Books: The Road by Cormac McCarthy

I picked up The Road last week at Barnes and Noble. I read the description on the back and it did not look like a book for me. However, Hazy told me that a couple of his co-workers read the book and claimed it was one of the best they had ever read. I went for it. I think it is important to read something every now and then that is out of your comfort zone. Something that blows your hair back... and The Road did exactly that. It's a dark story about a father and son traveling across southern America after the end of human civilization. McCarthy uses a narrative language that is a continuous flow of thoughts and dialogue between the father and the son. It is a unique style that never uses quotations and illustrates the love of the father for his son through actions and protection from the harshest realities of the world they live in. The story is about the father and son's journey to reach the Pacific Ocean. Most journey's I have read about contain a goal that relies upon "hope" to achieve it. Ironically, the goal in this novel is to stay alive for as long as possible and the story takes place in a world without any hope. One thing I found particularly interesting in the book is the father's differentiation between w good and bad in a world where everything seems bad. Nearly all the good has left the world and the man ceaselessly tries to help his son understand what is good and moral. While fairly easy to read, the novel contains a wealth of information and references to good and evil, most notably Plato's Cave Theory. The story contrasts Andy Dufresne's hope filled journey through prison and to the Pacific in Stephen King's Rita Hayworth and the Shawshank Redemption. There is no hope in The Road, yet it is a difficult book to put down because McCarthy reveals the core of human nature in a world where the only incentive is to stay alive for a few more days at anyone's expense. Trust and dependency on others disappears and self-reliance and defense become the nucleus of human life. The novel is a book that I will read again in a few months and still find new revelatory passages. It is very thought provoking and I give it 4.5 out of 5 Red Hunting Caps. Bonus points to anyone who understands my new measurement of books. Those that don't get it are phonies...hint hint, wink wink.