Tuesday, February 16, 2010
I'm reading "The Road" by Cormac McCarthy and it's excruciating. It's about a father and son in post apocalyptic America. The father is trying to protect his son. The recommendation to read this book was by a fellow father, a spiritual man of sorts, that said the read is painful but a worthwhile journey. I'm extremely protective of my sons and the amount of depth to the risk of heartbreak I have is profound. If anything happened to them I feel like I would lie down and just die. I'm on the fence about wanting to go further in to the book. Page one hurt.
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31 comments:
Okay - you have effectively both quenched and heightened my thirst for that text.
Ever been asked that, "what is your greatest fear?" question? Mine is that I would need to deal with the death of either of my children. Having seen parents deal with this (intimately), I don't want to know that pain personally.
So I just need to die before them.
G- But in the book the father has to deal with preventing his son's death. It's dark and touches on some deep stuff. It hits many nerves.
And yes... we do need to die before our children.
Witnessing my mom pass was and is the worst thing that has ever happened. . .and watching her father deal with it was and is unspeakable, indescribable, backwards, insideout, totally f$cked-up. Just wrong every which way.
Let nothing happen to the children. Or all hell breaks loose.
I read his "Child of God" back in the day. Pretty moving stuff. Depravity is his theme of choice with blood icing on the cake.
Excellent book!
Matt- This is my first read of Mr. McCarthy's. I love his style. You watched your grandfather deal with his daughters death? Makes my head spin... I think there is a natural order in the plan of 'God' and having to watch your child suffer is unnatural. And yet we will all watch our mothers and fathers die. And our children will (hopefully, in a weird way) watch us die. I'm done...
Shaun- You read it? Should I keep going?
"I will live to be 42. Oh, only 42 ?!? I won't even live to see my children die."
---Homer Simpson--
Lucho, I've read "The Road" good book. You know that Cormac wrote "No Country for Old Men" which was awesome and so was the movie of course.
Good to see you reading!
RunCo- No Country for Old Men.. haven't seen it or read it. But will now I think.
My wife is a librarian, I have an influence. I have a hard time finding a book that holds my attention. I've started hundreds and put them down after the first chapter.
So I was in Rocky with a friend about 10 years ago, doing some back country stuff. We were on a trek over to Lawn Lake (I think that is what is called) from our site the night before ... not in real deep, but maybe 4 or 5 miles from the nearest lot.
Come across this guy who is sitting on the side of the trail. Older dude, easily 70. Has a couple of grocery sacks, in jeans, light coat. Immediately, the radar of my buddy and I goes into alert ... WTF?! Dude has a heavy German accent but a nice disposition so we chat with him for a bit. He asks if we have a map. More alert signs with this. We are thinking this dude is totally in the wrong place, and he is headed to the high backcountry - not a good idea, when he is not prepared.
We share our map with him and ask him where he is headed. Lawn Lake of course. More concern on our part. He then reveals that in one of the bags are the ashes of his recently deceased adult daughter ... she had been recently killed in a car accident. Lawn Lake was the last place they had been together and he was going to spread her ashes up there.
We felt obliged to help, but he refused. It was his journey.
It was pretty damn sad. I just remember looking at that grocery sack and crying.
Damn.
Read the book. There will be tears. Read the book.
Ya. Definitely.
I don't even have kids and I don't think I could read that. Ouch.
Hope your leg is better. Better racing ahead.
Read it in one night. And I was a mess for more than a week.
My husband read it in one night too. same. A total mess. As in--catatonic--can't stop staring at the wall type of mess.
But you know? That is what makes reading so amazing--right? To be shaken out of your place and thoughts and really moved.
I've read all of McCarthy. He is too masculine a writer for me--but I have read all he he has done just the same.
Watching "Into the Wild" as a parent scared the crap out of me. Would love for my kids to experience what he did, but not because they wanted to get away from me; that's my fear.
