Re: RARA-AVIS: Re: From McCarthy's The Road

From: R. & J. Clinton ( clinton65@comcast.net)
Date: 18 Nov 2006


----- Original Message ----- From: "cptpipes2000" < cptpipes@hotmail.com> To: < rara-avis-l@yahoogroups.com> Sent: Saturday, November 18, 2006 2:03 PM Subject: RARA-AVIS: Re: From McCarthy's The Road

> miker quoted The Road including the following:
> > He is coming to steal my eyes. To seal my mouth with dirt."
>
> Hot damn, I love that book too. Yes, it would be simple to write a
> hacky parody of it, but that makes it no less moving. I hated to put
> it down.

I agree with you wholeheartedly...this was the most haunting, bleak book I've read in some time and drew me in to its world like no other book has for years. Possibly the best book I've read this year, it was heartbreaking and heart-affirming, all at once. The dread, fear, love, respect,etc. that I had for those two characters, the immersion I had in their bleak world, was unlike anything I've experienced in reading for quite some time. When something would threaten them, I would feel a cold blanket of fear lay upon me for them, and I would fear for their safety -- I mean, that kind of reaction just doesn't happen for me any more in books, ever. And the imagery, the symbolism, the breadth of it all -- outstanding. The way McCarthy is able to communicate the depth of the parental/child bond in such spare, plain terms is nothing short of brilliant.

On the heels of this I read NO COUNTRY FOR OLD MEN, and found it similarly compelling, though for different reasons. But THE ROAD remains, for me, singularly special. BLOOD MERIDIAN is next up on the TBR pile.

Ron Clinton



This archive was generated by hypermail 2b29 : 18 Nov 2006 EST