The Road by Cormac McCarthy

I've been pondering how to review this book for a week or so now and I'm still not sure that I'll do it justice but here goes.

It actually took me about four tries to really get into this book, before then I made it to about page five and then just navigated away to some other more interesting read at the time.  And I guess the reason for that is that this book is a narrative without a beginning or an ending.  It just begins in this scene but you don't know how the characters came to be there or what has gone to pass before then, it all just is.

The other thing that I found hard to warm into at first was the very poetic style of writing.  For example, the first three sentences of the book read:
"When he woke in the woods in the dark and the cold of the night he'd reach out to touch the child sleeping beside him. Nights dark beyond darkness and the days more gray each one than what had gone before. Like the onset of some cold glaucoma dimming away the world."

See what I mean?  Now I'm not saying that this style isn't quite brilliant (which it is), but you definitely need to be in the right head-space to absorb the words in the beginning, before you're hooked into the story, to keep reading.  But it is worth it, mostly.

Okay, I say mostly because not all the ideas are thought-provoking, some, or one in particular, is downright disturbing.  The passage involves a newborn and a fire and some travellers and I won't say anymore but the imagery was quite brutal and I've found it hard to forget.  It has been the single thing about the book that has lingered in my mind and I really don't think the author meant for it to be that way so it must be me.  But you are now all warned.

Gawd, what a hodge-podge review this is turning into.  I read one reviewer called this book 'haunting and unsettling'.  Yep, pretty much on the mark.  It is about survival in a post-apocalyptic America, about the despair and desperation that goes hand in hand with survival, and it is about the relationship between father and son while pushed to their very limits emotionally, mentally and physically.

The father is consumed by his need to protect and provide and is often blinded by anything else.  The boy is dealing with emotions to his situation and has less of a desire to survive if the life to be had is not worth having.  The subtle interactions, often monosyllablic, between these two characters is raw and incredibly honest, despite the short nature of the scenes, and we are left feeling emotionally drained at the end of the book.

The father was so attuned to looking out for 'the bad men' that I wonder if he doesn't often overlook the good in people that are there to be seen if he'd just lessen his guard.  The boy plays his opposite in this role and we often hear the moral viewpoint from the boy's own actions and thoughts and words.

It is a book easily read in one sitting and is often recommended to be read as such.  It is a book that will leave you in a slight turmoil for a few days and it is an incredibly beautifully written novel despite the underlying topic being the ugliness of humanity.  It is a book that is sure to touch you in some way.

As an aside, the movie 'The Road', is due to open in cinemas here soon.  It will be interesting to see how well it translates onto the big screen although I think that Viggo Mortenson has the perfect intensity needed for the character of the man.  Look out for that as well.