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Love Fuels the Will to Survive Sep 06, 2010
The world has been burned in an apocalyptic like disaster, and the narrative of this book follows a father and son as they journey toward the ocean in the hope of finding a place of refuge, a place to stay, a place to live. Only the father's love for the son compels him to keep going forward.
The father symbolizes those who love for family compels them to wake up every morning and forge an existence in a dark, wasteland world. McCarthy contends that at the end of the day, love and loyalty and family are the things worth living for, even when everything else is gone.
The book is unrelenting in its bleak outlook on life, but readers will admire the father in this depressing novel where even determination and love can be questioned.
 An inspiring tale of paternal love Sep 04, 2010
Being a new father myself I found this novel inspiring and full of love. The plot and story progression are truly tragic, but the love and tenderness the Man envelopes his son in creates a beautiful new world in his progeny that contrasts wonderfully with the bleak setting. The benevolent spirit of the Boy, in a time where cannibalism so profusely invades the cravings of the sole survivors, scribes the pages of the novel in calligraphic hope. Some with deaf ears may claim they neither learned nor enjoyed anything from the narrator's tome, but I left The Road with a new outlook on my paternal role, and will never forget the tone and theme of pure love found in the story.
1 of 1 found the following review helpful:
perhaps the greatest work of art I've ever encountered Aug 29, 2010
Art is different from entertainment because art changes you, and this book affected me more deeply than any piece of art I've ever encountered. Not that I think it's perfect -- I see many flaws. But they don't matter. It accomplished its mission.
Cormac McCarthy has written the definitive literary depiction of the power of love. Although they were cold, dirty, starving, frightened, I was surprised to find myself at one point envying them, for they were nurtured from within by the power of love. Especially the father, as it's the nature of the parent-child relationship that the parent gives and the child receives. CM is saying, that when all hope is gone, love remains.
And he's done it so convincingly that during the days I was reading this book, when I had occasion to throw away some food, I found myself thinking "I wish I could give it to them." In some part of my mind, I felt convinced that these people really existed. That was how completely I entered into their world.
Caution: spoilers ahead!!
I have never cried so hard at any death in a movie or book. It started with the line: "when he lay down he knew that he could go no further and that this was the place where he would die. The boy sat watching him, his eyes welling. Oh Papa, he said."
I'm crying for the loss to the man, who showed so much courage, self-denial, sheer grit, and boundless love. We want to see that kind of all-out effort succeed and be rewarded, but life isn't like that. We know the horror the man must feel in leaving his son alone in that world, with nothing but a half a tin of peaches to sustain him. In his final gesture of love, the man declines the peaches and tells his son to save them for him -- for tomorrow, when he knows he'll be gone.
I'm crying for the loss to the skinny, starving boy, who has lost his smart, determined, vigilant and tender father -- the only thing standing between him and a horrific future as a catamite or cannibal's dinner.
And I'm crying for the loss to myself of the most inspiring character in the fiction world: a man with the strength to keep going, keep walking, keep searching, when almost all others have given up (like his wife) or given in to their basest instincts (the roadagents).
"The Road" left me knowing that love is all that matters, and determined to live my life out of that knowledge. I want to give up living from my mind and start living from my heart. Perhaps I will adopt a child. The story is more powerful than a thousand sermons.
Cormac McCarthy strips away all the superfluous stuff that has nothing to do with love. We don't know whether the man preferred to go out for sushi or steak, jazz music or country. Was he a lawyer, salesman or mechanic? None of that is essential to who he is. We don't need him to crack jokes or say profound things. All we know of him is what he does, and that's plenty. We see him putting his son's welfare first, over and over again. When they are hiding from the cannibals, he considers running to draw them away from the boy. That he himself will end up in that basement doesn't even figure in his decision not to do it -- only that he doesn't think it will work. His own pain weighs nothing when compared to his motivation to save the boy.
As for those who fault the man for not helping strangers -- I don't agree. Any morsel of food given to strangers is taken from the mouth of his son, or lessens his own chance to stay alive long enough to get his son south. He had to choose and he chose his son.
So the story had a deep emotional impact on me. But in addition, it is a story of ideas. How low can man go? What darkness beats in the heart of men, only thinly veiled by our (currently) abundant society? At what point is life no longer worth living? At what point should the strong drive for self-preservation be ignored, if it means committing atrocities on others? And lastly, to what extent am I taking life's current luxuries and comforts for granted?
I'm sure many a reader of "The Road" has collapsed into bed after a night of reading and felt immense gratitude for their cozy bedroom, their clean sheets, their fridge and a tasty midnight snack.
Things that troubled me about the story: I wanted them to stay longer at the bunker. At least to make full use of those provisions and take the time to fatten up and rest before heading on. They could've hauled a load of groceries off a mile or two and pigged out for a few weeks before coming back for more. The more weight they put on, the less crucial it would be to find fresh provisions when they finally did leave.
I wanted to see him make a major effort to find a way to disguise the trap-door to the bunker. It had gone undiscovered for almost ten years, if it was well hidden perhaps it could go undiscovered for at least a few more months.
Setting off the flare gun was irresponsible. They wasted a flare and announced their position, perhaps drawing the thief.
But those are minor quibbles. After finishing "The Road," I felt profoundly blessed, and cleansed from within from the tears shed. I knew I was in the presence of greatness. Cormac McCarthy has given mankind an immense gift, for which I paid only $7.99. Thank for Cormac McCarthy.
0 of 5 found the following review helpful:
 Depressing With No Plot or Story Aug 27, 2010
I almost gave up on this book several times because the road never went anywhere but deeper into depression. This was a terrible book with almost no plot and no good ending. By good ending I mean a twist or revelation or something to make you go "Wow, what a great ending!". I'm sorry I wasted my time finishing this one.
From a Writer's Perspective Aug 24, 2010
Cormac McCarthy's purpose in writing this book is to show the boundless love that the Man shows toward his son, and that the Boy shows toward his father. There isn't a better way to display this love than to set the story in a place where there is no love. The setting, a gray, burned, barren, post-apocalyptic America, accentuates the bond between the two characters. And in doing this, it attaches the reader all the more to the two characters. The fact that we meet hardly any other characters, beside the Man and the Boy, causes us to become emotionally attached to only the Man and the Boy. This shows McCarthy's incredible talent in going to great ends to bring as as close to the characters as possible, especially the Man.
McCarthy's writing style is astounding. Instead of using as many descriptive adjectives as possible to paint a picture in our minds, he uses nouns and verbs to carry the story along. It surprised me when I wasn't board, despite the fact that very little actually happened. McCarthy's style moved the story along so that I couldn't put it down. This, along with the fact that we are so connected with the characters, makes the book not only suspenseful, but a page-turner.
Another aspect that adds to the books suspense, is it's vagueness. The apocalypse is only briefly mentioned in one short paragraph. What happened to the Wife is barely alluded to. All of this together creates the aura of mystery, something that McCarthy obviously wanted.
McCarthy develops the bleak world in which the story takes place amazingly. This too adds to the suspense. Anything is apt to happen, and we never know what it will be like. But this could also be a deterrent to some readers. The book's air is extremely depressing sad. It would be difficult to recommend this book to anyone because of it.
But the book is simply astounding for what it's purpose is, though, and I would recommend the book because of this, and the amazing style in which McCarthy tells the story. I would rank Cormac McCarthy as one of the best authors I've read.
I rank this book four and a half stars only because of "The Road"s depressing content, and not everyone would enjoy it. Yet to those who will brave the hostile world the author was willing to paint to accomplish his purposes, this will be a memorable read, if only for McCarthy's deft writing style and the depth to his work.
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