Are you kidding me?
This must have been a slow year for Pulitzer submissions if The Road (Oprah's Book Club) won the prize. The book is a slow moving rip-off of S.M. Stirling's "Dies The Fire" series (minus the plot, character development, dialog and punctuation).
The "story" (and I use the term loosley) follows an unnamed man and his son down a road. We know nothing about the man or the boy, not even their names. We know that the boy is hungry because he tells the man "I'm hungry" - - we know the man also knows because he tells the boy "I know". And there you have it, the book in a nutshell.
Don't be tempted by the reviews, The Road (Oprah's Book Club) is just bad. Post-Apocalypse books are not new, however since this particular book was marketed to the mainstream ... Read More
This won the Pulitzer for...what?
I'm not going to say The Road (Oprah's Book Club) was awful, but seriously, what was the point? It just feels so unfinished and lazy. I was expecting a surprise ending or something, but nope, nothing. Though I wasn't bored while reading it, I can't say I enjoyed the book all that much. Hopefully the movie will be better.
Interesting concept, but lacks backstory to make it feel real
Although I did find The Road (Oprah's Book Club) to be thought provoking, ultimately I think that its shortcomings outweigh the concept. Many others complained that it is depressing, which it is, but that doesn't bother me. I love reading WWII stories and have read almost every survivor account I could get my hands on. When comparing this story to real life collapse of civilization that has happened throughout history it lacks realism and depth. No realistic motives are given to either the "heroes" or the "villains" of this story. They are all one dimensional characters that don't convince me of that this is a likely scenario if society collapses. Take the claim that the "bad guys" all become cannibals. History doesn't really support this. People have been starving ... Read More
Overwrought and Over-reviewed
I was compelled by the genre that The Road (Oprah's Book Club) purported to fall into coupled with the fact that it won the Pulitzer Prize. I because of the later, I wasn't expecting "The Road Warrior" or anything, but what I was expecting was something of worth. That's most definitely not what I got.
The entire narrative left me with a handful of words consistently popping to mind, in no particular order: grey, okay, ash, cart, cold, starving. There are more, but they are equally as dreary.
Much of this "story" is a bleak road picture following a man and a boy south to get warmer after some cataclysm of global proportions wipes out most life. The main problem is that there are inconsistencies in the narrative, and with no plot (which is fine) ... Read More
The Good and the Bad
Its a beautifully written novel and the two main characters are interesting and they do have some unusual encounters in what is essentially a world in ashes. I cant fault the author in his style and the main idea but I found the last 50 pages to be lacking. I couldnt help but feel let down by the ending. That was it? Not to spoil it for anyone else but the author made some odd choices in what he would describe at length, in great detail, and then almost rush past others, in particular the ending.
So I give it 5 stars for the writing, 3 for the story and execution, for a 4 star average. Its worth the read.
