#73: The Road by Cormac McCarthy

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100 books, book review, books, literature

For my seventy-third book I chose The Road by Cormac McCarthy.  I saw the film version of this novel in theaters a few years ago and was blown away.  The movie inspired me to read the novel, and only two short years later I finally did so.

The Road tells the story of a father and son struggling to survive in a post-apocalyptic world.  Some unknown cataclysm has wiped out most of the life on Earth and destroyed civilization.  Most of the few remaining humans have resorted to cannibalism.  The father struggles to keep both his son and his belief in goodness alive.  He recognizes that they will not survive another winter in their current location, and the two begin to travel along the empty roads towards the sea.  Along the way they encounter scenes that show how far mankind has descended into barbarism.  They reach the sea but their situation does not improve.  The father eventually dies, leaving the boy alone.  Another man, with a wife and two children, convinces the boy that he is also one of the good guys.  The novel closes with the boy joining this family, but keeping the memory of his father alive.

This book is amazing.  It is a powerful story of filial love and paternal devotion.  McCarthy’s prose is as bare as the landscape it depicts, giving it a style reminiscent of Hemingway.  The two main characters are referred to in the third person throughout, known only as ‘the man’ or ‘the father’ and ‘the boy’ or ‘the son’.  This highlights both the loss of social identity with the downfall of society and the universality of parental love.  The Road is a quick read and is incredibly engrossing.  This is easily one of the best books I have ever read, and I cannot recommend it enough.

The Current Count:

73 Read, 27 To Go

#72: HMS Surprise by Patrick O’Brian

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100 books, book review, books, history, literature

I am back from vacation and have several reviews to post.  In order to get them all in before the end of the year, these reviews will be shorter than usual.  The first of my holiday reads was Patrick O’Brian’s HMS Surprise.

HMS Surprise picks up where Post Captain left off, with Jack Aubrey having been part of a squadron that captured four Spanish vessels laden with gold from the New World.  Unfortunately, a legal technicality sends the money to the King’s treasury rather than to the captains.  The same meeting that decides this also inadvertently reveals Stephen Maturin’s role as a spy.  He is captured on a mission in Spanish territory as a result, but Jack leads a daring rescue.  Upon returning to England,  Jack is arrested for debt but is released shortly thereafter when Stephen Maturin negotiates an advance on Jack’s smaller reward for the Spanish vessels.  Jack is given the command of the titular HMS Surprise, with the mission of delivering an envoy of the King to an island off the coast of India.  The envoy dies en route, Stephen is wounded in a duel, and Jack begins the long voyage home.  Along the way, he helps the British East India Company’s convoy fight off an attack by a French squadron, earning their gratitude and a generous financial reward.  This clears him of debt and sets the stage for his marriage to Sophia Williams.

I enjoyed this novel as much as the others in the Aubrey/Maturin series.  O’Brian depicts the life of a sailor in the Napoleonic era with realism and sincerity.  His action is exciting and his prose is incredibly vibrant.  It is difficult to offer specific praise or criticism of the individual novels in this series because the larger epic is constantly in mind.  That said, this is a book that is thoroughly enjoyable as an individual work. 

The Current Count:

72 Read, 28 To Go