Tuesday, January 20, 2009
The Road
Cormac McCarthy
2006
This is a post-apocalyptic novel about a man and his son walking south trying to survive.
This novel is what post-apocalyptic writing should be. It doesn't give an inch. There are no flashbacks so we can reconstruct why the world ended. There are no hints at any type of war or disease or other catastrophe. The catastrophe just happened, what happened or why is not important, and McCarthy resists any tempation to imagine why. The story also take place well after the end of the world, when everyone who is going to die, already has. The story is about people dealing with it who have long ago accepted what happened. There's no trauma or crying or looking back, just cruel acceptance and adaptation. The book is riveting, thrilling and easy to read. I read it in three days. McCarthy writes very crudely: no apostrophes, no quotations, broken sentences. The style is opposite a elegant victorian novel. There is no elegance. The text is as crude as the landscape in which the story takes place. An excellent book. (Disturbing even, the scene of people being kept in a basement for food shook me a bit).
Cormac McCarthy
2006
This is a post-apocalyptic novel about a man and his son walking south trying to survive.
This novel is what post-apocalyptic writing should be. It doesn't give an inch. There are no flashbacks so we can reconstruct why the world ended. There are no hints at any type of war or disease or other catastrophe. The catastrophe just happened, what happened or why is not important, and McCarthy resists any tempation to imagine why. The story also take place well after the end of the world, when everyone who is going to die, already has. The story is about people dealing with it who have long ago accepted what happened. There's no trauma or crying or looking back, just cruel acceptance and adaptation. The book is riveting, thrilling and easy to read. I read it in three days. McCarthy writes very crudely: no apostrophes, no quotations, broken sentences. The style is opposite a elegant victorian novel. There is no elegance. The text is as crude as the landscape in which the story takes place. An excellent book. (Disturbing even, the scene of people being kept in a basement for food shook me a bit).
# posted by mz @ 3:26 PM 
