Thursday, September 28, 2006

New Book


"Cormac McCarthy sets his new novel, The Road, in a post-apocalyptic blight of gray skies that drizzle ash, a world in which all matter of wildlife is extinct, starvation is not only prevalent but nearly all-encompassing, and marauding bands of cannibals roam the environment with pieces of human flesh stuck between their teeth. If this sounds oppressive and dispiriting, it is. McCarthy may have just set to paper the definitive vision of the world after nuclear war, and in this recent age of relentless saber-rattling by the global powers, it's not much of a leap to feel his vision could be not far off the mark nor, sadly, right around the corner. Stealing across this horrific (and that's the only word for it) landscape are an unnamed man and his emaciated son, a boy probably around the age of ten. It is the love the father feels for his son, a love as deep and acute as his grief, that could surprise readers of McCarthy's previous work. McCarthy's Gnostic impressions of mankind have left very little place for love. In fact that greatest love affair in any of his novels, I would argue, occurs between the Billy Parham and the wolf in The Crossing. But here the love of a desperate father for his sickly son transcends all else. McCarthy has always written about the battle between light and darkness; the darkness usually comprises 99.9% of the world, while any illumination is the weak shaft thrown by a penlight running low on batteries."

Dennis Lehane on Cormac McCarthy's latest from Amazon.com.

I left off the rest to avoid any potential 'spoilers'. I am picking this up today from library and will probably spend the weekend reading it as I know it will be difficult to put down. It is tempting to go and get it now and skip out on work and spend the rest of the day under a tree somewhere savoring McCarthy's prose. Work always gets in the way.

6 comments:

scruffylooking said...

Just another example that work is bad stupid making.

Unknown said...

Why do we keep doing it? I really need my own foundation.

El Duderino said...

I'm on my way to the library. What are my chances?

El Duderino said...

Got it. The Library says they don't have a single copy, nor do any other local libraries, so I went to B&N who had a stack three feet tall as soon as you walk in the door. God bless free/fee enterprise.

El Duderino said...

Pretty good so far, reminds me of PK Dick, like a dumbass I left in in the office on my couch this afternoon and now I'm too lazy to go pick it up.

Unknown said...

I made it through twice...second read slowly going back over it with a pencil and dictionary close at hand... audio will be next if library has it.