The Road by Cormac McCarthy

The original book cover

Several months ago, I just finished reading the highly acclaimed post-apocalyptic novel by Cormac McCarthy. Upon finishing the last few pages of the book, I suddenly became overwhelmed with sadness for the two protagonists. The entire novel is a slow, gradual build-up to the final pages where the lives of a father and son are chronicled as they make their long journey to the coast of North America.

Many have found this novel to be slow and uneventful. Perhaps they didn’t realize the intention of the author in creating this masterpiece. The story centers around a father and son, wandering post-apocalyptic America searching for hope and survival. It describes their daily lives and struggles, the strangers and eerily vacant locales they encounter and the horrors that are left behind after some unspoken calamity.

New book cover

This author is a Pulitzer Prize winner and was endorsed by Oprah in her book club. McCarthy paints such a detailed and haunting future that a movie is being filmed starring Viggo Mortensen, Kodi Smit-McPhee and Charlize Theron. It is said the director is intimately tying the film to the book without moving astray from the story.

A pretty recent version of the script for post-apocalyptic drama The Road found its way into the hands of the folks at Quiet Earth, and they’ve posted a review of it. Apparently this version of the script, which is dated late 2007, is true to the original Cormac McCarthy novel except for a few minor changes. Quiet Earth’s Agentorange says his only worry is that this script is so dark that it’s actually hard to imagine it getting made into a Hollywood flick.

Agentorange writes:

If this is the script that gets filmed, then The Road will not only be the most important post-apocalyptic film ever made but it will profoundly affect the cinema going world. But I can’t help but wonder; is the world ready for a film this dark? . . . That’s not to say there aren’t some changes and surprises along the way. However, I’d say most if not all the changes are for the better. In some cases, scenes have been extended to create even more tension. If you’ve read the book you’ll know what I’m talking about when I mention “the house” scene. It is one of the tensest scenes in the screenplay and it has been extended to the point that it is almost unbearably suspenseful.

I highly recommend this book to anyone that wants to fully immerse themselves in a world that is wonderfully written and beautifully described. This is not an action packed novella but you’ll find yourself emotionally attached to the characters and contemplate how you would react those situations in a future not entirely far-fetched.  <*>

Viggo Mortensen and Kodi Smit-McPhee

Tags: apocalyptic, book, film, movie, novel, Oprah, Road, The Road, Viggo Mortensen