In grim view of the future, the environment on the east coast of America has been destroyed by a massive, unexplained explosion. A dying man and his very young son travel south to escape the approaching winter.
I clearly remember the moment 30 years ago when I rejected recycling as an impossibility with the stress of three children under four years old. Today, of course, we all recycle unequivocally, all of us neurotically anxious about the environment of today and of the future. This compelling story (it's impossible to put down) raises all sorts of provocative questions, not only about the environment, but also about survival, the parent/child relationship, the power of guns and other weapons, the nature of trust and hope, and the necessity of persistence and tenacity.
spare, repetitive father/son dialogue settles the boy's age as very young, his fear of abandonment and death as visceral, and the draining away of language as probable. One wonders if the centrality of the gun in this story would feature quite so prominently in a similar book by a Canadian author. However, any reader will be fascinated by the skills the father brings to foraging and adapting objects to survive.
Does it all sound too dreary for words? It isn't. An ultimately hopeful book, The Road, for which recently won the Pulitzer Prize, will like all great literature, be buzzing around in the reader's head for months.
| Categories: Reviews, Staff Pick |
More articles from teens, home
Winner of the 2007 Pulitzer Prize for Fiction. The searing, postapocalyptic novel destined to become Cormac McCarthy's masterpiece. A father and his son walk alone through burned Amer...
