The Road by Cormac McCarthy

[Mamacitac]

Anyone else reading? also do you find it SO sluggish? it's so boring for the first half of it. I expected a lot more details and "action." I've been had.
I may watch the movie though! who knows?!

[HeatherAtHome]

I loved it! The slow sluggishness is a part of the story. It shows the despair, the length of time it takes to travel, the feeling that you're doomed and things will never change, the fact that their minds were so 'one track' about food/shelter/safety.

The movie might feel the same way to you. I really appreciate this story *because* it seems fairly realistic. I can see a post apocalyptic world looking like this.

If you want more flash and jazz, watch The Book of Eli. I saw a trailer for it and it looks like a pumped up version of The Road. It's filled with action, explosions and fight scenes, you know, the ones that go on and on and you're thinking "Yeah, I get it, you're fighting. Move on to the NEXT SCENE PLEASE!"

[Aquitane]

So, I've read The Road and seen the movie. I've also seen Book of Eli.

The Road book is slow, but I think it is meant to be that way. I think the sluggish repetitiveness of endless searching is somewhat conveyed through that. I thought the book was awesome and I love how McCarthy words things. I read it a few months ago, and even now, every once in a while, something will take me back to that book and make me think.

The movie was a pretty faithful adaptation of the book. A few changes, like seeing the wife a little more and the time at the beach not being as long, but generally it was true to the book.

We saw The Book of Eli last week. It is very different. (At least I thought so.) It had a more hopeful tone. I feel that in The Road, the Man is trying to have hope for his son, but as the reader, you aren't sure if that's just a pipe dream, or if hope should still be present. The Book of Eli is much lighter, in my perspective.

One thing in common was the cannibalism.:Puke

[HeatherAtHome]

So I watched the book of Eli and thought it was boring. Such a non-story. All about "look at me with my knives and guns and kicks and making things go 'boom'".

[A&A]

Originally Posted by HeatherAtHome

I loved it! The slow sluggishness is a part of the story. It shows the despair, the length of time it takes to travel, the feeling that you're doomed and things will never change, the fact that their minds were so 'one track' about food/shelter/safety.

Loved, loved, loved The Road. I stayed up until 3 am. reading it one night because I couldn't put it down. There's a reason it won the Pulitzer.

[KYCat]

I'm so mesmerized by people loving The Road. I love books. I don't mind depressing. I generally agree with statements like "There's a reason it won the Pulitzer", but oh my goodness I did NOT like this book. That's actually not strong enough, I hated this book. I could not relate to the main character AT ALL and did not like him. Yet many people that I like and respect loved this book. I tried. It's just not in me. (Not too surprisingly I skipped this movie, and anything associated with Cormac McCarthy.) I love to hear from people who liked it though. I'm still trying to understand what others see that I am missing.

[Daffodil]

I just recently read The Road, after sort of wanting to for years, but being afraid to because my sister warned me away from it. (She thought it was really good, but too devastating.) I would never have described it as sluggish or boring. There's so much tension! You expect something terrible to happen at any moment - and some pretty terrible things do happen. I found the first half really disturbing, and was pleasantly surprised to find the second half somewhat less disturbing.

What made you dislike the main character so much, KYCat? You don't really even find out that much about him, but he seemed to me like a pretty decent, ordinary guy - though maybe more determined and resourceful than average - who loved his son a lot.

[Aquitane]

Daffodil-I can relate to why your sister steered you away from The Road. Like I said, after reading it, it really stays with you, not necessarily in a good way.

As to why Kycat doesn't like the Man, I get a lot of flak from friends because I absolutely HATE Bella from Twilight. I think she is horrible. I don't like the books that much either. You can either understand or at least empathize with a character, or you can't.

I think One Hundred Years of Solitude is sort of like The Road in that either you're like "This is so interesting?" or "What the heck is this?!"

Thanks for this discussion. I like talking with big people!