the father in "The Road" - Spoiler's ahead

ibh

I gave this book to my mother when she went on holidays a couple of weeks ago. She texed me to say that it was keeping her awake at night!!

It is the one book that i can think of immediately that kept me thinking about it and the fate of the father and son for a long time after finishing it.

cautioner

Horrible, gripping, excellent, terrible terrible book.

I thought I'd read the height of disturbing literature with American Psycho. How wrong I was.

mickste

One of the most emotional books I've ever read. Mc Carthy does a great job of describing the father's love for his child, through his actions.

A haunting tale that resides in the memory for a long tiime after .

KevinH

One thing that didn't fit for me about this book;

The sheer bleakness and hopelessness of the scenario (the cannibals house, the baby, no food growing ANYWHERE at all) juxtaposed with the constant luck of the father and son (finding food, shelter just in time, etc again and again).

It just made it seem unreal.
Oh and it was a hundred pages too long.

Richard Roma

cautioner wrote: »

Horrible, gripping, excellent, terrible terrible book.

I thought I'd read the height of disturbing literature with American Psycho. How wrong I was.

There were some grim bits such as the cannibals, the eaten baby and the group they saw marching with catamites. The latter was very interesting because it seemed like the type of group that would have roamed thousands of years ago, it made me question how much (if) people's humanity has changed over the intervening millennia.

I don't think it's anyway near as disturbing as American Psycho. There are some heartening things to take from the book:

(i) The fact that the father didn't just use the two bullets to kill himself and his son. He kept going on despite the fact that it was hard to see anything worth living for (his wife clearly didn't think there was).

(ii) The father was completely and unselfishly putting the welfare of his child above everything else.

(iii) The people at the end of the book appeared to take care of the son.

i think the most interesting aspect of the book is that it questions where we draw the line of self-interest.

I think the father's one crime in the book was when he took all of the beggar's clothes.

monkey9

This book didn't disturb me at all. It just really bored me

ncmc

Sorry for dragging up an old thread, but just finished this book and can't get it out of my head. I think it is a book that sticks with you long after you read it.

Of course the father in the book is flawed, all humans are flawed! It makes the book more realistic that the father character wasn't perfect. Although I think it's foolish to say he should have helped people along the way, at what cost, maybe losing his son because he gave a stranger food? The bit with him taking the man who stole the carts clothes, well I guess that is good old fashioned revenge. If someone nearly sentanced me and my child to death, I think I would do more than just steal his clothes! And you have to remember, he did try and give them back and I think he was going to help the man too only he wouldn't come back to them.

The bit that really got me was when the father was dying and he couldn't bring himself to kill his son. When he said "I can't hold my son dead in my arms, I thought I could but I can't." That really moved me.

I think I need to read it again though, I was in such a rush to get to the end to see what happened them, that I missed things like the cannibals eating the people while still alive (actually kind of glad I missed that part!) Think it is a book that you will pick up more and more every time you read it.

I think the people who say there is no hope in the book, I would have to disagree, I think the fact that there was good people left in the world, that they had children, I think that gives a glimmer of hope.