The Road (book review)

A book review from Nick at Nite

The Road - Cormac McCarthy

I purchased this book last week. I read it on Friday night in the span of a few hours. From ten to fifteen pages in, I simply could not put it down. I did not know when I bought the book that it had won the Pulitzer Prize or that Entertainment Weekly called it the best book of the last 25 years. I could not stop thinking about the book and found out these tidbits surfing the net after finishing the book. It is dark. It is very dark. It has a small ray of light and will leave you thinking – perhaps for days. It is also a heartening story about a father and son, their bond, and the father’s quest to find a safe place for them in a most unfriendly environment. An unnamed apocalypse – probably the bomb – has destroyed the world we know and turned everything gray with ash. The story takes place as the father and son traverse the post-apocalyptic scene in the quest to get to the sea. Nothing grows, no food, no gas, no phones, no electricity, no government, no animals, the surviving humans are a brutish people (all are frightened and some ignore the advice to not eat Charlie), pretty much what you expect in your typical the end of the world has come book (see The Day After, I Am Legend, Mad Max, etc ...) What is different is the human story. I cared about the father, known simply as “Papa,” and his charge. I had to know what happened to them. I won’t tell you, so you can enjoy your read. I give it an “A.”

*** PARTIAL SPOILER AND QUESTIONS FOLLOW ***

Partial spoiler and questions. Two questions about the book. Does “carrying the fire” have any significant meaning? Is there anything unique about the “three days” mentioned at the end of the book?