The 2007 Pulitzer Prize winner for fiction has been announced, and it’s Cormac McCarthy’s latest, The Road. Even Oprah has championed it, backing the newly released paperback edition, but don’t let that turn you off. McCarthy is a modern classic, whose work will be taught in universities and high schools, if it isn’t already. It is difficult for any reviewer to avoid using a reference to William Faulkner when describing McCarthy’s blunt tone and passionless delivery. He forces the reader to invest his own emotional state by contributing none himself to the dramas that unfold with a stunning economy of words.
A few years ago under the recommendation of friends, I read McCarthy’s disturbing story of an isolated sociopath, Child of God, and I’ve been unable to let go of the story ever since. I’m not saying it was an enjoyable read per se; it was harrowing, bleak, occasionally difficult to digest, morbid in spurts, dissociated, and utterly depressing to the last page. And, undeniably brilliant.
I expect nothing less from The Road, a tale about survivors in a post apocalyptic America. Cannibalilism, looting, extinct wildlife, starvation abound thematically. And yet, it’s said, hope prevails, that ultimately it’s a story about the love between a father and his son. Newsweek says that this is “the logical culmination of everything he’s written.”
I’m in, I’ve got to check it out. He’s a quick read, I’ll probably have my own review back here inside of the week. Meanwhile, has anyone else read McCarthy, perhaps even this book?
The Road [amazon.com]
Try Blood Meridian. If you’ve seen Jim Jarmusch’s Dead Man you’ll be familiar with the grimy western setting of this book.
Some people have said it’s McCarthy’s Moby Dick and they wouldn’t be far off. Things definitely go from bad to worse a lot faster in Blood Meridian though.
The protagonist is named the Kid. He leaves Tennessee and falls in with a group in Texas that may or may not be lead by Satan himself. Their job is rid the surrounding countryside of the native populace. Landscape is a major character here and it is as brutal and apathetic as it’s human counterparts.
The real book geek moment is seeing someone’s reaction to reading Blood Meridian after you’ve recommended it. They will either thank you or think you’re sick.
I’ve read Blood Meridian upon the recommendation of several friends. I finished the book and appreciated the brilliant writing. But… it is as depressing and brutal as the landscape it describes. For my personal taste, it seemed to dwell too much on his particularly violent and negative view of the world. He’s truly a great writer and I’m looking forward to reading The Road, but I wouldn’t recommend it to everyone.
My only problem with Blood Meridian is that everything I’ve read after it seems mediocre in comparison.
And just to reiterate for the queasy, its amoral and immoral brutality is sickening. It is a very bleak story.
Disturbingly the book is based on real events. Supposedly it’s very well researched and historically accurate.
I’ve gotta say I enjoyed Suttree more then Blood Meridian… a bit less “harrowing” and all that, almost gentle even. All in all a much more bittersweet/melancholy work.
I still quite liked Blood Meridian, though, and am looking forward to reading the Road.
McCarthy is, hands down, my favorite author. The border trilogy is already being taught in university lit classes. My niece first discovered him last year as required reading at George Mason.
Funny you posted this today, I was planning on picking up The Road this week.
I loved Suttree. It’s in my top ten hands down.
I’ve never considered anything by McCarthy an “easy” read, but as far as “worthwhile” literature goes, he’s hard to beat. His writing style can be absolutely artistic even (or especially?) when he’s addressing hard-to-stomach subject matter.
What blows my mind is how he suddenly just blew up and became popular in the past six months, really. When I decided to make his work chapter III of my master’s thesis (the chapter I’m currently working on, actually) it seemed like nobody read him. Then he publishes The Road, and suddenly he’s the “it” author of the moment.
Anybody else wonder how freaked out the Oprah’s book club ladies are gonna be when the read him? Back when she did Faulkner a couple summers ago my mom got about six pages into The Sound and the Fury before she gave it up. I mean, I’m not one of these snobs who think that only “real literature” should be read by academics and intellectuals–hell, what’s the point then? I just get the feeling, looking at a lot of Oprah’s selections, she wants her audience to read well written, thought-provoking novels that can still be enjoyed by a causal reader (Anna Karenina comes to mind, as it is written in a straightforward and accesible manner yet is still abso-bloody-lutely amazing). Faulkner and McCarthy aren’t exactly casual reads, no matter how you slice it.
And before somebody jumps on me, I know Tolstoy’s not exactly casual either. But really, The Sound and the Fury for a TV book club? Hell, while we’re at it, let’s teach Broch’s The Death of Vergil in high school.