The Road : A Polarizing Book Review

Have you read The Road? Join me in discussing this tragic tale of love, loss, and sacrifice.

[@Uchoobdood]

This was the first book EVER to make me cry. I could not help but think about my son throughout the book. I find the book to be absolutely beautiful.

[@Larkinchance]

The barely visible sun crossed the sky like a grieving mother with a lamp

[@AMARTmtz]

Loooove that line. Instantly stood out to me

[@YoungSantasGroupie]

For me, this is the most well-imagined and fully-realized post-apocalyptic story. There are so many books (young adult and general fiction), tv shows and movies based on the premise but rarely if ever are the realities as fully explored. The little things really bring it to life, even with such sparse writing: tattoos of animals misremembered, cairns left on the road outside of cities as messages for loved ones, the daily struggles.

[@Larkinchance]

From my memory.. The boy looks at his father, "That because we're the good guys." You've restored my faith in modern humans. On KZbin, I watched a very bad review of this book by 2 guys who spent the entire video trying to figure how the world got this way. Was it climate change or a nuclear war? Would it be temporary or forever? I commented, "You guys missed the point! It was about a father's desperate and doomed attempt to keep the boy safe. The terrible circumstances were secondary to the relationship of the father and his son. I read the book long before the film and I was thinking, "It should be filmed in B+W". They met me halfway with desaturated color Your review is excellent and now you have a new sub

[@MercuryCircuit]

I found this book to about love between 2 people and a will to survive against all odds. I must also say. Some of the most beautiful writing I have ever read. Very emotinal and a must read for all people who love to read.

[@ItsTooLatetoApologize]

I couldn't agree more.

[@ElseIfGambit]

Managed to finish the book last week, it was an incredible journey and it really made me think what I would, were I in such a situation. Loved your analysis on the book, gave me some new perspectives that I didn't catch on while reading. Keep up the great work!

[@ItsTooLatetoApologize]

It's a scary thought experiment to take on, isn't it? But I've done it too.

[@adamhasideas6813]

A really insightful book review! I read The Road several years ago, it was quite an emotional read for me. I appreciated the time you took to give commentary that conveys the themes without giving away too much of the story. I read this book before I had my two sons, I'm sure I would see it much differently now.

[@ItsTooLatetoApologize]

Thank you for watching. I was avoiding reading this book for so long because of how emotionally intense the movie was. But the book was so good in its own way. I can see why McCarthy wrote it at the time he did as his son was about 8 he was 73, and he was going through a divorce with his third wife. I think you could see the responsibility he felt for his son who he realized he might not get much time with. I really enjoyed this novel, and this year I read it and Blood Meridian and those novels have placed McCarthy as one of my favourite authors.

[@adamhasideas6813]

@@ItsTooLatetoApologize The Road is the only McCarthy book I've read. As I really enjoyed it, I had thought about reading Blood Meridian also, but I've heard that it is very violent. I'm don't usually enjoy books/movies that have a high degree of violence. What are your thoughts, is the book mostly about this, or is it not as bad as people say.? Thank you for your opinion.

[@justinmonisit5932]

@@adamhasideas6813 A late response but Blood Meridian is BRUTAL. As in probably one of the most violent books ever written and it goes into excruciating detail about each act of violence. Let's just say you won't have a good time if violence disturbs you this much

[@JorgeLara1607]

Great book and great review too! Watching you read those passages, specially the last one, was nice. This book was at times harrowing and beautiful, such emotional roller-coaster that I don't think I'll forget it soon. I need more Cormac McCarthy 🙂

[@ItsTooLatetoApologize]

I agree. My next review will be of The Orchard Keeper. I'm going to work my way through all his works.

[@bradgrenier9035]

I read “The Road” when my eldest son was 3. My sons untimely arrival forced me out of a dark part of my life, and It completely gave me the words to describe how I feel about him. The most emotional part (…maybe?) was the dream sequence that wraps up at the end of the book, where the boy is guiding him through a dark cave full of monsters, held at bay only by the boys light. It was so familiar. “He knew only that the boy was his warrant . He said, if he isn’t the word of God God never spoke.”

[@ItsTooLatetoApologize]

That's some powerful stuff right there, sir.

[@TGBahr]

The best review on it I've seen so far. You tackled the deepest questions.

[@ItsTooLatetoApologize]

Thank you for watching. What a heartbreaking book, eh?

