The Road

Occassionally, I like to read fiction. Most often, it is a classic. Something I read in college or something that I wanted to read in college, but didn't have the time. However, this year's Pulitzer Prize winning fiction, The Road, is an instant classic. It is one of the best books I have ever read. It is about a man and his son in a "post-apocalytic" type of world, a world void of almost every convenience we now have. Food is scarce and so are the people. Not only is it creatively written, it is perfectly framed. While descriptive as a whole, it is vague enough to allow the reader's imagination to kick in. Most of all, it is very real. The author (Cormac McCarthy, All the Pretty Horses) does not try to over-embellish the way most authors do these days. If you want to read picture perfect fiction, this is it. I highly recommend it.

The novel describes itself as:

"A father and his son walk 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."

Here is an exerpt, and while reading it, think of yourself in a world where survival is the main concern. No electricity, cars, or jobs. Just trying to live day-to-day:

"No lists of things to be done. The day providential to itself. The hour. There is no later. This is later. All things of grace and beauty such that one holds them to one's heart have a common provenance in pain. Their birth in grief and ashes. So, he whispered to the sleeping boy. I have you."

Go get it!