No country for Old Men is good, you'll like it.
You won't finish that book with a warm, fuzzy feeling, but I recommend finishing it. How the boy and his father take care of each other is sad and inspiring at the same time.
Finish it if it keeps your attention - it's one of the great American novels.
Trigirl- My entire calf is black and blue. But it'll be alright. Thanks.
Mary- It has already made me want to buy even more guns. I tend to get totally aggressive when I feel insecure and my defense mechanism is to push forward hard. I'm ticking it over in my head as to how I would handle the situation and it motivates me to be stronger. I read half the book last night and I'm surprised that I'm not at all depressed or down... rather I'm feeling that 'push harder' motivation. To be tougher and work harder to be stronger for my boys. My fear isn't of the situation but how I would handle it and would we survive. Definitely we would.
Ya, Shaun. I'm more inspired for sure.
Rick- I never could make it through 'Into the Wild'. Neither the movie nor the book. I wasn't at all inspired by what he did and I certainly wasn't impressed. I liked the soundtrack though.
Awe sh*t. Sorry to hear that but IT IS only February. Lots of time to clear the Marshmallow from your head and heal that sucker.
My labral hip tear has been nagging me as well. Off for an MRI to rule out a stress fracture to be safe.
I love napping in the tube! :-)
Hang tough...
an incredible book about the rapture and the agony of parenthood...and, what a parent will go through for their children. after reading this book, i went upstairs to watch my kids while they slept as silent tears of adoration streamed down my face.
-ds
I can't watch or read anything with animals or small children--chances are something awful will happen to them. I know I'm missing out on some great reads, insights, etc, but since I hit mid-30's I don't want to experience it. Prior to that, I was all for this type of book (except the animals. Maybe I'll have a change of heart again in a few years, but for now I'm good.
Donna- Very poetic. I know that's not what you meant to do, but your words are eloquent and thoughtful. Thanks as always.
Wende- You also see children suffer almost daily. I don't blame you for not wanting more exposure. Part of why you're so good at your job is that this stuff bothers you!
Good luck trigirl who is in pink! Like you said, you have time for a solid year even if you are forced to rest.
About once a year I read in the news about some father who shoots and kills the accused rapist of his daughter. I have often wondered what I would do if I were such an aweful situation. I hope I never have to find out.
EVEN MORE guns? I'm assuming this means you already own quite a few! Oh dear. :)
I would not have survived. nor would my babies.
And I hated Into the Wild. It disgusted me.
But I read it in one day, too.
Brett- I just wouldn't be obvious about it.
Mary- Yes... many. I grew up with guns and have never really given it much thought. BUT- with little boys in the house I have made sure that they can't be fired accidentally, or even intentionally unless you know exactly how to. Like I said, I'm fiercely protective of my sons and I take zero chances.
Ya, I don't get the rave about 'Into The Wild' at all.
Into the Wild - for me it's about being as aware as possible about the effect you have on your children. And the sound track.
Rick, I found Into the Wild very powerful. It just didn't like the way it made me feel... and yes, that is likely the right thing to take out of it...
At the time I read it I think I was just furious with the main character--and I couldn't get beyond that.
Ya, that's a good thing to take away from the book.
Mary, hate and disgust? The story is better than that. One has to remember it's told from Krakauer's point of view, which is dependent upon, literally, shreds of evidence.
I've taught it in an English class as a fairly strong argument. Pretty sad, for sure. And moving at the same time.
And Rick's right about some of the things it might teach us.
I skip one day of blog reading and this site goes all OPRAH on me!
Matt, you're right. Hate and disgust are words too strong. I loved Into Thin Air, and I did find INto the Wild very compelling. I was just haunted by the story. It rattled me. I read it when I was much younger, when it first came out, and there are images from it that still won't leave me. Lucho, I didn't know your wife was a librarian!!! I was one for many years.
MIM- You don't strike me as the librarian type. But I also don't know you.
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