The Road by Cormac McCarthy

Friend lend me this book and I have to be honest, I hadn't heard about it before nor did I know there was a movie made of it. Post - apocalyptic books can be really fascinating though so I was quite excited to read it. Especially since it was rather short book that would only take a few hours.

This is a book about father and son and their journey through burned America. The landscape is grey, full of ash and nothing moves there, nothing grows there. All they have is each other, the cart with some food and a pistol. Somehow they need to get to the coast even if they have no idea what waits there. It's a long and very cold road.

Since there is something really bugging me I just have to put it out there. I understand the dialogue works for this narrative, fits the story being told. I'm just not a fan when you can't tell when dialogue starts as it's not indicated with " and very rarely it was describing who said what. Sometimes I had to go back to the beginning of the dialogue to make sure I was correct in who was saying this and who that. Maybe I'm just easily distracted but it didn't really work for me.

That being said, this book worked for me. I didn't expect a happy ending in a world where nothing lives. I didn't expect huge spectacles, just a man and his son surviving. It can get a little repetitive but the book was short enough for this not to become a huge problem. Few scenes were horrifying and I did end up shedding a few tears.

At the end this book is about hope, about luck. This pair has been surviving, just the two of them for years. Still they see themselves as the good guys, the ones that carry the flame inside. Ones that don't just kill people and eat them. This is very evident in the boy who has empathy for every living person he sees. He knows there are bad guys but until there's proof someone is bad, he just wants to help them. Even if nothing can really help those people anymore. He isn't hardened to the world which does make you worry if he is fits to survive.

There's not a lot more you can say about this book without really spoiling it so I'll just say I enjoyed it. If you want a quick read and love slow paced journeys where the focus is on ideals you will enjoy this book as well. If Walking Dead is more your style of post - apocalyptic world then maybe give this one a pass. If anyone has read this one I would love to hear your thoughts on it!