5. "he's been my favorite writer for years" In response to Reply # 0
there is actually an odd back story to my experience with the book
i always get mccarthy's stuff on release day, and when i got 'the road', all i knew was that it was a post-apocalyptic/dystopian story
anyhow, the book sat on my shelf for a few months until i got around to it...
my father passed away between the time of me buying the book, and me reading the book
somehow, i feel like it must have somehow been fate that i read the book at that particular time...a book with this particular story written by a writer who i hold in such high regard (although i don't believe in fate), and for some reason the book reassured me, and helped me cope a great deal with the stress in my life concerning my father
it was an interesting experience
on another note, get 'suttree', 'blood meridian', and 'child of god' for sure....i think you'll enjoy them, al
25. "Interesting..What was your take home from it?" In response to Reply # 5
Did you end the book with a sense of optimism even though things seemed so bleak? I couldn't help but thinking that no matter how f*cked up this world may get, life some how continues on.
31. "RE: Interesting..What was your take home from it?" In response to Reply # 25
>Did you end the book with a sense of optimism even though >things seemed so bleak? I couldn't help but thinking that no >matter how f*cked up this world may get, life some how >continues on.
a definite sense of optimism, and it was really suprising and pleasant coming from mccarthy...who can be really nihilistic, and in addition also he's about as far from being an idealist as possible
i guess even he believes in the possibility of luck, a God, destiny, or karma
dula dibiasi Member since Apr 05th 2004 21925 posts
Wed Jun-18-08 05:19 PM
9. "i own it, haven't started it yet." In response to Reply # 0
i'll get to it before the film opens tho.
___
it is a capital mistake to theorize before one has data. insensibly one begins to twist facts to suit theories, instead of theories to suit facts. - sherlock holmes
it is a capital mistake to theorize before one has data. insensibly one begins to twist facts to suit theories, instead of theories to suit facts. - sherlock holmes
it is a capital mistake to theorize before one has data. insensibly one begins to twist facts to suit theories, instead of theories to suit facts. - sherlock holmes
56. "the road looks like it's similar in tone to the book..." In response to Reply # 22
all the pretty horses flopped for a few reasons. 1. they played up the love story angle far more than in the book. 2. for it to be true to the book it would need to be at least a 3 hour movie, i think it clocked in @ 1:50 3. billy bob thornton directed with matt damon as the lead. i could let damon slide, but he was a 27 yr old playing a kid who just turned 16.
11. "RE: anybody read 'the road' by cormac mccarthy?" In response to Reply # 0
i think its just ok. since the conversation style between father and son is mentioned above, i'll just say that for some reason it bugs me and is part of the reason i don't like the book very much. i'm only halfway through so we'll see how the rest of the book hits me.
however i found it quite depressing. i just read no country recently which was very good and worth reading even though the film may alter your perception of it.
42. "dammit, I knew I'd be the dark horse on this" In response to Reply # 0
yeah, I finished reading it about a week ago and it really did absolutely nothing for me.
i got 50 pages in and hadn't felt anything yet, but I figured I'd keep going. Then I got to 100 pages and still wasn't really feeling it, but felt committed. By the time I got to 200 pages I was really hoping I'd love the ending. When it was over I kinda looked all around as if there was supposed to be something more, and I just never saw it.
Yeah, did nothing for me.
- Dub
I give rappers the biz for being m-izza-a-archaic.
43. "In finished this a few weeks ago" In response to Reply # 0
Was the first Cormac McCarthy book I've read...but from the blurbs on the backcover of the paperback, I ain't sure if I'd like his other books. I did enjoy the movie for "No Country for Old Men" though...so maybe I'll go back and read that one at least
50. "I liked it a lot....can't wait for the movie..." In response to Reply # 0
my new years resolution last year was to read AT LEAST one book per month. I made 'The Road' my first and wound up reading 6 more McCarthy books by years end. If you like the road, i doubt there will be any of his books you don't like. Some may be less enjoyable than others, but not by a lot.
55. "if you read 'All The Pretty Horses'..." In response to Reply # 53
then you have to finish the trilogy (i would anyway) Suttree should be next after those though. or maybe 'Child of God'...that's a really quick/dark/disturbing read, but good
58. "why am I not surprised at Pitt being the setting of the Apocalypse?" In response to Reply # 57
DIRECTOR: We need a place that perfectly captures the bleekness and despair of post-capitalist ruins PRODUCER: Understood. I'll find out who caters rural Pennsylvania ASAP.
this is Julianne Moore's next film out sometime this year. It got a LOT of local and nation wide stink because the production company put out a casting notice to ALL of the talent agencies in the pittsburgh area
looking for white people who LOOKED INBRED....they SPECIFICALLY said NO ethnic types just folk who are "ghostly white, young, look ethereal and have an inbred look to them"
WUT?
i remember local news channels here going off about it....
quite hilarious.
plus, its cheaper to shoot pics here than it is in hollywood and canada....
65. "what did everyone make of the trout?" In response to Reply # 0
I thought of it as metaphor for the father and son.
the trout were framed with a beauty, "maps" of their creation that go back thousands of years and cannot be reproduced. the deep pool of mystery, older than man, represented God.
earlier in the book the father says that if his son "is not the word of God, God never spoke." before the trout passage, the woman adopting the son tells him that "the breath of God was his (father's) breath yet though it pass from man to man through all of time."
like the trout, the father and son's relationship was something only God could create and never be replaced by those on earth -- the "word of God" speaking through them as proof. it was that bond, the breath of God, that got the pair through such terrible things. and God's breath will keep on being passed from father to son, man to man, as hope for others "through all of time."
that's what I got out of it. it's a very interesting and wonderful passage though, even just to read and not process. I've been thinking about it for days since finishing the book.
Printer-friendly copy 
Email this topic to a friend
Pass The Popcorn
