The Road

I reread The Road by Cormac McCarthy and finished it at 3am last night. I reread it because I realized it was quite a divisive book with some people calling it pretentious at best, and some people thinking it is a masterpiece; you can read some of what people think here. I did find the dialogue mildly artificial and awkward this time round. For those not in the know, the book is about a father and son travelling through a barren, post-apocalyptic country. They're headed to the coast for some unknown reason, and the backstory of the apocalypse is never revealed. Much of the dialogue consists of single words like "Okay", and of short, heavy sentences; and there really isn't much characterization between the two, apart from the more innocent, helpful nature of the boy.

I felt less engaged by the story too, because I vaguely remembered the rough plot. That said, I still think it is an excellent book. There is some moving poetry in the passages -  a certain beauty as the two characters move through the broken landscape. Unlike some of the dialogue, these passages don't strike me as inorganic. They're strung together by the world they live in and together they paint an inconsolable picture of life and struggle. When I finished the book I could only lie on my bed, on my tummy, and feel a general sense of subtle but omnipresent aimlessness. I felt lost, and I didn't even care.

I was replying to a couple of emails earlier, and in the second I signed off with "All the best". It felt mildly out of place and there were better options but I went ahead anyway. I was just trying to mirror the first email as closely as possible, even though I knew the reader of the second wouldn't be aware of my attempt at structural integrity.