Revisiting "The Road" by Cormac McCarthy~ In light of Jaycee Dugard...

Book Information and Summary:
NATIONAL BESTSELLERPULITZER PRIZE WINNERNational Book Critic's Circle Award FinalistA New York Times Notable BookOne of the Best Books of the YearThe Boston Globe, The Christian Science Monitor, The Denver Post, The Kansas City Star, Los Angeles Times, New York, People, Rocky Mountain News, Time, The Village Voice, The Washington Post
The searing, postapocalyptic novel destined to become Cormac McCarthy's masterpiece.
A father and his son walk alone through burned America. Nothing moves in the ravaged landscape save the ash on the wind. It is cold enough to crack stones, and when the snow falls it is gray. The sky is dark. Their destination is the coast, although they don't know what, if anything, awaits them there. They have nothing; just a pistol to defend themselves against the lawless bands that stalk the road, the clothes they are wearing, a cart of scavenged food-—and each other.The Road is the profoundly moving story of a journey. It boldly imagines a future in which no hope remains, but in which the father and his son, "each the other's world entire," are sustained by love. Awesome in the totality of its vision, it is an unflinching meditation on the worst and the best that we are capable of: ultimate destructiveness, desperate tenacity, and the tenderness that keeps two people alive in the face of total devastation.
Winner of the 2007 Pulitzer Prize for Fiction
*This overview taken from Barnes & Noble booksite.

A Couple of Trailers:

(This first one's volume is sketchy...sorry)

My Review:

In keeping with Cormac McCarthy's style of writing, "The Road" is another masterpiece that causes us to look into the darkest moments of the human soul. It is the razor's edge of love and relationships that McCarthy is interested in. It's the "thing" that makes us survive...the non-descript element that keeps a human spirit going after all else seems lost and useless, and death may seem the better avenue to peace and deliverance from hardships.

"The Road" is a story that examines this spirit of mankind that causes some to stare into the face of defeat and inhumanity, and to contain the longing; not just the will, but the longing, to live on. Some seem to have this unchangeable belief in the goodness of mankind and creation.

"The Road," is a study of those who have the gift of endurance of heart. Some of those who have survived the most horrendous trials, both physical and psychological in history, share this nebulous quality of a pure, childlike heart that continues to hold on to hope in the face of the contrary. It is a hope that's anchored in a love that is unshakable; and, it seems to me that love nearly always has a link to another person.

What makes a survivor? When I saw and heard the recent interview by Diane Sawyer of Jaycee Dugard, I knew I was staring into the face of that pure, childlike, believing person/survivor. She represents to me that quality of man/womankind that faces the terrifying and with only the small candlelight of "hope," overcomes the evil. Jaycee said it was the "small hope" in her heart that kept her alive. Hope...

Her hope bloomed from Love. It was the love of and for her mother that kept Jaycee alive.  It was the hope of seeing her mother again that saved Jaycee, kept her calm and comforted, and saved her little girls. And, it was the love shown to her by her mother that made Jaycee the mother she became despite the fact that she was isolated from the world and abused. While Jaycee says that she's not sure about God in any form, yet, she knows her survival had to do with the belief and hope of seeing her mother again.

This is a testament to Corinthians 13: "...Love never fails....And now these three remain: faith, hope and love. But the greatest of these is love." Love never dies.

This is the message of "The Road," even as we sift through the ashes and darkness, and this is the message of Jaycee Dugard.

Please hop by again soon as I'll be reading and reviewing Ms Dugard's book.

Deborah/TheBookishDame