The Road, Reviewed

Cormac McCarthy's new book, The Road, might end up being a classic in American literature. It sure feels that way when you're reading it, and I don't say that lightly. It is set in a post-apocalyptic world. There's no Mad Max or Tina Turner characters. Instead, you get "the man" and "his son" -- a pair of survivors who live on Maslow's lowest level of the pyramid while they try to survive day to day. They walk "the road" -- the highways that remain after a nuclear holocaust -- the causes of which are blissfully never explained. Once it has happened, and you're a survivor, who cares how it happened? This world is so authentically described that you get the impression that McCarthy time-traveled to live in just such a world. The details seem startlingly real.
In the end, this is a story of unrelenting love in the face of so many reasons to relent. Your heart will go out to this duo as they travel the ash-covered world that McCarthy has created. Just check out the reviews on amazon. They're already glowing, like "the fire" that the father tells the son they are carrying. This truly is a must-read!