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Anyone read "The Road" ?

statius said:
I thought it was quite good. Easy to follow prose, and he didn't seem to be trying to hard to me, but hey, literature is subjective. Maybe I've been reading too much latin and greek poetry, which is way more allusive, intertextual, and annoying. I thought the last paragraph of the novel was very beautiful in a sad and haunting way. I quickly gave it away to a friend so I wouldn't have to re-read it; very depressing.
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His prose in The ROad is much more spare and less expressive than in his other books. I think he is trying to make the prose as bleak and whithered as the world it describes.

By the way, I also spend too much time reading Latin and Greek poetry. I'm a Latin/Classics teacher so it's an occupational hazard!:thumbup:
 
I tried reading it, but it was a great example of what happens when a non-genre writer tries to write a genre work without doing the research first.
 
I took three years of Latin in high school. "It's a dead language and it's killing me." :p I've been tempted to read some German lit, but I'm just too damn slow of a reader in English and don't need any extra challenges right now. Maybe in another life.
Regarding The Road ... I had the same reaction many of you did who had children just before reading it. I can appreciate the father-son story and style, but the setting sticks with you for a while. The book just re-enforced how under prepared I am and reminded me to stock up on some things that really matter, not an Altoids tin. I was caught off-guard in 2003 when the east and midwest had the blackout. We happened to be really low on food and my wife was going into labor during that ordeal.
I found it interesting that he brought up the need for good shoes and the shortage of shopping carts.
 
randomlooker said:
I tried reading it, but it was a great example of what happens when a non-genre writer tries to write a genre work without doing the research first.
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I don't think it's a genre work. Trying to include The Road in the apocalyptic adventure genre is like Thinking of "Brokeback Mountain" as a typical Western.
 
They just finished making the movie "The Road" based off of the book. It comes out in the next month or so. I saw the preview and it looks like a great movie. I think Viggo Mortinson is the lead actor(ie Appolussa).
 
333rm said:
They just finished making the movie "The Road" based off of the book. It comes out in the next month or so. I saw the preview and it looks like a great movie. I think Viggo Mortinson is the lead actor(ie Appolussa).
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the movie was supposed to come out last year this time, delayed multiple times which has me worried... i just hope the studio behind it left the damn story alone the director is john hillcoat who directed the excellent aussie western
"the proposition" this would be a slam dunk excellent cast, excellent story, excellent director, but the delays has me concerned:(
ivan
 
John_B said:
I hear they are trying to make Blood Meridian into a movie too.
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I've read that the rights to it and a script have been getting bought and sold for a couple of years. Personally I think it would be nearly undoable at an R rating if they were to do it accurately because of the horrific violence. Maybe as an HBO movie or short series?
 
^ agreed- it would be tough to do as a movie, but then again I said that about No Country and they pulled that off brilliantly :)
 
the book is poorly written, and the writer has zero knowledge of survival, dealing with emergency or planning.
Cormac McCarthy is well thought of by the hollywood and book club set, but not by me.
 
The world the author created in "The Road" defies any kind of logical explanation. Why would everything on land and sea be dead except for way too many humans? And what kind of future is there in an environment that seems to not allow any kind of agriculture?

If you want to read a realistic long term "survival" novel, read "Cold Mountain." Those two ladies would be the real survivors.
 
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crossada said:
it has been a while since i read this but i seem to remember it being a nuclear winter but it looks like from the trailer hollywood inserted their own environmentalist views into the story. i really hate movies like "the day after tomorrow" with its over the top views and i hope this movie doesn't fall into that type.
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Actually, Cormac McCarthy meant for it to be something akin to a Comet or Meteor strike.
 
Thumbs down from me - I actually hope the movie will be different from the book!

I personally did not think it was good literature, or a good survival read.

For relationships in adversity it did not feel any where close to "the book thief" for example. Also all the plot devices and inconsistencies to bring unlikely groups together to provide contrasts was just too unrealistic and lost me - and this is a tough thing to do as I read a lot of SF and are used to letting a few things slip. The groupings were just not credible - but shallow reflections of different parts of the human psyche in repsonse to adversity.


Bet the movie has a few "green shoots" at the end!! (and it needs them)

My .02
 
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