Cormac McCarthy's 'The Road' (2006) has been herald as the classic of the century. Winner of the Pulitzer Prize for Fiction 2007 and winner of the James Tait Black Memorial Prize for Fiction. So what is it about this relatively small work by 75 year old McCarthy that is drawing so much attention ?
We are placed with a man and his son, traveling on foot down a road covered in nothing but ashes in a country that feels like it has seen the end of time. 'The Road' has been described by many as post-apocalyptic and this is the sense we have from start to end as they head down a road toward the sea in hope of ...something.
This is no feel-good story, it is painfully despairing and for the reader there is an overriding sense of hopelessness for the world and the characters. This book is not for those looking for an escape in a cheerful or fanciful read. It is however a story that provokes contemplation, questions and perhaps insights into humanity in regard to relationships, the way we choose to live and express ourselves and where we might be heading as a race.
Much of the attraction to this work can be found in the beauty and the simplicity and McCarthy's ability to communicate mesmerisingly in word. His work here is sparing but there is so much left between the words that we are left to feel and despair with the characters.
Four out of five for simplistic beautiful writing and the ability to inspire contemplation
