I picked this up for my insanely long flight to Australia this weekend. Anyone read it? I have heard great things about it.

NO SPOILERS PLEASE

i've read it. it's good but McCarthy has a number that are better. i hate to tell you but if you read fast at all you will be done with it in 3-4 hours. might want to pick up another book for that 15 hr flight. if you want to get another McCarthy i recommend Blood Meridian, No Country for Old Men, or All the Pretty Horses (first in the border trilogy).

Really good book. Have fun reading it, definetly a dark book though.

I enjoyed it. Familiar scenario but well done. Some very creepy parts as well.

Yeah, you'll probably have it finished within a few hours.

When i read it, i was reminded a lot of 'The Life And Times Of Michael K' by Coetze. I'm still unsure what to think about it. I love the sparse literary style...and you really are pulled into this dark world for the whole book...but i just wasn't left feeling much after i'd put it down. I can't say it had a lasting affect, but the way in which it's written is definitely interesting and you'll just fly through it.

i'm sure i read somewhere that heath ledger was supposed to play the role of the father.......

http://www.wildaboutmovies.com/movies/T ... heRoad.php

"The Road" - From the writer who brought you the "2008 Best Picture Oscar Winner," the movie "No Country For Old Men."

You already know that "No Country For Old Men" won a plethora of "2008 Oscars." Best Picture, Best Director, Best Adapted Screenplay and Best Supporting Actor to name a few.

Well, "No Country For Old Men," before it was a movie, was a NY Times Best Selling novel by Pulitzer Prize winning author Cormac McCarthy.


Cormac McCarthy won the 2006 Pulitzer Prize for his gripping, stunning and shocking post-apocalyptic novel, "The Road."

"The Road" was also picked as an "Oprah Book Of The Month." In addition, Cormac McCarthy granted only his third ever interview to Oprah in 2006 for his novel, "The Road."

"The Road" hits movie theaters, from the same studio that brought you "No Country For Old Men," Miramax, in 2009.

Briefly, in case you have not 'yet' read "The Road," the story is summed up this way:

"The Road" - Based on the Pulitzer Prize-winner bestseller from acclaimed novelist Cormac McCarthy ("No Country for Old Men"), "The Road" is a post-apocalyptic dramatic thriller about a father and his son walking alone through burned America. Nothing moves in the ravaged landscape save the ash on the wind. It is cold enough to crack stones, and when the snow falls it is gray. The sky is dark. Their destination is the coast, although they don’t know what, if anything, awaits them there. They have nothing; just a pistol to defend themselves against the lawless bands that stalk the road, the clothes they are wearing, a cart of scavenged food--and each other.

In the movie "The Road" father is played by Oscar nominee Viggo Mortensen, ("Eastern Promises"), and son by newcomer Kodi Smit-McPhee. Oscar winners Robert Duvall and Charlize Theron make brief but resonating appearances.

The only thing that scares Wild About Movies about the movie adaptation of "The Road," is that the director and screenwriter are novices. For each of them, "The Road" is their first major motion picture.

STARRING: Viggo Mortensen, Kodi Smit-McPhee, Charlize Theron, Robert DuVal, Guy Pearce
DIRECTOR: John Hillcoat
STUDIO: Miramax
RATING: R (For graphic subject matter, including cannibalism and infanticide)
THEATER COUNT (Opening Weekend): TBD
RUNNING TIME: TBD
TOTAL DOMESTIC BOX OFFICE: TBD
U.S. DVD RELEASE DATE: TBD

Great Book, I enjoyed it a lot. Like No Country For Old Men *slightly* better.

if they do the book any justice with the movie, it will be among the most terrifying and deeply disturbing things i've ever seen.

this is book is next up on my reading list. i'm looking forward to it.

i was disappointed

I hated this book. The prose is bland, droll and repetitive. Sparse like Hemingway, without any redeeming qualities. If he wanted to capture the end of the world, he did it well, but really, what's the point?

I loooved this book!! It was a quite personal thing to me,since i lost my father recently.

everybody talks about the relationship between the father and the son being so touching in this book. i thought the father was terrible, it was like he was purposely trying to ensure that the kid would have absolutely no chance of surviving another ten minutes once he himself dies. that kid would have to be the least self sufficient kid ever,

Spoiler: show

good thing that some nice old dude was able to come along right after the father died. give me a break.

the kid was very young, and there wasn't a lot he could teach him was there? i mean, he couldn't teach him to hunt, there wasn't anything there to hunt

i absolutely loved this one; the relationship b/w the father and son as well as the sparse style were the best parts, but it was a very intriguing adventure, and had a very good flow to it.

I just finished this one up as well.

I'm not really sure how they'll do with the movie since there's not much action, just a lot of day to day type survival stuff. If they capture the vibe correctly it could be great though.

i think so too. i've noticed several people who don't seem to have liked this one. i don't know if it's in comparison to mccarthy's other works or something. i loved the minimalist approach, i don't it's necessary to elaborate a lot on what happened and why it is that it happened. it's all about the simple messages, typical good vs bad, hope vs despair, and how when everything's gone, it would be good to have someone to rely on, like the father/son relied on each other. it's not as much about the father teaching the son, but about both of them learning on their own how to get through, day by day, and survive on that new, fucked up environment and having each other and nothing else.

Omar is in it, if that helps.

i liked this book

I wanted to see it anyway, but naturally, that helps.

can someone who has read another of his works tell me: are they usually written in this minimalist style?

That tends to be his style, yes.

It's kinda weird, I feel like he's being descriptive without really using descriptive terms. Which probably makes no sense to anyone else, but whatever.