The Road
The Road by Cormac McCarthy
Well… that was depressing. Is it possible to be beautifully depressing? If so, The Road definitely qualifies. This was the first time I’ve ever read any of McCarthy’s work (having always been a big fan of his screenplays) and I think it lived up to expectation. I found The Road somber, but gripping. Frustrating, but in the way the story should have been. I loved the themes, the relationship, and the tension that was constantly hanging over every page. As for the grammar… I always like to see different styles of writing so I had no issues there. Each to their own.
While not a sci-fi, The Road is dystopian and that’s more than enough for me to write about it. After some unknown disaster the world is pretty much fucked. The landscape is covered in ash and dust, food is scarce, and the remaining few people of the world aren’t to be trusted. Not only are they likely to steal your remaining possessions, but there’s also a chance they might eat you!
The Road follows the journey of a Man and his young Son (aka Boy) as they head towards the coast in the hope of there being something worth while there, while dealing with the treacherous environment, hunger, thirst, and those pesky cannibals.
A lot of the story is spent with the kid complaining he’s hungry, asking if they’re going to die, and constantly whining, while the Dad spends most of his time searching for food, answering the kids quesitons, and keeping him warm. The conversations are simple and repetitive, but in a way that draws you into the desperation of their plight and survival. You want to be annoyed with the kid at times, but the situation they’re in is impossible. Everyone is trying their best, when really, it would be a lot easier to give up and die. It’s truly harrowing.
I found the themes of the book to be incredibly interesting and liked how they were underplayed. Nothing was ever really explicitly said aloud meaning you could interpret things how you wanted. Was it simply a story of a fathers love for his child and his parental responsibility to do anything to protect him from harm, or was it closer to a selfish act of needing the kid to be alive after the wife’s death to alleviate any guilt he made be feeling? Was it a story of how the last generation are tougher than us now? or how the newer generation is kinder and maybe has more humanity as the kid tried to help everyone they came across. Is it possible it could be both? That we need both?
There’s little wins for the pair as they travel the long road, but plenty of dark and insurmountable moments too. The situation really is hopeless, and as the reader, you know it. There is no warm bed waiting for them at the end of the road. Despite the beautiful descriptions the author gives you, there’s little to no hope for their triumphant survival, yet you stick with them the whole time hoping for that miracle.
The style of The Road will put plenty of people off. The somber and depressing story may cause even more to put the book down and never return, but I was thoroughly engaged throughout. It isn’t a book i’d straight up recommend to most as there’s little joy in it, but the tension and relationship between the father and son captured me, and despite knowing it couldn’t have a happy ending, I kept reading encase there was one. (I’ve been told many times in my life i’m naive and an idealist.)
