…each the other’s world entire
This is the gripping story of a father and his son traveling through a post apocalyptic land surviving as best they can. Everything is burned and the entire civilization is gone. The few people they encounter are a constant threat, either as cannibals or thiefs. Definitely the book you should read during a global pandemic.
They are traveling towards the coast, through was formerly known as North America. Starvation and the danger of exposure is a constant and looming threat throughout the book. Sometimes they are lucky and find little treasures such as canned food or new shoes. Many other times they are cold, hungry and afraid. They survive as scavengers looking for food from the old world. Plants doesn’t seem to grow anymore. We are never told what happened with the world, but everything seemed to have burned in some way or another. There are also quite a lot of earthquakes. The old geographer inside me makes me wonder if the apocalypse was caused by increased volcanic activity on a global scale. The Great Dying , the largest extinction event we know of, was caused by such an event.
We are never told the names of the man and his son. It hardly seems relevant. The mans wife committed suicide a long time ago. It seems like the he would too if it wasn’t for his son. His love for him is the one thing that literally keeps them both alive. Even when they are out of food he tries best he can to instill hope. At the start of the book the father has a gun with only two bullets. In case they are about to be caught by cannibals he plans on using the gun on themselves. To prevent his son from being mutilated, raped or whatever horrible fate the cannibals would force upon them. He constantly fears such an event and doubts that he could actually kill his own son. Would you be able to do something like that to prevent something even more horrible?
Just remember that the things you put into your head are there forever, he said. You might want to think about that.
Cormac McCarthy, The Road
You forget some things, dont you?
Yes. You forget what you want to remember and you remember what you want to forget.
The humanity and relationship between the father and son is central to the whole story. One time they help a blind old man by giving him some supplies. Unlike other survivors the man and his son will not resort to cannibalism. They have several opportunities but they will rather starve than do that. Which is quite impressive really. I am not sure I would have the same resilience. Early on it’s clear that the father is slowly dying, and it is heart breaking. How long will he make it before leaving his son to himself? It’s almost like watching an hourglass not knowing when the last grain of sand has fallen. In a way every parent is in the same situation. Will you live long enough to teach your kids to take care of themselves? At some stage we all have to pass the torch on to the next generation.
You have to carry the fire.”
Cormac McCarthy, The Road
I don’t know how to.”
Yes, you do.”
Is the fire real? The fire?”
Yes it is.”
Where is it? I don’t know where it is.”
Yes you do. It’s inside you. It always was there. I can see it.
So.. should you read this novel? Well.. you should not read it expecting to be entertained thats for sure. I liked the book even if it was gut wrenching at times. It made me think of the countless refugees in different parts of the world and the traumatizing experiences many of them go through. The way the novel is written takes a bit of getting used to. It is clean, simple and almost clinical. But at the same time the descriptions are vivid and McCormac doesn’t use any punctuation to differentiate between descriptions and spoken words. It was a bit strange at first, but after a while I liked it. Being a dad with two sons I could easily emphasize with the father in the story. This is all in all a great book, and I must confess I shed a few tears by the end.
“You have my whole heart. You always did.”
Cormac McCarthy, The Road
The Road won the Pulitzer prize for fiction in 2007 and was also made into a movie starring Viggo Mortensen in 2009.
Rating 6/6
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