"The Road" by Cormac McCarthy

[Kel]

Picked it up and read it in about 5 interrupted hours last night.

Highly recommended. Great writer, great book.

The back cover says: "The searing postapocalyptic novel...A father and his son walk alone through burned America. Nothing moves in the ravaged landscape save the ash on the wind. It is cold enough to crack stones, and when the snow falls it is gray. The sky is dark. Their destination is the coast, although, they don't know what, if anything, awaits them there. They have nothing: just a pistol to defend themselves against the lawless bands that stalk the road, the clothes they are wearing, a cart of scavenged food--and each other."

I'm deeply affected by this read.

 

[nemo]

I agree absolutely with the statement above.
"The Road" is the most dystopian, apocalyptic novel I`ve ever read! I gave it to friends who where also very impressed. In spite of the profoundly
depressive subject matter, one is immediately sucked into the very dark universe of the two protagonists and almost feels obliged to them to keep reading.
Very interesting and also open to interpretation is the role of the boy in this novel. Great language! It has a very rythmic flow to it and might very well be
the most acessible of McCarthy`s novels.
I can also recommend a few more books by Cormac McCarthy:

"Blood Meridian Or The Evening Redness Of The West"
"It traces the fortunes of the Kid, a fourteen year old Tennesseean who stumbles into a nightmarish world where indians are being murdered and the market
for their scalps is thriving" (from book cover). It`s another very dark road novel peopled almost exclusively by psychopaths and is written in a almost biblical prose. Makes my favorite western "The Wild Bunch" by Sam Peckinpah almost light entertainment in comparision. It also features Judge Holden, who is a wonderfully
dark variation of super-pychopath Kurz. For those who haven`t heard of Kurz, check out (one of) the most important fictive psychopath in Literature:

Kurz in "The Heart Of Darkness", a novella by Joseph Conrad.
I`m sure if there were a QFG list of recommended novels (literary works), this one`d be definitly on it!
Marlon Brando plays Kurz in Coppolas HOD interpretation "Apocalypse Now". Highly recommended!!!

"No Country For Old Men"
McCarthy`s most mainstream and only crime novel, this one is practically chewed down to the bone as far as plot , dialogue and narration goes.
Also features a very original serial killer with the lovely name "Chigurh". Out now in your local theatre as the new Coen Bros. film of the same name.
(Haven`t seen it yet)
Also recommended are two lesser known plays by McCarthy, who also make great reading (to those other readers out there who wouldn`t touch a play:
These are the first plays I`ve read voluntarily!):

"The Sunset Limited"
which consists of a conversation between Black, a black ex-criminal who has faith in god and White, a white professor who tried to commit suicide
in front of the Sunset Limited and is subsequently saved by Black and now must defend his purely materialistic worldview to Black.

"The Stone Mason"
which chronicles a black family in 70ies USA. Instead of becoming a teacher main protagonist Ben interrupts his studies to become an apprentice to his
100 year old mason granddaddy.
I wonder if the following might describe an OP (have to say I don`t like the concept much; cannot be objectified and might lead to distraction).
An excerpt from the play:

Papaw
I made it a study to put up with foolishness and not to be made party to it. I liked the work from the first time I ever turned to it and I was determined that they wasnt goin to run me off no matter how crazy they got and they didnt. You had black and white masons work side by side on them big jobs but you was never paid the same and you was never acknowledged the same. But I knowed Uncle Selman could lay stone to beat any man on that job didnt make no difference what color he was and anybody that didnt know it was just too ignorant to count. So I see that he was acknowledged if he was colored and that made me think again. I seen they was some things that folks couldnt lie about. the facts was too plain. And what a man was worth at his work was one of them things. It was just knowed to everybody from the lowest to the highest and they wasnt no several opinions about it. When I seen that I seen the way my path had to go if was ever to become the type of man I had it in my heart to be. I was twelve years old and I never looked back. Never looked back.
Ben
What about when Uncle Selman was killed. Did that change your feelings?
Papaw
No. It didnt. I was older then and I seen it for what it was. A man thats killed by a fool that aint never had the first thought in his head it aint no different from if a rock fell on him. It`s just a sad thing to happen and they aint no help for it.
Ben
You werent set crazy over it?
Papaw
Pret near. But they wasnt no point in me goin crazy. That man was not a mason. He was in charge of settin timbers and he picked Selman out because he was a small man and Selman was a big one. It was just a dispute that they wasnt no sense to it. Cept I knowed Selman was not disputatious and you couldnt get him to argue didnt make no difference how wrong you was and I reckon that made the white man crazier than what he already was. It was a dispute over a water bucket and that`s about as sorry as one can get, I reckon. Ever crew had they own buckets and they was marked and had stripes on em for to mark the white ones from the colored`s. I dont know what the particulars was but it was over them buckets and I know Uncle Selman was in the right for he never would allow no misrepresentation of nothin. You couldnt put a gun to his head and get him to lie and I dont care what kind of lie it was. He always said they was not no such a thing as a small lie. And that white man was all lie. And he killed him. He killed Uncle Selman with a timber maul, hit him blind side with it and laid him out graveyard dead. They come and got me. Oh I was a heartbroke boy. A heartbroke boy. We picked him up out of the dirt and carried him out under a shadetree and he was bloody as a hog and I just sat there under that tree with him and I cried like a baby. I aint ashamed to tell it.