[@TGBahr]

@@ItsTooLatetoApologize Only after I finished it I had realized that moved me. Not just the ending. The boy is ok, btw.

[@davy_K]

Finished it the day I got it. A devastating book.

[@ItsTooLatetoApologize]

It really is.

[@BigPhilly15]

As a father, this book hit me hard. I see it as the love between a father and child. A love that withstands all material degradation and pain. Absolutely beautiful.

[@ItsTooLatetoApologize]

Their relationship has been the best of McCarthy's I've read so far.

[@mikechilds4085]

Nicely done. Enjoyed your review. The character of the old man called Eli, referred to a the “thread worn Buddha” I’ve been thinking of him actually as the Old Testament God in the novel, who now is out of the job.

[@peterwhite7428]

A good review. You captured the essence of this book. In a world without love, these two character carry the light, the fire in their hearts.

[@ItsTooLatetoApologize]

Thank you for watching.

[@Michael-ue3ku]

Great review. Really excellent

[@davy_K]

When faced with a long lingering hopeless end, what to keep? Not physically but ethically and emotionally.

[@minaguta4147]

This book was devastatingly beautiful. Especially for parents. Thank you for the excellent review.

[@ItsTooLatetoApologize]

Glad you enjoyed it!

[@Fitness4London]

A gripping review. The Road is definitely in my top 20 favourite novels of all time, so is No Country for Old Men. For all its brilliance, Blood Meridian didn't make it into my top 20 because reading it felt like wading through congealed blood, and the ambiguities at the end left me frustrated.

[@ItsTooLatetoApologize]

I can't wait to read No Country for Old Men. So far the Road has been the best relationship McCarthy has written, that I've read so far. Loved it.

[@user-oe1vw1yd7b]

Thank you for an excellent review.

[@ItsTooLatetoApologize]

Glad you enjoyed it!

[@Ozgipsy]

Great channel, find of the week for me. 👍

[@ItsTooLatetoApologize]

Welcome aboard!

[@ahojahojish]

One of the best books I have ever read. In my top 3 for sure! The book gripped my heart like no other. “Beautiful” but tragic story.

[@ItsTooLatetoApologize]

I loved it too.

[@Pianodean]

I've had several friends I recommended this book or movie to get upset with me for doing so because the story is so depressing. I tried to tell them this isn't a movie for entertainment...it's poignant and meant to be introspective and realistic...what would you do? I just came to realize it's not for everyone...but it's one of my favorite books and movies. I literally could not put the book down. I read it in one sitting. If memory serves...the dialogues and monologues in the book are 99% the script of the movie. There were only 2 or 3 things in the book that weren't in the movie and they would've had minimal if any impact on the meaning of the story. If I'm being honest...I don't think I'd wanna be around trying to survive in that world. I'd probably hope the cataclysm would take me out because I'm not sure I'd have the mettle to do myself in the way the mother did. I think most people agree that this is probably the most accurate depiction of what would become of humanity should similar events occur in reality. There is SO MUCH that we take for granted.

[@veniceismine1]

Blood Meridian was a revelation to me. I hope you like it. I’m waiting to read his two newest, and probably last, books. The Road was my favorite book until I read Blood Meridian. I haven’t read his new books, but I think this is his most succinct and straightforward about existentialism, of people and his ideas on them, and of the universe itself. I got a very god is dead, a we have murdered him (the actual full quote from The Gay Science) and how to create meaning in a meaningless world. A sort of optimistic nihilism. That meaning is made, by us. Between us as people and that doesn’t exist without each other.

[@ItsTooLatetoApologize]

I love Blood Meridian. It's my favourite of McCarthy's that I've read so far, but I've only read : The Orchard Keeper, Outer Dark, Blood Meridian, The Road, and The Passenger. I'm slowly making my way through all his work. It's been quite a trip.

[@basementmadetapes]

Suttree is also a devastating work. It fits just under Blood Meridian for me, and just ahead of The Road.

[@1805movie]

I've been on the fence whether or not I should read this book. I like post-apocalyptic stories (horror is one of my favorite genres) but not to the point where it fills me with existential dread and nihilism.

[@ItsTooLatetoApologize]

I feel the book ends on a hopeful note. But then again, I seem to be able to find hope in all of McCarthy's works I've read so far, so I'm not sure if I'm delusional or just a stubborn optimist. LOL!

