The Road

Exhale.

It's going to be awhile before I digest this one.

Am I the last person on the planet to read this book? I feel like I've probably picked it up 1,000 times over the years, ready to read it. But, I worried it was too dark and I'm not generally a fan of post-apocalyptic settings. Still, I feel like it's one of those books you have to read. Now, that I've read it?

Exhale.

You probably know the plot by now. I mean, the thing won a Pulitzer, for crying out loud. But, in case you don't know... The Road is a journey of father and son through a world destroyed years ago by an unexplained force. We never know how it happened or exactly how long ago. We don't know how old the boy is and we never learn either of their names. And, maybe that's the point. Their names don't really matter anymore to anyone other than each other. What's the point of a calendar when the days are stretched into oblivion?

Like sharks, the man and the boy have to stay moving. Where are they going doesn't really matter. They just keep moving to avoid the danger that lurks inside every abandoned house and around every bend in that road.

Perpetually cold and endlessly gray, the world they occupy is all the boy has ever known. His father is his entire world. Each is acutely aware that they can't survive without the other. A pistol is all they have to protect themselves from roaming bands of bad guys. Not just bad guys, though. Cannibals.

I found myself racing through this book, wanting something in the end. I knew all along, however, that I wasn't going to get a satisfying conclusion. The world wasn't going to "undestroy" itself. Instead, like the man and his son, I found myself sometimes scared to turn the page, afraid of what I would find on the other side.

Along the way, they find relics of the world that has fallen away, in maps and canned goods and abandoned trains and left-behind treasures. They live because of what's left by those who could not survive. And, as readers, we discover the absolute worst of mankind that appears to emerge when societal norms fall away.

Did I like this book? Like isn't the right word. A couple of scenes depicted in this book would make you something of a monster for saying you "liked" it. So, how do I feel about it?

It's complicated.

Do I appreciate the work? Absolutely. It's brilliant in both concept and execution. But, it's disturbing as hell, too. And, somehow unsatisfying. 

I'm glad I read it. I won't read it again. And, whether or not you choose to read it, you're probably right.