The Road (the book)

I read the book this weekend, having missed the movie at the box office. I intend to get the video when it comes out.

A very dismal tale. Only the dimmest glimmer of hope at the end. Very sobering reminder that no matter what you do, eventually you are going to die anyways. At some point, the perspective of existenece is reduced to just what can be done today, for today. That was more or less what I came away from the story with.

I just picked up this book at Costco a few days ago. Books are cheap there! It's next up on my list of things to read after I finish the Clive Cussler book I'm currently reading.

It was probably based on the bumper sticker.

"Life's b**ch and then you die."

Sue

Haertic, I'm a Clive Cussler fan myself, mind me asking which book your reading?

Ben, I agree. The whole existence of the book could be summed up by his brief conversation with the old man they encounter. You are living, just to prolong death. I honestly didnt see a glimmer of hope though-sure, they are fighting extinction, but, in reality (the books reality), they ARE just prolonging the inevitble.
It was a great read-I really enjoyed it. Well, maybe enjoy isnt the word I would use-I was captivated by it. Very well written-and you didnt notice the authors peculiarities after the first chapter.

Just about to finish the book tonite. All I can do is read 4-5 pages a day because I constantly put myself and my six year old son in that same situation and I just can't read anymore. The son seems much wiser that his years, and I can tell the father's heart just aches every time he looks into the boys eyes.

Survival in the context of "The Road", an end to the basic ecologic mechanisms that support life with little or no hope of it ever getting better, is difficult thing to wrap the head around. Trapped in a snowstorm or hurricane it is simply a matter of hanging on and letting the event pass. Stranded in a wilderness or desert or after your boat sinks at sea you can hope to make your way to safety.

But what if the disaster starts out at 'as good as it gets' and it is all down hill from there with no realistic hope that it will ever get better.

I'm reminder of a situation related by a friend who did cave rescues. He got called in to find a couple of cave divers who got lost but who, in the last few minutes realized how deep in the cave they still were. The hopelessness of their situation. They realized that they were deep in the cave and that all the air tanks together wouldn't get even one of them out.

They could have fought over the air available. Both men had knives. As it was they continued to swim toward the entrance, knowing they wouldn't make it but hoping that somehow they had miscalculated. Perhaps hoping for a miracle. They continued to swim calmly and when one was completely out of air they shared the last of the air until it was gone.

What happens when survival isn't just a situation you get through? In that context is how you manage a consideration? If the end of the story is 'everyone dies' does it matter. Is there any point to being the last one standing? Or is maintaining your humanity the more important issue?

Just to lighten the mood of the thread

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vp1HVg_J7QA

Art, you pretty much hit the nail on the head, as far as the book goes.

I'm currently reading Cussler's "Spartan Gold". I also enjoyed his "Plague Ship" and "Deep Six".

If you like Cussler, I might also recommend you read Lincoln Child's "Deep Storm".

If you like to take your adventures into more exotic/strange/unusual locations you've got to read some James Rollins. He's my favorite at the moment. I love his imagination and the pictures he paints in my mind as I read. I highly recommend his "Subterranean", and "Amazonia", and "Excavation". He has more in this series of books that I still have in queue to be read. I have about 30 new books in a pile and I start reading whichever one grabs my fancy at the moment after I finish a current book.

If you want to stray off into more of a Mystery/Adventure genre, try "The Dark Tide" by Andrew Gross.

I think everybody should read "Kite Runner" by Khaled Hosseini. I don't know what genre you'd call this one. It can be a sad and depressing story, but it really draws you in.

Art, I love your response.

This same situation is one that has been high in the minds of many survival folk I have talked to.

Some people... including myself at times... see disturbing signs for the future. What will happen? Will I need a shotgun to protect my last can of soup?

The reality is that there are situations where mob rule takes over. But this is uncommon even in uncommon events. While these two people knew each other, and were friends, strangers can be enormously helpful. And resourceful.

In a situation like "the road" where there are millions of people are just waiting to die, yeah, I guess things probably would really fall apart like that, but I always felt there could have been a companion to the book where the protagonists actually worked together in the exact same situation. It wouldn't be any less realistic or unlikely.

