Readin it later also sounds good for me.
Readin it later also sounds good for me.
I have just finished it and am also in awe, the 'vaugeness' which some posters alluded to, in my opinion adds to the atmosphere of the book and fits the context of the setting. Though in saying that the book can be vauge it must be also said that McCarthy so poetically and fully realises the characters of the Man and boy and their relationship, you can almost see them. Really its a great read.
The narration of the story was definetely unique. It was a first for me, that type of layout...so it was difficult to get ahold of what was going on. I didnt particularly care for that ending either, I thought it could have been so much more.
I'm a recent convert to Cormac McCarthy having started with No Country for Old Men before moving on to The Road. At the moment I'm about half-way through Blood Meridian and plan to read all his work.
I have to say, based on my limited experience, I feel that The Road is the weakest book so far. Don't get me wrong, it's still of a high standard and beautifully written, but it just isn't as good as the other two books I've read.
McCarthy seems to enjoy creating vague characters. The protagonist in Blood Meridian for instance is only known as 'the kid' and even after 130 pages I still feel as though I know nothing about him. I had the same problem with the characters in The Road. The man and his son don't really come alive for me the way I would expect from an author who is, according to critics such as Harold Bloom, one of the four best authors writing today. The exception so far is No Country for Old Men. Perhaps it's because it's set in the modern era, but this had the most sympathetic characters for me.
However, McCarthy's work doesn't seem to be about characters but landscapes. There's a tremendous sense of being lost in the landscape in all the books I've read so far. The land seems to swallow the characters whole and they're powerless to prevent it.
Zippy.
"We don't see things as they are, we see them as we are." Anais Nin.
Totally agree with you, The Road is not his best book.Originally Posted by Zippy
I believe that McCarthy allows the reader to build the characters in their own minds by deliberately not going into lengthy descriptions of them or explanations for their actions, and for me, that works.
I still think the Border Trilogy constitutes his finest work
Like most modern Americans, McCarthy's work suffers from excess, it seems to me: excessive violence in BM, excessive landscaped desolation and crossings (The Border trilogy), too much incident and plot (various); and too much floridity in his prose. For me, Suttree is the real masterwork, in which the autobiographical under-pinning restrains that need to carve tattoos on every part of the body..and Suttree himself is a real character rather than a cipher or concept.
I loved ' the road' , I haven't read any of his other works so I can't compare. I do wonder why he omitted the punctuation marks.
I just read The Road and found the description of a post apocalyptic world frightningly descriptive. I found the relationship between the boy and his father very engaging. This book was a page turner. I finished it in one day. And I'm glad that McCarthy didnt go into too much description as to how things got to be the way that they were. You start out already in this living hell and that is the way it is. Not much explanation just pure narrative genius. A great modern book in my opinion.
I have to agree I loved the book up until that point. My impression was that it was written with a Hollywood ending in mind. I also thought the ending was rushed it was almost like he thought to himself gee I need to wrap this up now. That all being said I still loved the book.
I think it is a very basic allegory, maybe even a Christian tale of goodness and charity (the Son and Father). It has a very traditional ending. In another thread I called it the "American Pilgrim's Progress."
"The farther he goes the more good it does me. I don’t want philosophies, tracts, dogmas, creeds, ways out, truths, answers, nothing from the bargain basement. He is the most courageous, remorseless writer going and the more he grinds my nose in the sh1t the more I am grateful to him..."
-- Harold Pinter on Samuel Beckett
....is being made into a movie....
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hbLgszfXTAY
Little one, Fate might miscarry.
Little one, why do you tarry?
Little one, When May I marry you?
My little one.
I've known this for quite a while and I've been waiting for it to come out. I wish it would. No movie out there now really appeals to me.
LET THERE BE LIGHT
"Love follows knowledge." – St. Catherine of Siena
My literature blog: http://ashesfromburntroses.blogspot.com/
True, this has been the only thing on my list lately... with Burton's Alice in Wonderland....
Stop asking where is God and keep asking where the hell is human!
what are some good topics of discussion for this book?-thank you in advance
The Road seemed a little too simplistic to me. I understood what he was trying to do with the vagueness and the simple language but at times it felt like a sham. I prefer his earlier, Faulknerian work, especially Suttree and Blood Meridian. The Border Trilogy was great as well.
"And the worms, they will climb
The rugged ladder of your spine"
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