The Road, by Cormac McCarthy

this is not going to be an amusing post, but it will be serious and heartfelt, which is a departure for me.

I just finished reading The Road by Cormac McCarthy, which I started reading this morning. I couldn't stop reading it.

It is, without a doubt one of the best books I've read in the last few years, and easily in my top ten books of all time. I started reading it this morning during one of my finals, and I had to put it down because I started crying on page 55 and was still crying when I got to page 63. I decided that quietly weeping was probably a distraction to my students who were trying to take their final exam. When I got home from work today, I sat down and didn't stop until I'd finished the entire thing. By the end, I was weeping so hard I couldn't get my breath and I had tears (mixed with mascara) pouring down my face. I have never been affected so strongly by a book, which is saying something (I read a lot of books). I cried on and off for the next hour, and I had to stop talking to my roommate about it, because I got choked up whenever I tried. I tried to read the back cover to her, and barely got through it. It is amazing. I don't know if I have the words to describe how powerful and moving it is. It's at once agonizing and beautiful, hopeless and utterly hopeful. It's the most terrifying thing in the world, but also infinitely soothing and reassuring.

Read it.

Here's the quote from the back cover:
A father and 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. is the profoundly moving story of a journey. It boldly imagines a future in which no hope remains, but in which the father and his son, "each the other's world entire," are sustained by love.

Read it.

Here's the passage on page 55 that initiated my tears:
No lists of things to be done. They 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.

Read it.

Please don't ask me what's so great about it--I'm not sure I can say why. I just know that I cried like I haven't since I read The Island of the Blue Dolphins in 5th grade, after I finished I was so exhausted the only thing I could do was watch the palm tree in the back yard swaying in the wind, and I still have a headache from the rush of emotions I experienced in (especially) the last 20 pages.

Read it.

To quote The New York Times, "[It] offers nothing in the way of escape or comfort." Be forewarned. After school today I stopped by my friend Pat's room to talk about the book. Pat's retiring this year, which means she's been teaching for at least 30 years, and she's read EVERYTHING. She's an English teacher, but her brain is reserved for AP and high honors classes. She teaches and challenges the best students in our school (who are intimidatingly smart, and by which I mean they're in MENSA). Pat doesn't get very impressed about literature. When I mentioned this book to her (I knew she'd read it), she gushed. Pat doesn't gush. I've never seen her speak so passionately about a piece of literature. She always speaks academically about books, and with this one, she spoke emotionally. That only bolstered my reaction to it.

Read it.

Be emotionally prepared for it, because it will put your emotions through the ringer. I don't want to say anything more, because I don't want to cheapen the experience I had with this novel with too many words. I hope you read it. I hope it impacts you like it did me. If you read it, and if it impacts you, give me a call or send me an email. I'd love to talk to you about it.

Read it.