Friday, April 11, 2008
Reading
I've been slow at updating my reading list on the sidebar, but I recently read my first Cormac McCarthy book, The Road, and was so profoundly effected by it that I sobbed afterwards. It is rare that I find a piece so moving and so haunting. It's not exactly an uplifting novel - it traces the life of a man and his young son as they wonder around merely surviving in a post-apocalyptic world. The earth is ravaged and so are the few that are left to inhabit it. The book explores the many sides of humanity, from the most miserable and base to the most beautiful and pure. I see it as a de-evolution of sorts - where humans become animals again. It puts you in a profoundly uncomfortable and disturbing place.And yet.
Somewhere in the middle of all that, McCarthy captures the beautiful, the good. He captures love and the side of humanity that I want to believe is in all of us - the part that is the stamp of God, perhaps. It's found in the simple, pure conversations between father and son. This is where love, trust, and devotion reside in the novel - they are traits that all humans are capable of, but easily lay aside. In a time of war and unrest, this novel is eye-opening. I highly recommend it. |
