OK, so...

I loved the flick No Country for Old Men. Liked its Spartan filming style, the direct dialogue, and the brutal truthiness of it. That said, I heard after the fact that the Coen Brothers, who directed it, modeled the film somewhat directly after Cormac McCarthy's book, a lot of dialogue included.

So, inspired, I picked up a copy of The Road. Not realizing until afterwards that this book won the Pullitzer, btw. Ho-Lee-Cow, what a powerful book. Dark, hard, but McCarthy's writing is absolutely stunning and the story he was willing to tell there was as gritty and honest as it gets. I mean, honest to the point that I almost wished he'd shut the hell up, but in the end I found that this agonizing tale of suffering was, at its core, a story of love and of hope. I didn't piece that together for days after I finished reading it.

So, I went and bought a trilogy of his books which starts with All the Pretty Horses (never saw the flick, so no spoilers please!). I'm eager to get started.

Any other fans or detractors of The Road, or of McCarthy? I'd be curious to hear some other takes on the guy and his work.

T.

Oh man. The Road was one of the best books I read in 2007. I got 30 pages in, fell asleep due to sheer exhaustion, and read the entire rest of the book in one sitting. What's amazing to me is that the protagonists are arguably static and two-dimensional--yet I cared about them enough to feel real fear, and real joy, about their experiences during the journey. I was terrified for that poor kid, and heartsick for his worn-down dad, the whole way through. (I still get chills thinking of what his dad taught him to do with the gun.) But I agree with Troy that at the end, I was left with a profound sense of hope that things were going to be okay, in spite of all the awfulness. It's one of the best books I've ever enountered--college English professors are going to start courses on apocaplyptic fiction just to make their students read this.

Thanks for the reco. I just put a hold on it at my library. I loved NCFOM. I also loved the film ATPH which I thought was very artfully done. I purchased the DVD. The soundtrack by Angelo Badalamente I also purchased. He has done the soundtrack to many familiar films and TV shows such as Twin Peaks, The Straight Story, Mullholland Drive, Blue Velvet.
I can't wait to get this book.

OK, this might be a bit of a spoiler, but not really. It's something that's obvious in the first few pages of the book.

These guys were hungry, all the time. The story was so well written, and terrifying, that I swear I was reading one day and was planning to do something later, and actually considered overeating at home before going out as not to get caught "out there" and being hungry. I mean, it was palpable, the greed I felt in wanting to goggle up energy because I wasn't sure how available food would be later on down the road (The Road, if you will).

Then I realized that I have grocery stores nearby, and that I would probably survive the afternoon. But that made me smile, because writing doesn't often get me like that. Pure power.

It's funny you mention feeling the need to over eat so that you don't starve while out running around.

I read this over two nights last winter, and remember putting on extra layers before I went to bed because McCarthy's descriptions of the nuclear winter were so chilling that it had made me physically cold. I'm the kind of person who enjoys reading because of the transportation of the mind that literature offers, but its one of only a few times that I can think of where I was physically affected by the story that I was reading. IMO, that's some pretty great writing.

I think I mentioned it before, but another thing that struck me about the novel is that there were no natural breaking points. I'm naturally a binge reader - I'll sit and read a few hundred pages in a single session if I'm reading for pleasure alone - but the absence of chapters, or breaks of any kind made me feel the need to continue the book even after I was ready to put it down for the night. It was almost as if the characters might face some kind of peril because they were made to stop mid-story.

Thanks for bringing it up Troy. I really enjoyed The Road, and was planning on reading more McCarthy, but he had somehow slipped my radar once again.

It's in our bookcase... I think I"ll start it today.

Well???

FYI

Filming now. Great cast of actors.

Ahem...

I had a half-awake dream that I was the real author of All the Pretty Horses, and I sent Anna (Kentuckiannna) a copy in the mail with an "our little secret, shhhhhhh" note.

I need to lay off the chamomile tea.

I am about 1/2 way through listening and although it seems to be very well written, it is also quite depressing. So far it is very dark and desperate. The audio version, which is superbly narrated BTW is pretty intense. I can't listen too long at a time.
Funny because I usually like dark novels.

It is dark. And certainly desperate, that's true. But keep listening... there is something different there for you.

on my list of things to read. heavyweights here love it, so i'm sure i will too. your descriptions are haunting; i can't wait!

Trudes and Kylie - did you guys finish? Thoughts?

(((Possible spoilers)))

Troy,
Yes I did finish and as you and maybe others said, the message didn't impact until a while after I finished. Yes, there was hope at the end of the story....(I'm a supporter of hope) and because there was potential for resurecting the human race (male and female survivors) I still found it to be a bit too dark for my psyche. Yes, there was deep unconditional love and sacrifice on both the son's and father's parts. There was so much struggle and death and destruction that there was only a thread through the story of the love that endured. That thread of love was the whole story, actually, but the duress of the harsh world on the pair was oppressive to me. Maybe because the story was narrated in such an excellent way by Tom Stechschulte, I felt the emotions in the voices. If you loved the book, try to check out the audio cd from the library and see what I mean, if you have the time.
It was, yet, a very good book, IMO.
Txo