Anyway, what do you think about the murderer of Uncle Selman. What type of being is he?

 

[Thomas Alan]

Re: \

Picked it up and read it in about 5 interrupted hours last night.

Highly recommended. Great writer, great book.

The back cover says: "The searing postapocalyptic novel...A father and his son walk alone through burned America. Nothing moves in the ravaged landscape save the ash on the wind. It is cold enough to crack stones, and when the snow falls it is gray. The sky is dark. Their destination is the coast, although, they don't know what, if anything, awaits them there. They have nothing: just a pistol to defend themselves against the lawless bands that stalk the road, the clothes they are wearing, a cart of scavenged food--and each other."

I'm deeply affected by this read.

I found the novel very moving as well. Very, dark hopeless world. Yet the man and his son see themselves as "carrying the fire". To not descend into savagery to survive. Perhaps to retain the spark of conscience, a tiny crystal of the soul, to not let horrific circumstances dictate who we are.

The man takes the responsibility of a loving, understanding, nurturing father despite their desperate circumstances.

I am not sure I want to see the movie, sometimes a movie made from a good novel is disappointing.


Did the author have an asteroid strike in mind as the cause of the catastrophe? Apparently, fires throughout the world causing an ash pall blocking the sun. No plants will grow. Yet fallout not mentioned so it is something other than nuclear war.

I some time ago saw a program about the Chixaub asteroid strike. It described the impact as forcing billions of tons of debris literally out of the atmosphere. As it reentered it rained fire around the earth burning much of the world's vegetation. The fires caused a cloud of ash to obscure the sun for years.

Mac

 

[Keit]

Re: \

I am not sure I want to see the movie, sometimes a movie made from a good novel is disappointing.

I haven't read the entire book, only parts. But after watching the movie I can say that there is a very high chance that you won't be disappointed. Maybe horrified, because sometimes seeing something in a graphic way may bring it much closer to home.

The movie had an extremely profound effect on me, probably because I know that we might experience something similar very soon. It was well done and in most cases (if not all, don't know) the dialogs were taken directly from the book. The movie also helped me to understand the grave importance of staying together and working on establishing a community (or series of communities) that will 'carry the fire" and will help to deal with similar situations with grace and bigger help. Something that I noticed is that for some reason those who chose cannibalism were more organized and in bigger numbers, while "good guys" were scattered, understandably much more distrustful, and therefore had more difficulty to survive.

Did the author have an asteroid strike in mind as the cause of the catastrophe? Apparently, fires throughout the world causing an ash pall blocking the sun. No plants will grow. Yet fallout not mentioned so it is something other than nuclear war.

Yeah, I also wondered about it. But nothing beyond several large overhead explosions and sonic booms was mentioned.

 

[Approaching Infinity]

Re: \

I think the cause of the catastrophe is deliberately not explained. You know what the characters know, and that is not much. With no communication, all they are aware of is the bright lights, explosions, fires, and lack of life after.

I haven't read the book, but the movie also affected me deeply. It's a masterful portrayal of life in the midst of death. I think it's a great metaphor for the fragility of life (STO) in an STS world. There's a lot going on beneath the surface that is difficult to put into words.

 

[Ollie]

Re: \

... Something that I noticed is that for some reason those who chose cannibalism were more organized and in bigger numbers, while "good guys" were scattered, understandably much more distrustful, and therefore had more difficulty to survive.

This was something that I noticed as well (in the book), and as stated below

... It's a masterful portrayal of life in the midst of death. I think it's a great metaphor for the fragility of life (STO) in an STS world.

We have a lot to do to begin to address the STS in-balance, starting with persistence in doing the E-E Breathing Meditation programme.

 

[slowone]

Re: \

We saw the movie yesterday (just before doing the EE program - bad idea!).

I think some images and situations will haunt me for a long time. I don't know what's wrong with me, but it seems I cannot watch movies like that any more without it having an almost traumatizing effect on me. I have difficulty thinking of anything else. I can see the hope in the movie (the child taken care of by the family on the beach, etc.) but still, I cannot get the cellar scene, the scene with the black man left alone naked, the wife leaving to commit suicide out of my head..

