The Road by Cormac McCarthy

Dear Readers,
Truth be told this is not my typical book. I do not really like the scary, dark, depressing books. It's just not my style. I don't like horror, and this book could almost fall into that category. It is one of those books you don't want to read when you are alone at home during the night.
Somehow though this book is good. I didn't hate it. I actually looked forward to reading it when I had the chance, and I thought about it in between readings. It wasn't to dark. It was more gray then black. The poetic nature of the writing helped mask the scary subject of the book. McCarthy really knew what he was doing when he wrote this creepy post-apocalyptic novel.
I have told you it is creepy, scary, not something you read at night, written about the end of civilization, and you are wondering why would I want to read this book. Well, hold your horses and don't judge a book by the cover. Let me get into the good parts!
You start out simple (truthfully you end simple too). All you know is there is a man and a boy traveling down the road. They need to get south before the winter. Where they start you don't know, where they end up you don't know. Their names you don't know. Their background you don't know. Really you know nothing. The simplicity of the plot allows McCarthy to focus on the amazing wording and descriptions in the novel.
My brother described this book to me a poetic, and I believe that description fits. All of the wording have a soothing, calming poetic nature to them. Even at the points where burned dead bodies are being described you still feel calm (the scariness comes after putting the book down and realizing that it might happen some day). The dialogue has the same repetition of a lot of poetry. The coloring, even though mostly gray tones, felt very poetic. It over all was kind of like reading free verse poetry, calming, distracting, and wonderful.
It was one of those books that after I finished it I wasn't really sure how I felt. I didn't really connect with characters because there wasn't much to connect with. I did enjoy the book as a whole, and I would recommend it to anyone. It wasn't to scary until after you stopped for the night. It has meaning and purpose if you are willing to think. It definitely is a chilling shot of what the future could look like.
Lindsey