Wednesday, September 17, 2008

The Road

The Road The Road by Cormac McCarthy


My review


rating: 4 of 5 stars
Wow! What an interesting plot line. I really enjoyed this book, and read it in 2 days. I found it endearing, the bond between the man and his son. I was impressed with the control with which he dealt with the boy. How nurturing he was in such a stressful situation. Instead of losing his cool under duress, he was calming and loving, and open and honest. I think that strengthened the boy's ability to deal with the stress.



The reason it didn't get five stars:



No quotations? This bothered me and I don't know why the author chose not to use them. I found myself count back the lines, trying to keep track of who was saying what.



Why don't the main character have names?

I felt the author owed the man and the boy more definition than he gave them.



What happened, exactly to the world? Why is there ash everywhere? Obviously some kind of apocolyptic fire or burning of the earth?

How long ago did this happen? Obviously before the boy's lifetime. How old is the boy?

What was so horrible that the mother felt it necessary to take her own life?



Aside for all those many questions (which I'm hoping someone can shed some light for me) I really enjoyed the book.


View all my reviews.

8 comments:

myhappyplace said...

Love, love, love the orange and black layout. I read your profile and we have a lot in common w/the exception of running marathons. I am so NOT a runner. Thanks for stopping by and yeah, link me.

Elisa said...

I LOVE THIS BOOK! (can you tell i like caps today??)

Great review!!

Go watch the video interview with Oprah and McCarthy-- it will answer some of your questions. At least it did for me!!

Mikki said...

I love your new background. So cute and perfect for Halloween.
I have not read this book, all those unanswered questions would probably drive me nuts.

Anonymous said...

i'll have to read that one!!

Andrea said...

Amen on the NO QUOTES! Drives me crazy. It makes me have to read the passage over and over again to get it right. No book should be that much work!

Sher said...

After reading some people's reviews, and watching his interview on Oprah.com, I've decided that Coram Mcarthy writes books for smart people.
He leaves a LOT to the imagination, which, I'm guessing, is why there are the "holes" in the plot.
I still loved the book, though.

Natalie said...

Seriously Sherrie, running marathons, soccer mommy, karate watching, dinner cooking, volunteering, blogging, piano composing, book reviewing, and you do it all looking like a professional beauty queen. I think I'll go cry myself to sleep because I didn't inherit the wonder woman gene. You go girl.

tiki_lady said...

i enjoyed your review that it has peaked my interest to read this book! I love those kind of reviews. because now I want to read the book to see if i can come up with a few of those answers. I am already speculating and I haven't even read the book.