I bought the book because I find it hard to get disturbing images out of my head. But I haven't been in the right frame of mind to even read the book yet. I might have to now to find out about the "cellar scene"! :/

 

[shellycheval]

Re: \

This book is a combination of stunningly poetic prose and horrifying imagery. I too read it cover to cover nonstop in a few hours, and
have reread it again. In my gut I felt shocked and saddened as I recognized the possible/probable reality of such a situation really happening.
There are so many end world scenarios that can begin with the "lights going out" and no communication about what is happening--just suddenly
there is no power, no information--just like in real life--there would be no omniscient narrator to explain what is going on. This lack of knowing is terrifying and in
the story, it sets up an edgy, fearful tone foreshadowing the horror to come. It is a difficult read for sensitive types--I do want to see the movie but I have mentally
and emotionally prepared myself for it for a couple of years. The film is not available in my area so I will have to wait. I think the book and the movie can be
good reality checks for those with their heads in the sand who believe "nothing this bad will really happen in my lifetime--it is just fiction." If you are not disturbed by
"The Road" IMHO you have had some serious damage to your emotional centers or you are not human.
shellycheval

 

[RyanX]

Re: \

I read this book this past summer, but have not yet seen the movie. I'm not sure if I want to see the movie. The book was quite a lot to handle for me at the time since I had just started the EE breathing program.

Despite that, it was very well written and I found myself not wanting to put it down for the fact that I hoped that there would be some positive ending to it all. After finishing it, I do see that despite the death, gloom and despair, there is a glimmer of hope at the end. In some ways I equate what the father and son call, "carrying the fire" to what this group is doing here. Showing people that there is some moral, just and uncorrupted energy left in the universe. It was interesting that the father and son talked a lot about "bad guys" and "good guys". The good guys were spread out and did not make themselves readily known. In fact halfway into the book, one starts to wonder if these "good guys" are even real or just a figment of this guy's imagination - or just part of the story he tells his son to boost his morale. It seems the man's faith that there are some "good guys" left pays off in the end.

The 'cellar scene', as others have put it is highly disturbing, even for those just reading the book (I'm not sure how this is depicted in the movie). The topic of cannibalism comes up several times in the book, actually. The book really made me think about this topic and how it could potentially become a reality in our world after some future catastrophe. I would like to think that all people would have the common sense not to exploit other weaker people as physical food. However, the reality is that this happens already, although "food" in a different sense.

 

[Thomas Alan]

Re: \

I read this book this past summer, but have not yet seen the movie. I'm not sure if I want to see the movie. The book was quite a lot to handle for me at the time since I had just started the EE breathing program.

Despite that, it was very well written and I found myself not wanting to put it down for the fact that I hoped that there would be some positive ending to it all. After finishing it, I do see that despite the death, gloom and despair, there is a glimmer of hope at the end. In some ways I equate what the father and son call, "carrying the fire" to what this group is doing here. Showing people that there is some moral, just and uncorrupted energy left in the universe. It was interesting that the father and son talked a lot about "bad guys" and "good guys". The good guys were spread out and did not make themselves readily known. In fact halfway into the book, one starts to wonder if these "good guys" are even real or just a figment of this guy's imagination - or just part of the story he tells his son to boost his morale. It seems the man's faith that there are some "good guys" left pays off in the end.

Yes, it occurred to me as well in reading this novel that we in the work are "carrying the fire" in some of the same ways as the man and his son. And we are scattered around the globe. It is very unlikely that the members of this group would have met but for the doorway of the Internet and Laura's work. We probably would have spent our lives in growing despair, "knowing" that there had to be others out their like us. But having little chance of making contact.

By golly, there are good guys out there. :)

Mac

 

[go2]

Re: \

Roger D. Hodge wrote an essay titled Blood and time: Cormac McCarthy and the twilight of the West in Harper's magazine in 2005, shortly after McCarthy published No Country For Old Men. I will quote a few paragraphs from Hodge's essay which is quite informative on McCarthy's role as one of the finest living American writers. His work is an unrelenting examination of the border land between good and evil in society and within each man and woman. The Road can be read as allegory of a journey into the burned and traumatized psyche of the protagonists of a burned and desolate age. I read McCarthy's Blood Meridian in 1985. It is an unrelenting odyssey across the frontier West. It is peopled with the murderers, rapists, lawmen, and renegades of the genocide of the American Indians. The spark of conscience is barely alive in this perversion of man on the frontier of Zion.

Cormac McCarthy spends much of his time at the Sante Fe Institute with his friend, physicist Murray Gell-Mann, who wrote the The Quark and the Jaguar: Adventures in the Simple and the Complex. McCarthy declines most interviews and doesn't teach. He doesn't know any writers and prefers the company of scientists. I am reminded of the two gifts to man in Prometheus Bound, the gift of fire and the gift of prophecy. The gift of prophecy is little mentioned, except by Aeschylus. I think Cormac McCarthy may have a little of this gift.

