Recently, I finished a book by Cormac McCarthy called The Road. It was one of the most haunting books I have read in quite some time. The story follows a man and his son as they journey through a burned America, traveling with a cart full of scavenged food and random items that could contribute, in some small part, to their survival. One of the most intriguing and clever things about McCarthy's style was that there were absolutely no quotation marks whenever dialogue arose. This was his method of emphasizing the deafening silence that takes place in a country-gone-extinct; everything seemed to be said or told in a whisper. I have to admit that when I started the book, I was doubting whether it was worth it to continue to read or not. But let me tell you, it was most definitely worth it. McCarthy's extraordinary writing abilities paints such vivid pictures in your mind that you literally feel as though you are suffering in the ashen world in which the man and boy exist; all you can sense is the cold, grey wind licking your face and a sense of a complete and obsolete loss of hope. What you feel from reading this book is incredible, and I believe that everyone should abandon the generic 'feel-good' book they've been reading for so long to take a look at a world that could potentially be ours one day.
As I was reading, I took note of some of my favourite quotes from the novel (as nerdy as this may seem), and I'd like to share them with you. Maybe they might tempt you into taking a gander at the story that had me at a loss for words.
"Borrowed time and borrowed world and borrowed eyes with which to sorrow."
"When we're all gone at last then there'll be nobody here but death and his days will be numbered too. He'll be out in the road there with nothing to do and nobody to do it to. He'll say: Where did everybody go? And that's how it will be. What's wrong with that?"
"He is coming to steal my eyes. To seal my mouth with dirt."
Post a Comment