McCarthy’s Road
Thursday, June 12th, 2008I highly recommend Cormac McCarthy’s “The Road”. From the first few seconds I began turning its pages, I was memorized by McCarthy’s story. I couldn’t stop thinking about it at work, when it was time to go to bed, and when I woke up in the morning. I’ve finished the novel and I still can’t stop thinking about it.
A story conceived in a post-apocalyptic world has always been my favorite setting for a tale, but few over the years have done the subject matter justice. What, zombies take over the earth again? No really, I would have never guessed.
Instead “The Road”, which was selected to Oprah’s book club and won the Pulitzer in 2007, gives a brutal, detailed account of two people, a man and a boy, who attempt to make dramatic journey to the coast in a barren, scorched and lifeless world. Food is less than scarce- the few humans that remain have turned to cannibalism.
The man desperately tries to protect the boy in this increasingly cold and hopeless world, but struggles with his own past and remaining alive in the present. Meanwhile, the only life the boy knows is one of struggle and starvation.









