Newest Book Review

So, I am a member of a book club... something that I NEVER thought that I would do. I have, however, really read some fantastic books through these ladies' recommendations. I have blogged before about The Kite Runner, A Thousand Splendid Suns and The Red Tent, to name a few. Well, we just finished and discussed another book.

I really thought that I wouldn't like it. It is an Oprah Book Club book, which I just thought would be a little too 'girly' for me. But this book really surprised me.

The Road by Cormac McCarthy (the same guy who wrote No Country for Old Men) -- I need to say here that this is the first book that I have read by this author and I found it difficult in the beginning to read. Once I got into the 'rhythm' of the writing, I really enjoyed the book! It is NOT a feel good book - like the ones that I expected from Oprah's book club.

The Road is about a man and his son in post-apocolyptic America. They are traveling through a nuclear winter in search of anything they can use to survive. On their travels to the coast, they are constantly struggling with starvation. The father coughs up blood daily... he knows he is dying. He is, seemingly, trying to get his son to somewhere safe and showing him what he needs to know to survive. We are never given the age of the son -- my guess was between 5-7 years old, but I seemed to be at the low end of what my book club thought.

They are alone pretty much the whole book. They do encounter bands of starving men that have resorted to cannibalism to stay alive. Like I said before... not a feel good book. The father is extremely resourceful and very dedicated to his son. He tries to shield the son from all sorts of attrocities on the road, but can't hide all of the horrors from him.

There is never an explanation about what happened to make the world the way it was described. I assume that it was some sort of nuclear catastrophy, given the description of the ash covering on everything and the lack of sunlight due to the atmospheric haze. You never know for sure, though. I feel like I need to find some sort of anti-nukes rally to go to this weekend after reading the book, though. Depressing how the people had no control over their futures. Anyway... good read, very thought prevoking. Makes me want to take all of my kids out on a survival camping trip...

As I was looking for a picture of the book, I found that it received a Pulitzer Prize for Fiction in 2006 - and it has been announced that it will soon be made into a movie.

I recommend this book -- if you are not too depressed already. There are parts of the book that you will almost have to push yourself through. I almost put it down twice. But I am glad that I finished it. It will NOT leave you with a warm, fuzzy feeling inside. I am going to try to get Rob to read it, though he is against it since I read him one passage about cannibalism.

For more info: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Road_(novel)

Now... for a good feelgood book :-)