The Road by Cormac McCarthy
I decided to read The Road because I heard the movie was coming out and you can't be truly disappointed in a movie unless you've read the book.
The story follows a father and son on a journey to the coast where they hope to find a better life. McCarthy does a good job of painting a picture of a hopeless, desolate, post-apocalyptic world and conveying the emotions of a protective father in a very bleak future. I really liked the story and the imagery.
What I didn't like is that McCarthy seems to have no regard (possibly even contempt) for punctuation and writing conventions. Because of this I often found myself re-reading sections to make sure I understood what was going on and who said what. I also disliked the way the book ended. In that respect it was very much like another one of McCarthy's books No Country for Old Men (I haven't read the book but I'm assuming it ended like the movie did). You can't help but think "That's IT? Seriously?!? WTF?".
I'm glad I read it but I don't think I will be reading any more of his work. It's too frustrating.
posted by Aaron at 10/13/2009 04:37:00 PM
2 Comments:
THANK YOU! It seems like it’s almost a trendy thing to like this book and his writing style. I found myself reading a whole page before I could figure out who was talking. Even worse, during the course of a conversation I would start to lose track of who was speaking or who was thinking. It was very frustrating. I would only give this book a passable grade since his scene descriptions were well done. This book turned me off to reading anything else by him.
8:31 AM
I don't know how anybody can defend his style. It's absolute chaos. Impressionism doesn't work in literature.
9:05 AM
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