The Road

I’m still working on getting caught up on my book reports. I’m not sure why, but sharing some brief comments of some sort about what I’ve read here in my blog has become an important last step in my reading process. Maybe I just home to actually refer enough sales to Amazon to someday actually see some small check from them. But whatever… I digress.

Anyone who pays any attention to my reading list knows that I tend heavily to non-fiction. History, biography, and current events are my typical staples. I make a conscious effort to read more fiction, but to me, actual people and events usually capture my attention first. Truth can truly be stranger than fiction. But a good review in the Washington Post had put The Road by Cormac McCarthy on my list of books to look out for. And Oprah almost knocked it off. Not that I don’t imagine that Oprah and I could enjoy the same book. But I wouldn’t want to count myself among those who turn to her to tell me what to read. Thankfully, when I did pick up my copy, the Oprah sticker peeled off easily.

This is a very fast and dark read. It follows the wanderings of a father and his son, known only to the reader as ‘the man’ and ‘the boy’ as they wander through the horrors of a post apocalyptic America. They have only each other, and the few items and what foot they can scavenge. They use their tattered scraps of map to lead them towards the ocean, for which they hold some thin hope might be somehow nicer. But nice things are few and far between in the grim world they wander, and they daily have to consider the question if there is any reason left to go on.

I recommend the book highly to anyone. It’s not a happy book, but still one that’s hard to put down, like not being able to help looking when you drive past a car wreck, looking for something horrible and then regretting it if you actually see it. Everyone should take such a look at what things could be like if we allowed things to go so horribly wrong.