The Road (Oprah's Book Club) by Cormac McCarthy Summary and Reviews
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Book Reviews of The Road (Oprah's Book Club)
Book Review: intense
Summary: 5 Stars
I don't think I've ever read a book as intensely sad and bleak, and so immersed in the pure essence of what is good and what is evil. This is immensely moving stuff.
The language is spare and ornate at the same time, and through constant and highly effective repetition brings to life forcefully the protagonists' unrelenting ordeal, and the infinite patience and love the father has for the son.
The author's vision is one of a world of pure and utter hopelessness and darkness, where the protagonists nurture a tiny flame of something different and higher.
Not a book I'm likely to forget for a long time.
Book Review: Where he was always headed
Summary: 5 Stars
I have read all McCarthy's novels since "Blood Meridian" was recomended to me sometime during the eighties. There are peaks, the aforementioned for example, and one or two lows,(Cities of the Plain) but throughout MacCarthy's vision of good and evil has been played out through language Biblical in its power and rhythm. It was only a matter of time before such prose brought us to the end of the world. And what a terrible end. Days spent glimpsing a heatless sun through fog, nights of rain, canibals to avoid, those hidious horrors glimpsed away from the road, all around the grey, dark leafless world: every step of the apocolyptic way delivered to the reader in language poetic and cold steel sharp.Even the bleakness has a beauty, the terrible a power to haunt. Time after time McCarthy finds new ways to describe the blasted landscape, the emptiness. The love of the man for his son, for his lost wife is heartbreaking. We are moved by what has been done to the earth. The Road leads to the sea, but arrival at the ocean's edge brings no sanctuary. The journey continues. A realy great novel.Book Review: A Sharp Etching
Summary: 5 Stars
Here is a book with very little action, an abbreviated set of characters who aren't even named, and a world so bleak it really can be described in unremitting shades of gray, yet nevertheless manages to not only hold your interest, but find a way to grab your emotions.
The post-apocalyptic world of this book is one of darkness and ash, so dark that the plants can't grow anymore, ash so thick it not only covers everything in a blanket but hides the sun and moon. In this world we follow two travelers, a father and son, in search of a better place while avoiding the `bad guys', those who have been reduced to cannibalism to survive. Now all this has been done many times before, in books both good and bad, but what differentiates this from prior works is the absolute leanness of this book. Nothing is introduced that is peripheral to the pair's journey and their relationship, the prose remains both simple and sparse, the current world situation taken as a given, without need for long explanations. The daily happenings quickly find a rhythm of repetition, with just enough variation to avoid boredom while strongly enhancing the general depressive tone. However, the very vagueness of how this situation came about, or how scientifically plausible such a situation may be, may bother some readers, even though one of McCarthy's points is that it doesn't matter how or why the world got this way, what matters is what you do now to cope with it.
In some ways, this book is allegorical in nature, and there are some allusions to both the Bible and other works of classical literature. If you so happen to miss these allusions, though, I don't think it will harm either your enjoyment or understanding of this book, as, as simple as it is, McCarthy has not forgotten to tell a story, first and foremost.
There is a ray of sunshine here, but its brightness is more because of contrast with all the other bleakness. When you reach its illumination, it will say something to you about what it means to be human, as opposed to just being animal. But because this book is so unrelentingly one-noted, it doesn't quite reach the level of greatness attained by things like Steinbeck's Grapes of Wrath and other books that have delved deeply into the depths of despair and hopelessness - but it's still a worthwhile and rewarding read.
--- Reviewed by Patrick Shepherd (hyperpat)
Book Review: This should have been so much better.
Summary: 1 Stars
I really thought that I was going to love this book. I haven't heard a single bad word about it, newspapers, Amazon reviewers, they all say its fantastic.
I'm afraid that I have some harsh things to say about this book.
I can see where the idea came from, something terrible has happened worldwide and the story is told from a father and son point of view (I thought that was a great idea).
This book could have been excellent, truly amazing. But the truth is that you don't know anything about the father and son, you don't know their names, you don't know what they like and dislike and most importantly you have no idea of their personalities. You know absolutely nothing about them all the way through the book, therefore making it impossible to identify with them or even care about them. Its like reading about two empty shells!
The story itself is very poor, nothing happens! The whole of the story is about them looking for food and sleeping (oh and walking a lot). Nothing actually takes place. Over half way through the book and feeling very disappointed that no event had taken place, I got a glimpse of how good the story could be when the man opens a hatch and finds something scary inside. Unfortunately the characters run the other way and that's the end of something that could have been thrilling, its never mentioned again.
I feel very strongly about this book because it lacks in every department and I so wanted it to be great. There is no reason to turn the next page. I only finished it because its very short at only 241 pages.
I am incredibly disappointed.
Book Review: The Road
Summary: 5 Stars
Despite the spare writing style and unremittingly bleak background to the journey along The Road, I found this to be a profoundly moving and even uplifting book. I can rarely recall the majesty of the human condition being presented so well with such deceptively simple prose. I suspect that this very accessibility (in contrast to most of the author's earlier works) will ensure that The Road receives a well deserved wider readership and, ultimately, the status of genuine modern classic.