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Reviews by James Murray

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The Road
by Cormac McCarthy
The road book review (5/28/2008)
The road, by cormac mcarthy in my opinion is one of the greatest books ever written. Although its ending is a little offset and crappy it is to be expected when reading the book and noticing all the hints that the author throws out to you.

Cormac McCarthy’s book, “The Road”, is a mystery/horror. The setting was a post apocalyptic, burned to ashes world where billions have been either burned or murdered and a select few left to eat or be eaten. A father and a son are part of the few left on the earth and they are on a journey to the coast for a chance of better survival.

I believe that the book’s tone and setting all helped create the overall feeling that Cormac Mcarthy was shooting for. He got his point across with his bloody imagery and his grotesque way of putting things. “What is it? He said. What is it? The boy shook his head. O papa, he said. He turned and looked again. What the boy had seen was a charred human infant headless and gutted and blackening on the spit.”(page 167).

There are two main characters in this book. One is the father, stress ridden and worried about his child’s survival. And then there is the son, a young boy with a lot on his chest and a sick father to care for. Both of which I feel are honorable. I feel that I mostly connected with the father character in a sense. The boy is not careless and is intelligent and I admire that.

I liked the book all the way up until the ending. The writing style was like nothing I had ever seen before, kind of like poetry, it flowed and went well together. Not having chapters was a good way to keep the reader, me, flipping pages. The voice was third person and was like someone telling a story of a father and a son.

Cormac Mcarthy is a great writer and I hope he will continue to make books.
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