One of the most heralded books of the 21st century was a short 2006 post-apocalyptic novel about a man and his son. There are few commas, barely any apostrophes, and no quotation marks to signal dialogue. There are no chapters. The protagonists are never named. But Cormac McCarthy won the Pulitzer Prize for his novel The Road. It was chosen by the Oprah Book Club, and The Road came out on top in a 2008 Entertainment Weekly list of the best 100 books of the past 25 years. The movie adaptation is planned on being released later this year.
The Road is about a man (known simply as "the man") and a boy (known simply as "the boy") trying to survive in a barren America. While their main challenge is trying to find enough food and water to survive, they also struggle with the intense cold that had come from the unnamed apocalypse, the search for shelter, and the bands of cannibals that roam the earth, marauding any weak travelers to rob, kill, and often eat them.
McCarthy's writing style may be one of the main reasons The Road has been so acclaimed. His creative and unconventional nonuse of commas, apostrophes, quotation marks, names, and chapters marks the writing style as very unique. The depressing tone of the novel makes the reader care about the characters more than most other books. Here is one of the many conversations between the man and the boy:
He was a long time going to sleep. After a while he turned and looked at the man. His face in the small light streaked with black from the rain like some old world thespian. Can I ask you something? he said.
Yes. Of course.
Are we going to die?
Sometime. Not now.
And we're still going south.
Yes.
So we'll be warm.
Yes.
Okay.
Okay what?
Nothing. Just okay.
Go to sleep.
Okay.
I'm going to blow out the lamp. Is that okay?
Yes. That's okay.
And then later in the darkness: Can I ask you something?
Yes. Of course you can.
What would you do if I died?
If you died I would want to die too.
So you could be with me?
Yes. So I could be with you.
Okay.
The character of the man is pitiful. He is living out a harsh punishment for no crime at all. He does not care at all about himself; every move he makes is for the well-being of his son or the safety of himself in order to protect his son. The boy is, if possible, an even more depressing character. While he is generally more optimistic than his father, most readers will find themselves halfway to tears reading about a child at his age surviving sights and events that nobody should ever have to endure. Cormac McCarthy describes the love of the man and the loss of innocence of the boy with vivid and realistic dialogue and actions. As the novel says, the man and the boy are "each the other's world entire."
While The Road is an excellent addition to literature and should become a classic in future years, many children and weak readers will find this book to hard to bear. Throughout the novel, the depressing tone and some events may not be pleasant to some readers.
Cormac McCarthy wrote an excellent story with The Road. This book has brought him more renown than he has ever had with his previous books. The austere book should continue to enchant readers for many years to come.
Grade: 9
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