[@1805movie]

@@ItsTooLatetoApologize That's good to hear. I'm an eternal optimist at heart, even with "downer" endings.

[@zamplify]

I appreciate you.

[@jmarleymart]

Damn this review said everything I was thinking when reading

[@ItsTooLatetoApologize]

Success!! Thank you for watching.

[@WiseOwl_1408]

It's bleak for the vast majority. Very unique. Excellent work.

[@lyndarosa738]

Tell me please which chapter you've read from at the end of the video ?

[@ItsTooLatetoApologize]

There are no chapter breaks in this novel. In my edition the quote is on pg 55. I hope that helps.

[@modolief]

Thank you.

[@YoungSantasGroupie]

I'm not quite sure what to make of the passages with the figure in the cave or underground. Perhaps hinting at lifeforms that continues in an alien form? Or is the figure meant to represent what the man has become? What people will become if they find a way to survive? Perhaps it's not meant to have a specific meaning, I don't know.

[@ItsTooLatetoApologize]

If you're speaking of the figure being held captive in the cellar; I'm sure there are many ways to look at it. But I'd say it is the representation of the people who cannot bring themselves to do terrible things to survive. These are the timid weak creatures who will not survive in this new world. I think it is the contrast to the man and boy. The Man tries to keep the boy good but must harden him to the realities of the world so that he will not become like those figures in the cellar, but also not like the people who captured them. Or is there another figure you mean that I'm forgetting at this moment? 🤔

[@YoungSantasGroupie]

@@ItsTooLatetoApologize This is the passage I am referring to: “In the dream from which he'd wakened he had wandered in a cave where the child led him by the hand. Their light playing over the wet flowstone walls. Like pilgrims in a fable swallowed up and lost among the inward parts of some granitic beast. Deep stone flues where the water dripped and sang. Tolling in the silence the minutes of the earth and the hours and the days of it and the years without cease. Until they stood in a great stone room where lay a black and ancient lake. And on the far shore a creature that raised its dripping mouth from the rimstone pool and stared into the light with eyes dead white and sightless as the eggs of spiders. It swung its head low over the water as if to take the scent of what it could not see. Crouching there pale and naked and translucent, its alabaster bones cast up in shadow on the rocks behind it. Its bowels, its beating heart. The brain that pulsed in a dull glass bell. It swung its head from side to side and then gave out a low moan and turned and lurched away and loped soundlessly into the dark.” But you’re point about what type of people would be able to survive in that new world is very interesting. I work as a mental health therapist at a kid’s hospital. We’ve been dealing with a youth mental health crisis since 2013, mainly due to parental coddling and the rise of social media (see J Twenge/J Haidt’s research if interested). The pandemic poured fuel on the fire, more coddling/hysterical overprotection, kids isolated and on social media even more. Our society is just now coming out of the most peaceful/prosperous period of human history, those ~70 years from 1950s to 2020. As we progressed through that period, our society took safety and prosperity for granted more and more. And in doing so, our tolerance to typical hardships and suffering dropped lower and lower. This talk addresses the issue better than I can if you are interested and it relates this cultural phenomenon to the pandemic policies. m.kzbin.info/www/bejne/r4jUZKp8hdGJirM Anyway, your comment reminded me of what we are seeing among youth today. How the hysterical overprotection of our youth is now one of the main factors degrading their mental health. The increasing coddling leaves kids less able to develop their own tolerance to the hardships and suffering inherent in life. It’s sort of like growing seedlings indoors prior to the spring. When you transfer them outside you “Harden them off” gradually, getting them used to the conditions outside. You bring them out for a few hours the first day, then back inside at night. Then bring the out more the next day, inside again over night. And so on for a few days until you leave them outside. We need something akin to this for our youth. The coddling and overprotection is harming them so needlessly. It’s tough for parents, I get it. For them they feel like bad parents when they don’t coddle. Not sure if you’ve seen that Japanese show on Netflix called “Old enough” where 2-4 year old kids are sent on their first “unsupervised” errand. They have disguised camera people following the kid so they are not truly unsupervised. Regardless, American parents find the show cute but also shocking and many say “they could never let their kids do a chore like that”. Honestly, it’s little things like these that our kids need desperately. Even just the ability to play unsupervised (but close to home), say in a forest or field. Kids rarely are allowed to play on their own. Rarely are they allowed to solve their own interpersonal disputes. Traditionally kids would play on the or own, usually a mix of ages, older kids stepping in to help solve disagreements. Now, kids are usually only with kids their same age and with parents within arm’s reach, ready to solve each little issue. And kid’s are engaging in less “rough and tumble” play, like rolling down hills, climbing trees, hanging upside down, or heaven forbid play wrestling. In our society that is traumatized by peace, these once normal kid activities now seem barbaric. They are not. Kid’s sensorimotor system requires this type of play for that brain development, for your brain to develop its balance and “interoception” (sensing our inner body processes like hunger signals, pain, etc) and the sense of embodiment. Kid’s crave this type of “sensory experience”. I’ve worked in schools as well and it’s become common to see kids coming into grade 1 who appear almost on the autism spectrum because they will do repetitive behavioral that looks like “stimming” that kids on the spectrum display. Like spinning while sitting on their bum, rocking back and forth. However, 95% of the time these kids are just craving this type of sensory input because they haven’t received enough of it. Kid’s today who are on devices are deprived of these embodied experiences that help set up these brain systems. And these brain systems of balance/interoception are vital for developing distress tolerance and emotional regulation as the kid develops. Anyway, the main theme being that our society became so peaceful, prosperous and safe that we gradually lost our tolerance for typical daily hardships. This might just self-correct after a decade or two or harder times (which are surely coming) but it’s a shame that we had not addressed these things sooner. The youth mental health crisis is very real and frightening. At the kid’s hospital I work at, and others across western nations, admission rates for suicide attempts, overdoses, severe eating disorders and psychosis (to name a few) are through the roof. Kids as young as 9 admitted for the first two, some not surviving. It’s like nothing I’ve seen in my 20 years in the field.

