http://www.cormacmccarthy.com/ - A unnamed man and his young son move south toward the coast, attempting to evade starvation and possible capture, in a post-apocalyptic world. While the father repeatedly reassures his frightened child that they are the "good guys," every encounter with another human being reveals the desperation and inhumanity necessary for their survival. The little boy is infinitely sweet, pleading with his father to help the others, and haunted by another little boy he sees and is forced to abandon along the way. Recently, I feel like I've read so many books that deal with human nature in trying times - and how horrible situations can make good people do horrible things. This was a very difficult book for me to read - I felt as if the little boy's fear absolutely invaded me. I did not appreciate the writing style of this book as much as All The Pretty Horses. The Road is told in an almost piece-meal simplistic style - not as a full narrative - almost like the thoughts of someone starving and on the brink of death. The images are haunting, and I wonder if the world we lived in came to this, would I really want to keep living? Sometimes I measure the greatness or value of a book or movie by how much it stays with me, or how much I keep thinking about it after I'm done reading or watching. By that yardstick, The Road is a definite classic.(* - Winner of the 2007 Pulitzer Prize for Literature)
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