Anyone else psyched about THE ROAD?

[Mr. Laser Beam]

Meaning the film, of course. I'm guessing that anyone who would bother to see it has already read the novel.

Granted, it looks bleak, depressing and hopeless, but then again, we've already got nuBSG, so that's nothing new. I think I might just check this one out. I enjoyed the novel very much, and that's unusual for me in that I usually hate stuff as utterly downbeat and sad as this was.

And I know that no explanation in the novel was offered as to exactly how things got the way they are. So what are your thoughts as to how it happened in the first place?

 

[Barbados Slim]

I'm pissed it got delayed. I'm a bit torn. Although the photos we've seen of the movie look spot on I feel like the book was so perfect in mood that a bad film may tarnish my feelings for the book.

I had an embarrassing moment in the airport. I was flying back from a business trip with a coworker who's all a "reading is for sissies" type of guy. I'm finishing the novel and I start crying. I want to stop reading so I don't look foolish but I can't put it down because it's so amazing! So I keep reading, just letting the tears flow...but I have to hold back the actual, audible sobbing. I can't sob out loud. He's sitting next to me typing on his laptop but he's so intensely staring at it that I'm sure my crying was making him uncomfortable. It's like trying to hold in a fart while in the car with your first date uncomfortable because I had to keep reading but it was so amazing and sad and when I finally finished, I got up really quick and told him, "Watch my bag!" I jump up and dash down the concourse and just let it go. Strangers stare at me but I didn't care because an emotional person at an airport is normal. I had to call my friend who read it so she could talk me down before I returned.

As for what happened, I don't even like to speculate because I like the mysteriousness of the cataclysm that turned everything gray.

 

[Lookingglassman]

It was a good book. I figured it was a nuclear war because of the way humanity had devolved and the devastation throughout the book. I figured if it was anything else then things would have been better. Fallout 3 reminds me of this book, especially when I run into kids in the game.

 

[Kira's Mom]

I was pretty overwhelmed by the novel. I'd like to see the movie.

As to what happened, I think it was a super volcano, or multiple asteroid strikes. Something that caused a lot of smoke and ash. Don't think a nuclear war could do that so completely. Hope we never find out for real...

If civilization collapses because of any world-wide catastrophe, people will be out for themselves. No room for manners or compassion- it would be kill or be killed, dog eat dog.

 

[The Green Mushroom]

Once I got over the weird structure of the book, I read it almost over night.

While I voted for nuclear war, I got the impression that while it could have been a nuclear war it wasn't. My impression from the book was that it could have been an asteroid or a comet, it could have been a gamma ray burst that let off fire storms or some other non-man made calamity.

 

[Twilight]

Such an extraordinary novel. Seriously, i was shaken to the core after finishing it. Stunning, stunning book - and somehow comforting, even though it's incredibly bleak.


So, yes, needless to say I'm psyched for the film. Love Viggo Mortensen and think it's perfect casting ...


As to what happened? I really like the fact that we never find out. Loud booms and flashes far off in the distance were alluded to in the novel, suggesting some sort of nuclear calamity ...

 

[Ryan]

As to what happened, I think it was a super volcano, or multiple asteroid strikes. Something that caused a lot of smoke and ash. Don't think a nuclear war could do that so completely.

I always figured it was nuclear winter. There also seems to be a lot of secondary fires from all the plants dying which makes it worse.

 

[unimatrix7]

Yes.

Oh God, yes.

I read this back in late 2007, and it was the first book in my life that I've read from cover to cover in one sitting. It was absolutely fucking incredible, and easily the best and most emotionally draining thing I've read in my life. That scene in the basement of that house will haunt me for a long time.

I'm seriously hanging out for the film. If it's only 1% as good as the book it'll be 100% better than anything else out there. Or something.

Also, I figure it was a nuclear attack. There's a flashback in the book that describes it - 'a flash of light and a series of rapid concussions,' or something. I prefer not to think it'd be something as cheap and lame as aliens.

 

[JoeZhang]

It's irrelevant.

 

[pigletsgiblets]

I read the book.I cried all the way through.It was one of the best books that I have ever read.

I,also,believe it was a nuclear attack.

 

[Ryan]

I read this back in late 2007, and it was the first book in my life that I've read from cover to cover in one sitting. It was absolutely fucking incredible, and easily the best and most emotionally draining thing I've read in my life. That scene in the basement of that house will haunt me for a long time.

I've never been scared by books before but that scene inspired pure dread in me. Forget guys with hockey masks and chainsaws; that scene was true horror.

 

[DanTheGrey]

I have to admit that I read the book and thought it was okay. I can't say I was overwhelmed by it, but I thought it was a decent enough story that stayed internally consistent with the world it created. I know my local branch of the library was happy when I donated my copy to them. I just didn't finish it with a sense I'd ever re-read it.

The movie has little appeal to me. Maybe if I catch it on one of the movie stations.

Went with the nuclear war option, though supervolcano extinction level event or comet strike could make sense too.