The Road

After many recommendations and notable buzz, I picked up the well received novel by Cormac McCarthy called "The Road." Let me start by saying - This book has easily moved up as perhaps the best thing I have read in recent memory. Some of you may know McCarthy from his other novel turned Hollywood hit "No Country For Old Men" and already grasp the writers penchant for a bleak and at times helpless outlook of mankind. In "The Road" McCarthy takes this kind of pessimism of modern man to new heights.

This is a post-apocalyptic tale of a Man and his only son traveling through an ashy, burnt out, skeleton of the planet we now know. The story sees the two on a journey and battle of survival through a dark and desolate land with "almost" no signs of life and other than the present, no signs of a past or future respectively.

The novel is an emotionally driven look at an unapologetic earth and a mans unwavering commitment to survive if not for himself, for his only child. As you read through the pages of "The Road" it casts a shadow of skepticism that the planet may be better off without us anyways.

Although the novel never clearly explains what had happened to the earth and it's inhabitants, it does point us in the direction of Nuclear fallout or an all consuming fire. It finds the father and child making their way through unforgiving weather conditions, blinding darkness, bitter cold, ravaged landscapes, and the struggles of trying to survive day to day almost void of food or water and without a drop of optimism in the bucket. They encounter decayed cities laid to rest, the finger print of past human life in the form of charred remains, and to their terror - other humans that have devolved to a barbaric almost animal like state.

After completion I couldn't help to think of "Mad Max" or other "post-apocalyptic" movies/books and compare. The thought made me scoff at their idea of what it would be like to live on a planet almost void of life and food. Mad Max now looks more akin to a romantic comedy placed in the balmy sands of the Australian deserts. Something that would be good for a chuckle, and more importantly a time to look forward to and wear goggles and leather. "The Road" however, makes you want to pray that you do not live to see a life so dark and if so, die as quickly as possible.

Sunshine and rainbows folks...sunshine and rainbows.
That's what it's all about.