About a month ago I purchased a book titled "The Road" by Cormac McCarthy not knowing much about it at all (but knowing about how praised the author is)
I initially tried to read it, got about 10 pages in and just really couldn't get into it at all. Whether it is the way it is written (it is somewhat odd) or perhaps my mood at the time, I just couldn't.
Fast forward to yesterday.
I pick the book up out of boredom and willingness to give it another shot and...holy fuck. I read and read and read.
Basically it is about a man and his son as they travel south on a burned out landscape formed from an unnamed apocalyptic event years before. The sky is a permanent gray from the ashes.
It's a slow book. I don't think it's an exaggeration to say that at least 80% of it are just words describing their travel and how they set up camps/scavenge for food and such.
Which to me, is incredible.
To others it obviously may not be. I can understand not like this book. But the point is, I almost felt that way at first too.
There is more to it. But it is the bond between the man and his son, and the fathers absolute will to survive, that just makes the novel feel so, so incredible. I can't quite describe it.
Balance that with the fact that there are groups of cannibals who roam the roads and you've got yourself a book that just screams "READ ME DAN. LOVE ME"
There are so many parts that could qualify as the most depressing, hopeless, heartbreaking and creepy things I've ever read. Ever.
So while it may be hard to get into, it's worth the time, because I was blown away when I closed it.
I probably say this everytime I talk about a book, but I really don't read that much despite wanting to. I guess you could call me "picky" but when I do find a book I like it just reinforces the fact that there is really nothing like a good book that really speaks to you.
It's incredible.
