Boris Smus

interaction engineering

The Road by Cormac McCarthy

Somehow I am just now reading Cormac McCarthy for the first time. Thanks for the recommendation, M!

Incredible descriptions. Long beautifully flowing sentences and great vocabulary. I find myself looking up new words every few pages, and it feels nice to be reading literature again. The style is interesting too, with uniquely applied passive dialogs that I found very distinct.

Perhaps reading this serious dystopia at a particularly dystopian feeling time wasn’t the best call. Although short, it took me a while to finish, spacing my consumption apart, to avoid overdosing on doom and gloom.

The apocalyptic scenario was well done and mysterious. What happened to humanity to cause such a scenario? Half way, it’s unclear if that will actually be revealed or not. By the end of the book, somehow it doesn’t matter. The world sucks you in. It is what it is, and humanity persists.

Parts of this book reminded me of an interactive fiction, or a role playing game, especially the constant search for loot, rummaging through abandoned barns, copious amounts of useless, broken rakes.

And yet so dark, so biblical.

do you think that your fathers are watching? That they weigh you in their ledger books? Against what? There is no book and your fathers are dead in the ground

At the core of this book is the father son dynamic between the anonymous man and anonymous boy. It is deeply touching. Oh man, how incredibly sad that last scene is, even though you can see it coming for miles. I spent a good amount of time shedding tears, so surely this is a great work.