Book Review: The Road
The Road, most recently a major motion-picture featuring Viggo Mortenson—of “A History Of Violence” fame—started life as a book by American best-selling author Cormac McCarthy. Dark, broody and uniquely formatted, the book is both a classic and a difficult read that presents problems to the inexperienced reader. And that’s the question: should it matter that the book can only be appreciated by those who truly value literature? Or is the point of a book to transcend those boundaries and reach all levels of readership?
The Road is quite clearly brilliant, whatever your take on the style of writing is. But that doesn’t mean there aren’t parts which drag and seem to mull too long on things which aren’t ever fully explained.
The format of this book is what makes it truly unique. Stripped down to the barest of grammar and punctuation, commas are scarcely used and the result is a stream-of-consciousness, slow-burning build up of constant tension and daily misery. This may put some readers off, but, in fact, the style is perfectly suited to the story. In the tale, which sees two simplified characters traipse across post-apocalyptic America after an unexplained natural-disaster wipes out the most of mankind, the reader is subjected to not only the nastiness of life on the road, but the mundane, mind-numbing drag of it. On top of this is a religious thread which burns into every page. Will the pair survive? Moreover, what is there to survive for?
The Road is undoubtedly more poetry than prose; the story a fearless quest into what makes us human and how we endure the worst of mental states. It is a book which everyone should read. Whether you appreciate the format is irrelevant. There is enough hope here to drive any reader to wonder, what if this happened to me?
Before I go, I have just updated the illustrations on the website for heating oil supplier, I know that it might surprise you that I am doing some stuff for an oil company; but I don’t think they are as enviromentally irresponsible as I once concluded. Plus, I’ve sold out, I need the compensation! The point is that I quite like them, what do you all think?