The Road after finished reading

In my winter break I finished reading The Road, but due to certain incidents I have not been able to write my blog entry yet. As mentioned in an earlier blog post, the book was written by the famous author Cormac McCarthy. In the novel we meet a man and his young son whose names are not described. They find themselves surrounding a destroyed, ashened earth with only a few fellow survivors of mankind. Among them are cannibals, with a complete lack of empathy and care for people other than themselves. They travel in groups and the boy and his father are in a constant struggle of shelter from their presence. There are also other survivors that are in the boy and his fathers situation, but they are a minority. The father and son are always starving, always cautiously alert, only carrying a grocery cart with a few blankets and a gun with two bullets of which they are to use either to protect themselves against the cannibals following their tracks, or for the father to finish their lives before the desperate despair consumes them both. Their destination is the southern part of America, but when they arrive at the coast the fatal need of food leads to a tearful destiny for one of them.

In my previous blog entry I stated a negative view towards the book. My opinion dramatically changed as I read further on. McCarthy's way of describing the post-apocalyptic earth is simply astonishing. His description of the relationship between the boy and the father is even more compelling. Both of them are the reason the other one is still alive. The fact that they are so dependent on each other brings them really close. When I read the book I had a feeling of wanting to continue because of the unawareness of their situation. I strongly recommend you to read this journey of horror, attachment and love.