The Road, by Cormac McCarthy

I have an awful habit of jumping over to Wikipedia whenever I finish a book or movie. I don't really trust my own interpretation of events, and anyway, I was never very good at picking up symbolism. So I get someone else to do it for me. It's bad, I know, but I cannot help it that I am an extremely literal person.

I just finished reading The Road by Cormac McCarthy, and even before going over to Wikipedia, I must say that I really enjoyed it. For those who aren't familiar with the book, it is the story of a father and son who are trying to reach the coast in a post-apocalyptic world. Almost everything and everyone is dead, so they must survive on canned food that they find. I was surprised, but impressed, when I found out that this was an Oprah's Book Club pick. It also won the Pulitzer Prize for Fiction in 2006.

The book itself was slow going at first, but McCarthy always is. Like any author whose writing style is different, it takes me a little while to get into the book. This happens with everything - Marx, Austen, etc. Having only read one McCarthy book before this (No Country for Old Men), I wasn't sure what to expect. I'm still not sure if this is representative of McCarthy's style, but there were lots of similarities between the two books. I'll be the first to admit - unset-off dialogue (with no quotation marks or anything) tends make me confused, especially in a long exchange. I forget which person is talking and I usually have to go back and read it again, more slowly.

But really, the dialogue confusion was my only complaint. This book was the perfect mix of withholding information with just enough to keep me engaged. Although I am a little embarrassed that I definitely thought they were headed west to the Pacific Ocean and through the Rocky Mountains (not south to the Gulf of Mexico or Atlantic Ocean through the Appalachians as is actually the case), I think I kept up with the story pretty well. During the time that I was reading the book, I kept thinking about it when I had to do something else, and I think this is the mark of a great, thought-provoking work.

I'm also very interested to see what the movie version will be like. Before I read the actual novel, I was skeptical about what I had heard and how well it would translate to film. After reading, though, I don't think they'll have a problem. Viggo Mortensen is more than adequete and it was nice to have his face to picture while reading the story. There is enough action to keep the movie going, but not so much that they'll have to cut much. I hope there are no drastic plot changes, though - everything in the novel seemed to work so well. I suppose some more backstory would be nice (woo flashbacks), and they might have to add more dialogue. I guess I'll find out November 26th.