....Is it possible that Cormac McCarthy might have something larger in mind than meretricious entertainment?

....If he were a normal writer, one could simply ask him. Indeed, a normal writer might even write an article explaining himself. But McCarthy has consistently refused to interpret his own work. He has given only two interviews (and those reportedly under duress) in thirteen years and has shown no interest in publishing memoirs or criticism or political broadsides or essays of any kind. He is evidently uninterested in publicity or celebrities or book parties. He does not teach. Cormac McCarthy is thus an artist of an increasingly rare kind, one who prefers to let his work speak for itself. His intransigence makes things difficult for book reviewers, who must read the books, and read them carefully, if they hope to understand them.

....What sweeps away these characters and all that they love is war—and not only the kind of war that announces itself as such. War is also the name for what civilization does to wildness, to autonomous life, whether it be human or not. The freedom of the birds is an insult. There is room on the stage for one beast and one alone. The American West, for McCarthy, is a place where the truth of history declares itself with unambiguous and ferocious candor. Men kill men for gold and glory. Women and children will be killed if there's money to be made or good sport to be had. And yet, within the broad current of such slaughter, fragile eddies of safety form and sustain themselves briefly, before the floodwaters, touched here and there with pink foam, rise again and wash them downstream.

...It is not only the old people in this novel who have lost their way. Moss takes the money he finds in the desert with the full knowledge that in doing so he will forfeit all that he loves. And yet he cannot leave it. Leaving it would be unthinkable; the world in which he finds himself has foreclosed that possibility. That world, of course, is precisely the world of the thriller, and it could very well be that the impoverished world of the thriller is the one in which we find ourselves as well.

You could see the chisel marks in the stone. It was hewed out of solid rock and it was about six foot long and maybe a foot and a half wide and about that deep. Just chiseled out of the rock. And I got to thinkin about the man that done that. That country had not had a time of peace much of any length at all that I knew of. I've read a little of the history of it since and I aint sure it ever had one. But this man had set down with a hammer and chisel and carved out a stone water trough to last ten thousand years. Why was that? What was it that he had faith in? It wasnt that nothin would change. Which is what you might think, I suppose. He had to know bettern that. . . . And I have to say that the only thing I can think is that there was some sort of promise in his heart. And I dont have no intentions of carvin a stone water trough. But I would like to be able to make that kind of promise.

...McCarthy takes the long view, and any reading of his work that fails to understand that, any reading that suggests that this most disciplined and rigorous novelist had any object in mind other than making a novel that will outlast our cities of the plains, has failed to reckon with his art.

Edit: 1995 to 2005...Thanks, Heimdallr

 

[Beau]

Re: \

Roger D. Hodge wrote an essay titled Blood and time: Cormac McCarthy and the twilight of the West in Harper's magazine in l996, shortly after McCarthy published No Country For Old Men.

Just a wee nitpick here - No Country was published in 2005, not in the mid 90s.

 

[Ollie]

Re: \

Initially I thought that I would see the movie. However, now I would rather not see the movie after reading the book. I'd rather stay with the author's 'images' and 'my interpretations' - 'letting his work speak for itself' - rather than see a producer's/director's perceptions of what is happening in the book.

And,

Yes, it occurred to me as well in reading this novel that we in the work are "carrying the fire" in some of the same ways as the man and his son. And we are scattered around the globe. It is very unlikely that the members of this group would have met but for the doorway of the Internet and Laura's work. We probably would have spent our lives in growing despair, "knowing" that there had to be others out their like us. But having little chance of making contact.

I fully endorse that thought. The group is 'family', with all for one and one for all.

 

[alphonse]

Re: The Road

Hi Rabelais

My wife bought the book, so as it was lying around I started to read it.
It's well written but the subject matter makes it tough going.

This thread below went in to it in some detail last week, hope it helps you make your mind up if you should see/ read it

http://www.cassiopaea.org/forum/index.php?topic=5734.0

Alphonse

 

[loreta]

Picked it up and read it in about 5 interrupted hours last night.

Highly recommended. Great writer, great book.

The back cover says: "The searing postapocalyptic novel...A father and his son walk alone through burned America. Nothing moves in the ravaged landscape save the ash on the wind. It is cold enough to crack stones, and when the snow falls it is gray. The sky is dark. Their destination is the coast, although, they don't know what, if anything, awaits them there. They have nothing: just a pistol to defend themselves against the lawless bands that stalk the road, the clothes they are wearing, a cart of scavenged food--and each other."

I'm deeply affected by this read.

This novel is one of the few that made me cry at the end of the book. I cried so much. A very good apocalyptic story. This extraordinary relationship between father and son. The film is also very good. There is a dog in this story, dog, love finally. Faith and hope and peace.