While on vacation I plowed through a bunch of books; one stood above the rest — “The Road” by Cormac McCarthy.
I won’t say much about the story itself beyond this synopsis from the official website;
“A father and his son walk alone through burned America. Nothing moves in the ravaged landscape save the ash on the wind. It is cold enough to crack stones, and when the snow falls it is gray. The sky is dark. Their destination is the coast, although they don’t know what, if anything, awaits them there.”
Once I had finished reading I had to see what was online about it. As expected there’s quite a bit.
This quote made me think about the book in a different light…
“It could be the most important environmental book ever. It is a thought experiment that imagines a world without a biosphere, and shows that everything we value depends on the ecosystem” — British environmental campaigner George Monbiot
Another excellent inspiration from the book is this photo set by flickr user
Douglas Roesch, who has tried to piece together some photos to envoke the scenes in the story. The photo above is one of the pictures from that set.
Lastly, news that the book is currently being made into a movie starring Viggo Mortensen, Charlize Theron, Robert Duvall and Guy Pearce.
The production shots released so far look stunning (warning: these might be spoilers unless you’ve read the book) — http://io9.com/393576/first-glimpses-of-the-roads-moody-realism. Can’t wait!
The Road: Cormac McCarthy
[rating:95/100]
2 responses to “The Road by Cormac McCarthy”
Beautifully written book, the will be hard to watch. Biggest take away from the book, be careful what you look at, read, watch etc. Once it goes in it doesn’t come out. Work hard to convey this bit of wisdom to your young children.
I agree — it was a tough haunting read. I can’t even imagine what the film will be like. Read some cool stuff about it today in the NYTs…
http://www.nytimes.com/2008/05/27/movies/27road.html?pagewanted=2&_r=1