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Original poster

The Road

28 replies

roseability · 25/01/2010 10:30

Just read this in two days, I was so gripped!

I can't sleep for thinking about it. I openly wept whilst reading the final scenes and thought some of the language was beautiful.

What did you think? What do you think happened to the Earth?

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hifi · 25/01/2010 14:11

i really enjoyed the book,in the film it hints at global warming.
see the film, its amazing and very sad.

Original poster
roseability · 25/01/2010 15:05

Is the film still out?

I thought nuclear war or even yellowstone erupting

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AnyFucker · 25/01/2010 15:08

yes, I read this book some time ago and it still haunts me

I almost daren't see the film

I fear I would sob all the way through

I absolutely love the actor who plays the father too

Joso · 25/01/2010 19:49

The book is amazing. Painful but ultimately full of hope. I don't feel the need to see the film at all now. The writer, Cormack McCarthy has described it as a love letter to his son.

overmydeadbody · 25/01/2010 19:51

I felt like I was suffering Post Traumatic Stress Disorder after finishing the book, it was harrowing and gripping and awful, but beautifully written.

I didn't think the ending offered hope at all. Ultimately it's every man for himself and the goodies will all run out of food and die and the baddies will rule the world with their cannibalism. Where's he hope in that?

overmydeadbody · 25/01/2010 19:52

and that 'lovely family' that rescue the boy in the end?! As if. The boy was hallucinating, or dreaming, or dying.

At least, that's how I read it.

AnyFucker · 25/01/2010 19:55

yep, I believe the ending is a fantasy, or a dream, or a hallucination

sorry

overmydeadbody · 25/01/2010 20:00

Thank god I'm not the only one AF

Original poster
roseability · 25/01/2010 20:02

I have a son and it has unsettled me deeply. I did think it offered a glimmer of hope when the boy meets the family at the end but yes ultimately I felt completely drained emotionally.

For me the hope lay in the fact that the good human qualities of love, kindness and endurance had survived in the father and son despite the horror and evil around them

The background story of the mother was interesting and sad as well. That she took her life, so broken she was by what had happened. She left her son and husband alone in the world.

I don't think a book has ever moved me so much and I have read some good ones. It plays on our most primal fear as parents doesn't it? I finished it last night and I had to go and watch my kids sleeping for a while.

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AnyFucker · 25/01/2010 20:05

me too rose

Original poster
roseability · 25/01/2010 20:05

There is a part in the book when the father talks about good and bad dreams. He says you have to worry when you dream god things so maybe the ending is an illusion to the boy dying and his good dreams

how bleak. I don't think I can take it anymore

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Original poster
roseability · 25/01/2010 20:06

good things not god things!

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Francagoestohollywood · 25/01/2010 20:11

Oh f*, I totally refused to see the ending as an hallucination... but yes, I'm afraid you are right

AnyFucker · 25/01/2010 20:12

don't!

< swallows lump in throat >

< throws self on floor and starts wailing >

hester · 25/01/2010 21:07

I found the book almost unbearable to read; so harrowing. It still haunts me. I don't know if I dare see the film.

jaquelinehyde · 25/01/2010 21:22

We studied this book as part of our English Lit degree at Uni last year.

It is an amazing book, one that left me and most of my class sobbing.

I too think that the end was a fantasy/illusion of a dying boy.

TwoIfBySea · 25/01/2010 21:58

I thought the ending was more that now his father was gone the boy suffered a mental breakdown, shown in this illusion of the family. After all he was now completely alone in that world and how could such a young mind cope.

God I'm glad I chose not to see the film, maybe one day but it is such powerful stuff.

As for the cause, I was thinking more along the lines of nuclear war as are there not hints in the book (I read it some time ago) from the father?

tumbleturn · 26/01/2010 11:50

I loved this book and can't wait to see the movie depressing or not

50ftQueenie · 26/01/2010 11:54

Oh GOD, you're right. It IS a hallucination isn't it? I've seen the film (but plan to read the book as well) and I thought the ending didn't really tally with the feel of the rest of the film. I love depressing films (my favourite is Requiem for a Dream) but dear lord that one tested even me.

Francagoestohollywood · 26/01/2010 14:03

I'm in Italy and the film hasn't been released

hifi · 26/01/2010 17:53

im gutted about the supposedly happy ending, better not tell dh as he was ready for slitting his wrists when it finished.

CheerfulYank · 26/01/2010 18:10

I don't think it's a hallucination, and from what I've read in interviews w/ McCarthy he doesn't think so either.

Also he alludes to a comet or something hitting the Earth (not in the book, but in the aforementioned interviews)

hester · 26/01/2010 21:17

The hallucination theory is probably right - but it IS making me want to shoot myself. I think I got PTSD from that book.

Original poster
roseability · 26/01/2010 22:08

I just don't want to believe the hallucination theory but it does seem a little contrived to be real

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janeite · 26/01/2010 22:11

I think the ending did really happen - but was a cop out. Don't want to see the film though - shudder.