The Road - By Cormac McCarthy - A Review

A grey world coloured only by dreams of a normal one (our world) now lost forever. Humans have been reduced to cannibals, even to eating their young in order to survive. The protagonists, the man and his son (no names offered, none needed) are the good guys - the last ones with the "fire" of morality in them, and a love that sustains them when food and shelter is scarce.This "journey story" is about our heroes' trek from the freezing north to the south, in an area located somewhere in eastern North America, after a huge firestorm has reduced the earth to ashes. The father is ill and has only a few bullets left in his pistol, one of which he is reserving for his son, in case they are set upon by the bad guys. He would rather kill his offspring than see him fall into the hands of the baddies who could have the boy for lunch.The story meanders like the road they are on to the southern coast, with our duo encountering various obstacles and making new discoveries, and this was the
part that dragged for me. The literary agent's mantra of "give me the story on the first page" does not apply here; one has to wait for the last few pages. And yet the universal truths that fall out occasionally, like the scraps of food they find, are very illuminating. Here's a sample:1. Dying is not an option. We crave survival under the direst of conditions 2. When we all die, Death's days will be numbered 3. As for food, God will provide in the most mysterious ways 4. Children crave community, adults are isolated 5. Children are open to sharing, even at risk to themselves; adults are selfish and suspicious6. Love and family can sustain us through any cataclysmThe father-son bond is enhanced by the occasional terse dialogue between them, in which their fears, hope, desperation, hunger, struggle to survive, and morality are expressed.There were some inconsistencies which I forgave in the light of this being fiction. For instance, it was never explained how Father and Son
had survived in the cold north all these years before they began their trek south, or how eggs could be preserved in the house full of food that they stumble into en-route.The "cavalry" comes to the rescue too neatly at the end, and even though it hints of the "pat ending," it reinforces point # 6 above and makes one heave a sigh of relief that there is a shred of hope in this rather hopeless world after all.

View this post on my blog: http://www.yourgamebook.com/the-road-by-cormac-mccarthy-a-review.html