Rave: The Road by Cormac McCarthy

Oprah's already blessed the novel long ago, so it doesn't really matter what I say. I'll chime in, nevertheless. I liked The Road by Cormac McCarthy. But I'm not sure that it was quite the spiritual revelation that all the back covers claim it to be. A page-turner, yes. The novel is compelling: every time you feel like you have to put it down to go to sleep, and you peek forward to find where the next logical break is going to come, well, when you reach that break, you just can't stop. You just have to keep going. The book's got the fire within it.

The novel is also haunting. The dystopian vision of America - the Mad Max future of people eating other people, a landscape of black and ash, of people scurrying in the shadows at the periphery of your vision, the mangled, wreckage of an industrial society - that vision stays with you, when you put the book down, once you've left the book. They're spectral and scary. If you've got a weak heart or frighten easily like a little girl, steer clear. You'll have nightmares. Of course, I believe America needs nightmares.

But does the novel have something to say about goodness in the world? Goodness in the face of nihilism and evil? I had a nice conversation about the novel this weekend at a wedding, where my friend spoke about how the novel illustrated the choices a father has to make to protect a child, whether by deciding how truthfully to describe a harsh world to a child, creating hope where none should exist, or by enacting extreme violence and inhumanity in defense of a child? She spoke also of how the novel projected hope, through the ability of the child to embrace hope, offer charity and kindness, and maintain faith against unspeakable odds. Well, I see it, I guess, but I'm not sure what The Road tells us that we didn't already know. What would a father do, but protect a child? And why wouldn't a child take pity on enfeebled creatures? Do we need a burned out landscape filled with raving packs of bearded cannibals to tell us that? And does it actually tell us anything? When compared with Lord of the Flies? Or Eichmann in Jerusalem? Is it our capacity for good in the face of evil that is really interesting? Or redeeming? Or our capacity for evil in the face of nothing that extraordinary?

But, let me return to my point: read this novel. It's fun. It works. It's a little disconcerting. You will want to finish it before you put it down.

And, also, take time to read this profile of Cormac McCarthy.