The Road, Cormac McCarthy

[stark]

I finished this book about a month ago and I still have the creeps from it. I pick up other books, but my thoughts return to this one. What the hell happened? I am pretty sure it was a nuclear war, just because of the man's cough and the fact that he looks at all the dead things and says "Senseless, senseless." A natural catastrophe would have no pretense of sense.

But one thing that really irks me is the bands of bad guys: where DID they get the guns and diesel fuel? Are they the military/government? I guess we can only speculate, so I'm curious what anyone has thought of it.

PS: there's a film adaptation coming out in November.

[muccapazza]

I was thinking all the bees died and that's why everything stopped growing.

Who's doing the film?

[nagsheadlocal]

I just figured the guns and fuel were leftovers they had scrounged somewhere. I was surprised at how much food and gear the father found in the beached sailboat, for instance.

It's a grim book, but not as grim as Blood Meridian. I can't imagine what a movie of The Road would be like, but perhaps we'll be pleasantly surprised.

[cbchess]

I liked it. I immediately thought of Robert Duvall when they ran across the old man - the "wandering Jew" character that has shown up so many time in literature over the years. Turn out thats who they cast him in the movie!!

[stark]

explain the wandering jew character. I'm not familiar with it as a convention. I only know it as a plant.

[cbchess]

explain the wandering jew character. I'm not familiar with it as a convention. I only know it as a plant.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wandering_jew#In_literature

[EvilPhish]

According to an interview with the author (which I can't source at the moment), the events in 'the Road' were preceded by an asteroid impact.