scifijack reviewed The Road by Cormac McCarthy
Review of 'The Road' on 'Goodreads'
5 stars
I love this book for reasons that not many other people will love this book, because I'm not sure McCarthy intended for it to be read the way I do, and it's not that I'm some smart guy, I just had an angle on it that made it important to me. To me, it's a story about being a father to a little boy. You guide him, help him along, teach him, let him learn on his own. The premise here, as you probably know, is that the civilized world has been destroyed, and there is literally nothing left. What do you do then? What McCarthy thinks you do is to keep him moving forward. That's it. That's all. You can't do anything else. Well, you could stay where you are, but then you both are sure to die, more quickly, maybe than you're sure to die if you move. …
I love this book for reasons that not many other people will love this book, because I'm not sure McCarthy intended for it to be read the way I do, and it's not that I'm some smart guy, I just had an angle on it that made it important to me. To me, it's a story about being a father to a little boy. You guide him, help him along, teach him, let him learn on his own. The premise here, as you probably know, is that the civilized world has been destroyed, and there is literally nothing left. What do you do then? What McCarthy thinks you do is to keep him moving forward. That's it. That's all. You can't do anything else. Well, you could stay where you are, but then you both are sure to die, more quickly, maybe than you're sure to die if you move. You help him move forward. And there are consequences to you, as the father: you don't really teach him to survive without you, because you know he won't. So you move him forward and you (barely) nurture his hope and you comfort him not for his sake, but for yours.
When there is literally nothing else, you parent that little boy because it's all you have. Essentially, you're using him. He stays alive in the bargain, but is that a real boon? (Mom didn't think so, remember.)
What does any of this mean to a world that hasn't been obliterated? It's an exploration of the very bottom of fatherhood. Whatever else we do can go away; the one thing that never will is that we parent our little boy because he is all we have. It's shameful and selfish and human and poignant and the best book I've ever read.