[@kfwimmer]

Really great video! Thank you

[@ItsTooLatetoApologize]

You’re welcome!

[@mwitisammy9556]

The video sums up this gripping story well. My most moving paragraph is this: "People were always getting ready fir tomorrow. I didn't believe in that. Tomorrow wasn't getting ready for them. It didn't even know that they were there".

[@t0dd000]

McCarthy's prose takes my breath away.

[@ItsTooLatetoApologize]

I’m a fan too.

[@sirg-had8821]

If you haven't been diagnosed with depression... You will be. This book turned my existential funk into full blown nihilism. Brilliant book. 5 out of 5 stars

[@fftv3875]

I agree, it was oddly beautiful. Those who liked this should read Blindness by José Saramago

[@ItsTooLatetoApologize]

oooooo....It's on my TBR. Thank you for the recommendation.

[@KyleFromSouthParkCA]

Youre beautiful

[@davidgagen9856]

One of his weaker novels. Still good but Blood Meridian for example is on another level of brilliance.

[@brianandremorteomedina4128]

That trashcan looks kinda sus... Good video tho!

[@ItsTooLatetoApologize]

That trash can is clearly up to no good. 😂😉

[@AristophanesNow]

Not sure how a writer could be both “Hemingway and Melville.” To me, they represent opposite approaches to writing; one is majestic and profound, while one appears to be simply recounting daily activities without there being any sense of purpose.

[@antonychigurh8939]

It seems counterintuitive, but she’s literally spot on.

[@grayj7441]

Seems a billion souls live with this everyday for the last million years.

[@ItsTooLatetoApologize]

I agree. It seems like a very dire terrible setup McCarthy gives us, but to a lesser degree it is the story of every father or parent seeing their child go on without them into the scary world that may ultimately consume them. I've read some say that the end was a failure of the whole story, but I think it was the most appropriate. There must be hope in both the parent and child's heart if there is to be a future at all for humans. Thank you for watching.

[@smoothblak78]

So far The Road is my least favorite of his books. To me, the son felt like he was born in some pre-apocalyptic time and transported here. I don't understand how a kid born and raised in this world is so clueless about it. Wouldnt the Man have raised him from the beginning to understand what it takes to survive? It just felt weird to me.

[@ItsTooLatetoApologize]

The way I interpreted it was that the boy was born after the fall of society but they were secluded in a very isolated cottage. The boy had had no experience of other people and it’s people that are the danger that the man needs to prepare him the most for. The man was forced to leave their home in isolation because they ran out of supplies so even there the child has never had to be on the move or rationing to such an extent. It is frustrating that the boy is so careless and naive but to me that is the reality of his youth. In youth we were all careless and felt immortal. It’s the man who knows and can see the many ways their lives can end. Thank you for sharing your thoughts and frustrations.