The Road

Cormac McCarthy
The Road - $11.99
2006

Isn’t it always the case that the book is better than the movie? Has it become a cliche that everyone says that now? One book that comes to mind is The Road by Cormac McCarthy. I loved the book when I read it and when I heard the movie was coming out I couldn't wait. I know that books are always better but some have turned into really good movies as well. When I finally saw the film version of The Road I wanted to love it. Yet, every scene would remind me of what they left out. The movie was good and if you didn't read the book you will really like it. What they always fail to include in the movies is the internal monologue of the characters. Even though there is almost none of that in The Road, you get a sense of what the characters are feeling by the lack of detail. The lack of details and communication gives you a sense of isolation and hopelessness, just like their surroundings.

The movie is dark and depressing. They did a great job staying true to the book. The main thing that is missing is the haunting feeling you get after reading the novel. For that you have to read the novel.

McCarthy is a master storyteller. He leaves the details for us to fill in. He shows us how the characters are feeling by what they do and how they interact with each other. He leaves so many things for us to fill in that the man and the boy are never named. It is up to us to fill in the faces and the names.

Cormac McCarthy has won numerous awards including the 2007 Pulitzer Prize for The Road. He is considered one of the best American writers and is being mentioned as a candidate for the Nobel Prize in Literature. McCarthy is a very private author but in the few interviews I found he is very opinionated. According to wikipedia:

In one of his few interviews (with The New York Times), McCarthy reveals that he is not a fan of authors who do not "deal with issues of life and death," citing Henry James and Marcel Proust as examples. "I don't understand them," he said. "To me, that's not literature. A lot of writers who are considered good I consider strange."

He sounds like a fascinating man. He is a great author and look for him to continue to write great books. If you haven’t read The Road yet, you definitely should. Download a sample and you will be hooked. This is one of the best books written in the last ten years, according to many sources. Check out the movie as well but make sure your read the book first!

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