i usually don't read novels. not a lot of them anyway, tho at one time that was the bulk of my reading. anyway, i read, on the recommendation of my brother, who in turn got the recommendation from oprah, cormac mccarthy's the road.

and let me tell ya, it was probably one of the best books i've read in a long time. mccarthy's prose is clipped, shorn of ornament, and very cinematic. all thru the book i kept thinking that it would make a good movie.

the plot goes like this: father and young son - mccarthy is coy on their exact ages as well as their names - are traveling thru the barren wastes of the united states in some vague hope of something - any something - is waiting for them. nothing lives, no animals, plants, insects, except for small pockets of people who are also starving. many of the survivors have resorted to cannibalism and the descriptions of them are harrowing. the sun is blotted out by clouds of ash and smoke and whatever started this great conflagration isn't finished since ash covers everything and fires are still raging in the mountains.

mccarthy doesn't ever name names, there is only one character with a name. and the catastrophe, obliquely described by the father in a flashback, is not defined. this is certainly one of the most brutal and bleak books you could read. yet i loved every second of it and wished it wouldn't end.

mccarthy explores the elemental mysteries of existence here. why one would even continue to wish to live in the most dire of circumstances. evil abounds, yet i came away from my reading with the source of the essential goodness of humankind. if you haven't read it, i'll say no more. i don't want to give out any spoilers. however, i can't recommend this book enough.

sure oprah gave it the big plug which pushed mccarthy onto the bestseller lists. on the charges that perhaps mccarthy sold out by being interviewed by oprah on tv [i got that from my brother, i've not yet seen the interview] or from this story, i say, shit i'm willing to sell out too. if only i can find a buyer.