The catastrophes that we see today, and the ones that we can prepare for (be "equipped to survive") are much more temporal than The Road. semi-permanent catastrophes (be they yellowstone mega-erupting and covering the entire north american continent with a meter of ash, or a massive and horrible war) are prepared for in far different ways... if they can truly be prepared for at all.

I don’t know that the book was so much an exploration of what one would do to survive so much as it explored the extents to which one would go to provide life for their child. The dad did all he could to not only provide sustenance and love but hope as well. He knew there was no hope, not really. But he struggled on physically and emotionally for his son’s sake. It is interestingly juxtaposed to the mother figure who obviously can’t handle the new emotional reality of survival. We all have different levels of Hell that we can tolerate and different levels of resolve to see something through no matter the hurdles.

It left me feeling haunted for weeks afterward. It made me think. A lot. I don’t know what’s coming but I sure hope it’s not similar to that. Some things cannot be preped for, physically or emotionally.

(My apologies for the “ritter” handle—it’s one I use on other boards and didn’t think of the potential confusion it could result in. Nice group you’ve got here.)

The Road caused me to conclude that in some scenarios the lucky ones would be at Ground Zero.

Parents will go to great lengths for their children. The author, Cormac McCarthy, had his own young son in mind when he wrote the book.

Ritter -- welcome aboard!

When one stops to consider the resources required to perpetuate a life to a natural terminus, one realizes how futile the effort really is. Start crossing off life's necessities one a time, starting with the least requirement and figure out what you would have to stockpile (and how) in order to live out the rest of your days completely independent of the environment currently around you.

At 47, I would like to live at least another 20 years. What does twenty years of non-perishable food look like? How about twenty years of potable water? How about twenty years of breathable air? Basically, you are building a spacestation on earth. Assuming you don't regenerate/recycle any supplies, the volume for just one person is staggering.

2 lbs of food per day x 365 days x 20 years = 7 1/2 tons

2 gallons per day (one for consumption, one for application) x 365 days x 20 years = 14,600 gallons or 58 1/2 tons

2 liters of air per breath x 5,760 breaths a day x 365 days x 20 years = 8.5 megaliters

Believe me Benjamin, if you get to be 67, you'll want to live another 20 years!

Well, that depends a lot on what things will be like here twenty years from now.

my experience and take exactly.
Made me go and hug my kid after I read it.

I finished reading this book yesterday, and I sure am feeling gloomy and depressed today.

At what point does survival simply become "prolonging the inevitable"?

I couldn't harm my child (any child?) but would we want our children to live in a world of ash and cannibalism?

What if one were in a scenario like the one in this book, and you plummet off a cliff leaving your child alone? What if the cannibals don't bother to kill them before roasting them on the fire?

Sheesh. I want to be prepared, but it sure is hard to shake the "What's the point" mentality that this book gave me.

The Road is the book you'd want to give someone who overdosed on Prozac, it would definitely be an effective antidote.

I thought the wife had the right idea.

For a more hopeful take on nuclear war (The Road alluded but never actually stipulated that it was a nuclear catastrophe), watch "Jericho" on DVD.

Jericho, being within the constraints of network television, had its shortcomings. But I think its scenario of limited nuclear attack in which some cities are bombed (23 in the Jericho scenario) and the rest of the country is profoundly affected but not entirely without resources and hope, is less implausible than The Road.

I read The Road in one day on a camping trip. A beautiful sunny day -- it was a helpful antidote to the book's unrelentingly grim landscape.

Just ran across this analysis of the evolution of "nuke porn." It focuses on The Road, the EMP-disaster book "One Second After" -- contrasting them with such classics such as "On The Beach," "Fail-Safe" and "Dr. Strangelove."


http://www.slate.com/id/2217899/

The new nuke porn is hard-core, more graphic and full-frontal than the Cold War version of the genre.

Or read Pat Frank's "Alas, Babylon". This was published in 1959, IIRC. Generally upbeat: good people in the face of adversity.

Yes, "Alas, Babylon" was a worthwhile read.

Good rec.

I was leaving for a trip and needed something to read, so I picked up The Road. De-PRESSING book. Not much plot, just the day-after-day of slogging.

Personally, as long as I have one arm or one leg left, I'm intend to keep trying.