The Road, Cormac McCarthy

I’m a fan of post-Apocalyptic stories since the idea of being part of the privileged group of survivors trying to start a new civilization fascinates me. McCarthy’s words made me realize that I had never truly contemplated a nuclear holocaust; in this case, the privileged group consists of the people who died on impact. The Road begins with a father and son trying to make their way to the coast. Their dialogue is repetitive, ranging from “OK” to “I don’t know”, but it captures their situation in an eerily realistic way. Many post-Apocalyptic novels take the trouble to point out aspects of life that we previously took for granted, but McCarthy moves beyond this by chronicling the uncertainty between each meal. Survival becomes a strange concept as the father and son encounter other predators and victims along their journey. When tested by hopelessness and fear, the question of whether or not to cling to life does not translate into an inspirational tale. Instead, it remains a frequently tested question with no clear answer. McCarthy’s sparse use of punctuation marks and his simple, declarative sentences allowed the story to speak for itself, and his style has made me more conscious of the clutter that may exist in some of my own writing.