I read Cormac McCarthy's novel The Road yesterday. Fast and easy read, if more than slightly bleak and disturbing. I have no idea why this has become the phenomenon it has, especially now. The whole post-apocalypse thing seems more '80s. There's nothing at all new in it plotwise. And, being science fiction by a "literary" author rather than a genre writer, it tends to ignore a lot of the stuff that a genre writer might include in a similar novel -- like, an explanation of the situation, names for the characters, some actual characterization, etc. But it does throw in a few odd sentences that seem to be there more for effect than anything else, reminding you that this is Literature. For that matter, the whole journey structure of the book is a long, long way from being unprecedented in literary fiction, particularly American literature.
Is it worth reading? Sure. It can be quite suspenseful at times. It's well crafted, if not in a conventional post-apocalyptic style, and it raises a lot more questions than it answers -- but then that makes it the kind of book that people want to talk about, and that's no doubt part of the reason for its success.
Is it worth reading? Sure. It can be quite suspenseful at times. It's well crafted, if not in a conventional post-apocalyptic style, and it raises a lot more questions than it answers -- but then that makes it the kind of book that people want to talk about, and that's no doubt part of the reason for its success.
