The Road by Cormac McCarthy

Believe it or not, I have read one full book since I left for Russia. Actually, I started this book the very day I left for Russia. And now I have finally finished it! I'm not going to lie, I didn't think I would have much time to read here so the fact that I was able to even read one book is quite the accomplishment in my mind. On to the review!

The book this time around was The Road by Cormac McCarthy. I'd heard of it quite a few times and it was a pretty good price at B&N before I left so I thought it would be a good read. And it was actually the sort of book that's right up my alley! Post-Apocalypse look at the pitiful state of the world and the downfall of human triumph. Dreary. Depressing. Thought provoking. Yes, definitely my kind of book!

Hands down my favorite part of this book is the writing style. I first opened it up and flipped through it only to find that there are no apostrophes or quotation marks. Most excellent. I love it when writers are daring enough to step away from the conventions of punctuation (thus the allure of ee cummings). There's something about the lack of punctuation that just gives it a different flow. It's as if the conversation is happening at that exact moment and there isn't time to add quotes around what is said. It becomes real time, the apocalypse is now and you are in it.

I wish I had read this book in a swifter movement, just gotten it all done at once. However, because I stretched it out to a month and a half, there were several details that I had trouble piecing together. If I were to read it again I would try to get through it in just a couple of days, which is actually very very possible. It's a quick read and it flows so well. But it's not for the faint of heart. One major idea of this book is the desperation and animal-like behavior that humans resort to in dire situations. So just imagine the kind of things that a literary mind can come up with for characters like that...not pretty. I'm sorry I don't have much more to say about this book now but maybe I did that on purpose to motivate you to read it...not really. I just don't have much to say.

Final rating: a solid B. Not my favorite but I could definitely (and most likely will) read it again to catch everything I missed the first time around.