Comments on: Cormack McCarthy – The Road

By: Eric McBroom

Eric McBroom — Wed, 03 Mar 2010 16:29:09 +0000

McCarthy has the rare ability to see the world outside the minds’ of men, recalling a love so pure it needs no promise to bind it. that love is the only thing worth saving in this world. Compassion is God.

By: Gladys O'Neill

Gladys O'Neill — Tue, 12 Jan 2010 20:51:15 +0000

My first McCarthy book. What an experience!

By: Gladys O'Neill

Gladys O'Neill — Tue, 12 Jan 2010 20:50:19 +0000

10 Jan 2010
I bought “The Road” to read in the new year and like some other readers I finished it quite quickly. The content was a big surprise for me and I was at first annoyed at the recurring descriptions of the weather and landscape. However , as I got used to the writing I began to appreciate the reasons for all the detail of colour, dreams, etc. The repetitive nature of the dialogue also conveyed so clearly the relationship between father and son. The book has left a big impression on me and I keep thinking about the reasons and interpretations of the different situations that occured. McCarthy uses the descriptions of ‘goodies’ and baddies to great effect.

By: Alexander Ponce-Bonano

Alexander Ponce-Bonano — Wed, 30 Dec 2009 13:27:10 +0000

I just saw the movie version and I am shocked. I never expected this type of story. I read your review of the book and I am planning to read it as soon as I can get my hands on it. I don’t know what I was expecting when I went to watch the movie… zombies perhaps… or some kind of monster, but it was far worse than that… people, just people eating other people. That alone made my blood cold. I can’t really fathom how “Papa” kept going. In every sense.
What a story. Oh, by the way, this type of situation is exactly the kind of events that you would find if Yellowstone National Park, which happens to be a super-volcano, decides to erupt. I was always curious about this type of end of the world by super volcano scenario. Well, guess no more. Mr McCarthy really put into paper a completely realistic scenario of what you can expect after the eruption of a super volcano like the one at Yellowstone National Park. Which by the way is overdue for an eruption. So… cross your fingers and lets hope that darn thing stays overdue for a few more years. (a couple of thousand or so would do )
Anyway, great book and and excellent review.

By: Anonymous

Anonymous — Tue, 08 Dec 2009 01:22:44 +0000

Oh, let me add to my above just for the record. I think the primary purpose of the story is to articulate just how emotionally connected the human species can be and the tragedy of how that can come to an end. The point, to me, is right there for the taking. I’m not concerned at all with academic , literary, or film aspects. Well, of course I enjoy the apocalyptic underpinnings. The ultimate purpose is much better served for one to empty ones mind of dogmas or teachings and instead let yourself mine the depths of your soul or consciousness and examine the concept of humanity and relationship and of what that actually means and what does it mean if that ends. There was something else and I forgot.

By: Anonymous

Anonymous — Mon, 07 Dec 2009 22:47:02 +0000

I’ve read it twice so far. I was reading Cormac’s stuff in the 80’s. I’m a survivor of the sixties, or, to be more precise the 80’s as that was the time I was dealing with the residual effects of what started out in the 60’s as part of the “experimentation” dynamic. The 60’s might have carried more of an ominous tone regarding nuclear annihilation. Kennedy had to tell Russia to stop building a missile base in Cuba. And it seemed the whole world was holding its breath as that scenario unfolded. So now that I think about it that was likely one of the closest calls. There’s also the situations that we don’t know about. The scariest one is though is in the present. Terrorist’s getting ahold of a nuclear device. I could go on and on with this but I just wanted to note that I read that Mr. McCarthey participates in a think tank somewhere in New Mexico with a number of other intellectually creative individuals who I suspect among other projects have apparently plotted out the demise of the planet based on a number of scenarios. I find The Road perfectly believable and I’d be willing to bet that Mr. McCarthey does too and that’s at least one reason why he wrote it.

By: Five meals from chaos? | Citizen Renaissance

Five meals from chaos? | Citizen Renaissance — Wed, 11 Nov 2009 08:42:34 +0000

[...] and food supply system is these days I am sure they are right. It reminds me of the brilliant The Road by Cormack McCarthy which describes just how bad things could get and how ‘every man for himself’ could grip the [...]

By: Corey Hughes

Corey Hughes — Sun, 04 Oct 2009 06:23:30 +0000

Martin, it seems to me that if you are drawing conclusions about any book based on only your belief system, no book will be ‘Great’.

I loved this book! It hurt to read it.
Thank you Mr. Mccarthy, thanks Matt for your review,
And thanks Martin for your ‘glaring intellectual quandary’.

By: admin

admin — Wed, 22 Jul 2009 07:25:22 +0000

Oh, the movie is probably going to destroy the story. They are already pitching it as an eco-disaster whereas the book never once mentioned why the world was dying.

I loved the book, though. I want to read it again now that I have a son.

By: zendog

zendog — Thu, 16 Jul 2009 23:10:09 +0000

I did not care for this book at all. It is a huge downer from start to end. I might tolerate that if the writing were better but if it had been written by an author with no financial success in his/her history no publisher would have touched it; it simply lacks most of the elements of engaging fiction. There are only two characters and they are totally flat. At the end of the book we still know nothing about them — not even their names. The book is spartan — which I normally like but the prose is not — it is affected.

The thing I liked about the book (for which I give it high marks) is as a ultra conservative allegory on life. I read it as a modern literary remake of the classic Japanese movie “Woman in the Doons”. ie Life is a futile struggle against a hostile or indifferent universe.

I watched the movie trailer and they completely missed it.