McCarthy finds further success on ‘The Road’

December 09, 2008
By Gary Smothers
Staff writer

www.firstshowing.net

A Pulitzer Prize winner, The Road is a novel which takes place in a mysteriously burnt out future.  Literally.  Along with the char that exists across the planet lies the blackened remnants of humanity. The exceptions are the two main characters, 'the Man' and 'the Boy. '

Re-released this year by Vintage International as a mass market paperback, this novel serves as a priming mechanism for the soon-to-be-released motion picture, expected to debut in early 2009.  Since its initial release in 2006, the novel remains on USA Today’s Top 150 Best Sellers list.

Entertainment Weekly hailed The Road as the best book, fiction or non-fiction, in the last 25 years. 

The story follows the Man and his young son across the charred remains of the United States as they travel towards what they hope will be a refreshing blue ocean and a new start.  The ash laden world they travel along has them intersecting with the threat of starvation and the reality of being a food source for other survivors.    

Cormac McCarthy uses the same minimalist technique made famous in his earlier novels, the most recently popular being No Country For Old Men, to convey the will of the spirit for not just physical survival, but spiritual survival as well. It expresses the need to hold out against an environment of evil. 

For those uninitiated into McCarthy’s sparse writing style or  pride themselves on being sticklers for grammar—be forewarned.  He uses little punctuation.  The dialogue comes in short declarative sentences.  He makes up some rules as he goes along.  But, he has a reason. 

By forcing the reader to focus in on the words, on the meanings, and stage direction, McCarthy succeeds in drawing the lured reader further into his fictional world.

The Road is a love story and a horror story.  Oftentimes, it is cringe-inducing.  Only the most hardened of hearts could finish the novel with nary a tear to be shed.  At the novel’s end, exhaustion overwhelms. 

To be lured in, however, one must buy into the bold stylistic choices McCarthy chooses to make.  For your sake, please do. 

You may never read a better book.