Monday, May 18, 2009

The road

Just finished reading The Road by Cormac McCarthy. The wiki link is here:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Road

As a general principle, i do not like to read apocalyptic books nor do i like to watch such movies. Simple because that they are depressing and sometimes too harsh (although realistic). But i had to break the line sometime and i am glad i did it with Road. I saw blindness in December and i was shocked. I want to read that novel now but i need more strength. But thats how it got started. One of my friends had recommended The road strongly and it was in my reading list for a long time. And today, i have finished it.

The best part about the Road is the dialogue between the man and his son. Short lines, to the point and even though they have fear in them, they are full of hope and love. The very fact that they have a dialogue is a symbol that they are loving each other. There are some very shocking scenes described in the book. One good part about reading very harsh scenes is that you can stop visualizing them after they become too string in your mind, but this you can not do so while watching in a movie because it is right in front of you and it will be late before you close your eyes. It happened with me while watching blindness and i can see that it will happen again when the road movie comes out. Overall, the road is a tale that should be read, and we should remember its good parts and forget about the rest. My only concern while reading/watching these kind of books/movies is that the ending has to be optimistic. If the ending is negative or even open, i can not find solace and the thought haunts me. I think those who paint the apocalyptic picture understand this and so far, i have always found the ending to meet my expectations, they are always hopeful and positive.

The road movie is going to come in October this year and it has Viggo Mortesen as the man and going by his Aragorn performance, he seems just right for that role. Although the trailer is out and it lacks the spirit of the book, i hope the movie is better.

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