the only thing that allows us to keep putting one step in front of the other when it all comes tumbling down.
Book Review: Simply Put, A Masterpiece
Summary: 5 Stars
Post apocalyptic fiction is my favorite genre. I can safely say that I've read them all... though I'm always on the hunt for ones I might have missed.
I read "The Road" well over a year ago and had subsequently gotten the audio book version for work. Both very good.
"The Road" stands apart from all others that I've read within the post apocalyptic genre. You can say that I have read them all. But this one is different. While I hate the cliched "Instant Classic" stamp on reviews for books, in this case, its true. Aside from the popular notice of today... I couldn't care less that this was on Oprah's List... This book is great as a current read but even more, in time, this book will be remembered and valued as a major contribution.
A must read for post apocalyptic fiction is "Alas Babylon." That book was written decades ago. It is timeless and has many themes that makes you think, even haunts you, long after you had read the last page.
"The Road" does the same. It makes you think and feel. But more than that, there is a profound beauty. Not just in the relationship between father and son but in the words crafted to tell the story. This writer reminded me a lot of Steinbeck where it was just a joy to see the English language turned into an art form. There were so many wonderful phrases and beautifully worded descriptions. That's why I had gotten the audiobook. You want to revisit the story and just hear the words. And the reference to Steinbeck is not trivial. This author's command over words is profound and beautiful.
I won't say much about the storyline other than it is interesting and touching. The events keep you interested but its the relationship between father and son that keeps you reading. And yet, its much more than that! The ending is emotional and has struck me personally more than the vast majority of other books. That emotion is just as strong upon subsequent reading or hearings of the audio version.
Now, I've read many reviews of this book that have delved into literary analysis. Many of which are very interesting points. Some of which I am not sure the writer had intended. But nevertheless, that is a mark of a great book... it makes people think and draw conclusions or relate to other great works. There's actually a debate going on within the reviews about philosophical points and references.
In high school and college, there was required reading and analysis. I've long wondered how much was intended by the author versus how much was extrapolated by readers. In the end it doesn't matter because there is a universe of discussion that had started from somewhere. Later on, half of the dimension is a product of the discussion.
This is one of those books. On a surface level, it is a satisfying read. But going deeper, there is so much more. This is one of those books that will be discussed for years. It will be interesting to see what the conventional consensus becomes.
Thus, this book is a masterpiece. Unlike most books, it's words don't stay confined within the pages. You will find yourself thinking about it long afterwards.
Book Review: Dust thou art, and unto dust shalt thou return
Summary: 5 Stars
Unto Adam God said, "Because thou hast eaten of the tree, in sorrow shalt thou eat of it all the days of thy life; By the sweat of thy brow shalt thou eat bread, till thou return unto the ground; for dust thou art, and unto dust shalt thou return."
The Road is the path a man takes from birth to dusty death. The road is populated by the dust of the past, in the form of the ashes of men, their achievements, their coroporeal remains, and our memories of them. The end of the road is our own dusty death.
The Road is a daily struggle for existence, avoiding the Evil that can engulf us, searching wistfully for the Good, which is the fire that we carry with us in our bellies, and experiencing the incredible depths of starvation and murder, as well as the delerious highs of a full stomach and a secure place to sleep out the night.
The fire in our bellies, for McCarthy, is compassion and love. The man experiences this fire for his son, but his will to survive does not permit him to extend this love beyond this lone individual to others in need. The fire in the boy's belly is pure love, for his father, for a desolate dog who will surely be eaten if left to its own devices, and for the poor souls whose Road to dusty death appears to be a bit shorter than his own. Only the wisdom of the man prevents the boy from sacrificing his life on the alter of compassion.
The Evil in this books are the people who lack this fire, and treat others as pure instruments towards meeting their own pitfully selfish needs. The Evil in this book are cannibals, but the literary allusion is much less concrete.
The final scene of this fine novel sees Good triumphing over Evil, as the boy is taken in by others, strangers, who have the means of behaving compassionately, as his father could not. This is a deep message of hope for us all.
The unrelenting intensity with which the above message is worked into the words, sentences, paragraphs, and pages of this book is reinforced by spareness and repetition of themes. Spareness: there are no colors in this book, there is no emotion except love and fear, there is no satisfaction except full stomach and security from external threat, there is no joy except in the mutual love of the man and the boy, there is no nature except ash and dust, there is no wisdom except the value of the love and the danger of Evil. Repetition: the theme is set up in the first ten pages and repeated with little variation until the final paragraphs of the book. This reminds me of Robbe-Grillet, with his mesmerizing repetition of themes, or perhaps Ravel's Bolero without the increasing volume and tempo. Perhaps it is trite to recall Shakespeare, but it is nevertheless apt, because it doubtless informed McCarthy's vision of The Road: "Tomorrow, and tomorrow, and tomorrow, Creeps in this petty pace from day to day, To the last syllable of recorded time; And all our yesterdays have lighted fools The way to dusty death."
My advice to Cormack McCarthy is: hey, fella, cheer up a bit. There's lots more to life than your philosophy ever dreamed of, including music, and flowers, and philosophy. And even Nintendo.