Book Review: The Road by Cormac McCarthy

One thing I really like about summer is that I finally have the time to read books for fun. Not because I have to ya know? Well I had finished the couple of books that I brought up to Chicago with me and needed a new one. I was on Facebook and saw a quote from this book as someone's status. I did a quick little read to figure out what it was about and then decided to buy it. Boy am I glad I did! This was a really good book.

If you're a fan of happy go lucky, fairy tale stories then this is most definitely not the book for you. It's a post-apocalyptic world where a man and his son fight for survival. McCarthy never really explains exactly how the world got the way it did. My immediate guess was nuclear war. The book is constantly speaking of ash raining down from the sky and how cities were burned and people had been charred while trying to run. The line "The clocks stopped at 1:17. A long shear of light and then a series of low concussions," made me think of an EMP. Anyways the book doesn't really focus much on the before...it's all about the after.

I never really figured out exactly where they were either. At the beginning of the book they were in the mountains and were heading south. Beyond that, you never read a city name that gives you any hint the path they took. Their goal was to reach the ocean in hopes to escape the bitter cold that seemed to have consumed the whole planet.

In a world that has become essentially dead, and people have turned into cannibal murderers, the man and his son embody two shining characteristics: Love and Hope. Due to the conditions the world is currently in many people have reverted to savages and are willing to do anything they can to stay alive. They imprison people and only save them to eat at a later time. Many times throughout the book, the boy refers to themselves as "the good guys."

The man, who embodies love, will do anything to protect his child. The first time they run across a group that threatens his son, he shoots the man right in the forehead and tells his son he is here to protect him, and he'll kill anyone who touches him. Many times the father ensures he provides the boy with food or water before himself and insists on the boy having more until the boy also demands he have some for himself. The father is always reassuring of the son letting him know things are going to be alright, even though deep down he's not so sure himself.

The boy is a perfect balance for his father. While his father doubts many times how they are going to survive the boy always has hope. At one point he says to his father "You thought we were going to die. Well we didn't." His hope for survival also extends beyond he and his father. Seeing others along their journey he wishes to help to give them a fighting chance. He once pleads with his father to give an old man some food.

The man and the boy also balance each other out in risk taking. The father blinded by love is willing to do whatever it takes to find food. He took many risks in searching abandoned houses while the boy wanted to step back and leave many times. At one point the father's risk taking almost gets them killed and another time it saves their lives.

Overall I give this book a big two thumbs up! It's a great read and moving as well. You can only hope if we ever have to experience the world depicted that such love and hope will still exist.