Well, I did as a promised. The Road is complete, technically with a day to spare for you Canadians. I feel like I'm back in the game.
Reading The Road at night probably wasn't the best idea, I was on edge pretty much the whole time. But this really is one of my favorite theme of books...what humanity does when the world doesn't look like this anymore...generally after crisis. Haha.

(PS: this really does feel like High School English class when I write this, and I LOVED English class...)

As for the overall style of the writing, there was one quote that I thought kind of captured the tone for the rest of the book:
“In the dream she was sick and he cared for her. The dream bore the look of sacrifice but he thought differently. He did not take care of her and she died alone somewhere in the dark and there is no other dream nor other waking world and there is no other tale to tell.”

There is this little glimmer of hope and goodness in the first sentence and a half, but that is quickly extinguished, both by the circumstances that surround them and also by the Father's own outlook.

The father seems so much more real because he really only does have one hope, both for his life and for his death, and that is the living next generation child with him. I think in a lot of books they would dwell longer on the outside things such as 'the discovery of stores of food' or a 'warm place to sleep' and really add more value to those as something that keeps up the hopes of the father. But they rightfully remain the things that are just life prolonging, not the object of life.

As I progressed to the end of this book, it reminded me more and more of the book of Ecclesiastes, in which one of the wealthiest kings in history muses about having everything he could have possibly ever wanted and still being unhappy. The only good that will come of everything you ever work and strive for will be that it is passed onto the next generation. Of the fruits of your labour, you see nothing, thus everything is meaningless. At the end of the book, the boy promises his father he 'wont forget', and that's about all the father can hope for.


So I thought the boy was really great, and I loved watching how he shifted in representation...

• The boy seemed to have the immediate reaction of any of us, given everything was stripped away, such as scepticism and pride etc. I suppose back to our whole childhood self. The innate knowledge of when things are good and bad, overwhelming fear, or naive acceptance. I like that...because I was so very fearful with him...haha. Like this quote:
  "I was crying but you didn’t wake up.
  I’m sorry. I was just so tired.
  I meant in the dream.”
  -It's so simple but, yea, that idea of someone you depend on suddenly not hearing you. FRIGHTENING!
  
• “All of this like some ancient anointing. So be it. Evoke the forms. Where you’ve nothing else construct ceremonies out of the air and breathe upon them.” Oh my did I like this quote. I've always thought about how interesting it is that almost any culture no matter where or how developed creates for itself something to worship. There's a human need to worship something as greater than oneself, as the exciton's of that greater thing is what gives us any sort of reason to keep going/growing/searching...and so this boy becomes the father's.
  

Hmm I feel like I thought lots more but those are the things I can put into words. Thoughtful...cold and windy....raw...quiet. Humm

So book for this next month...I've had trouble deciding, half because I don't know what I can get on Kindle. A couple options for things I already have but have yet to read are:
Metemorphasis-Kafka
The Invisible Man-H.G Wells

One that I don't have but have considered reading for the sake of its difference in author/location/subjects that I would usually be interested in (and I now know I can get from Kindle) are:
A Short History of Tractors in Ukranian-Marina Lewycka

Nobody puts Jim in a corner!

Holla cool cats! Guess who finally finished the book!
Once again, I apologize for my lateness, but I intend to power through The Road in the next 4 days so NO BIG DEAL.
I also finally read your posts on Treasure Island...

Since yall pretty much said what I mostly thought in regards to the ending...reletively anti-climactic. Silver is even 'helped' to escape, he doesn't even sneak off on his own which I found disappointing.
On Muppet Treasure Island, this is the moment where Jim discovers Silver escaping and lets him go...and then Smollet (Kermit) says "well done Jim" and I get teary eyed....I was hoping for that...

I did take note of the quotes that stood out to me in this second half though, just for fun:

• “All round the hull, in the blackness, the rippling current bubbled and chattered like a little mountain stream”
  -This happens when Jim is trying to board the Hispanola at night, and I found that Stevensons descriptions of actions that happened at night were way more interesting than those during the day. Maybe that's just a preference.
  
  
• "We made a curious figure, had anyone been there to see us –all in soiled sailor clothes and all but me armed to the teeth. Silver had two guns slung about him –one before and one behind –besides the great cutlass at his waste ad pistol in each pocket of his square-tailed coat. To complete the his strange appearance, Captain Flint sat perched upon his shoulder and gabbling odds and ends of purposeless sea-talk. I had a line about my waist and followed obediently after the sea-cook, who held the loose end of the rope, now in his free hand, now between his powerful teeth. For all the world, I was led like a dancing bear”
  -For some reason I especially liked this description of those ragamuffin pirates, and I think if any 'deeper' sort of study could be done on this book, the exsistance of "Captain Flint", the bird, on the shoulder of Silver, would be prime.
  
  
• “Nobody minds Ben Gunn”
  -Poor guy, he really reminds me of a wet blanket or something pittiful like that.
  But the main thing I liked about this quote was that the first thought that popped into my head after reading was "Nobody puts Baby in a corner".

And that was that! Thanks for being patient with me : )
Just to clarify, are we starting a new book next month, or have we extended the finish date for The Road. And if so, TyTy...what's the book choice?

Don't run, walk.

Oookay... So I realize that we didn't actually select "The Road" by Cormack McCarthy to be a book club read, but I tore through it in a couple days (Tyler saw me on Friday/Saturday) and I hadn't even started it - I finished it last night, with only occasional reading time.
It's quite an easy read; McCarthy's writing style in this book is quite spartan - I think reflecting the bleakness of the physical landscape, devoid of richness or colour - I believe a purposeful choice. Additionally the dialogue between characters is often left ambiguous, without designating who the speaker is, although it usually isn't hard to figure out.

The plot revolves around the two principle characters, a father and his son, who have survived some cataclysmic event (what exactly happens is never explained), but they now live in a vast, underpopulated wasteland; all the trees are dead and fall over, fires ravage the country, and gangs of desperate men roam about, killing and cannibalizing their victims.
The man and boy's interactions with others are sparse - too often they are all alone, under grey skies and falling ash, constantly starving and relatively unarmed against the constant danger.
They are following a road to the south before winter strikes, pillaging the remnants of storerooms and houses as they go. Sometimes they are lucky, quite often they are not.

The character of the father is exactly how I would imagine someone like Viggo Mortenson playing him, except when I began to watch the movie I was disappointed with how he'd actually played him (did that make sense?)
I imagined him tougher - the quiet, sturdy pillar of the family, much the same way that he played Aragorn in the "Lord of the Rings" movies. Instead (in the movie) he was much more vulnerable than the manner I pictured.
The boy, too, is older than I think would have cast, but acts younger than he looks...

I didn't finish the movie. It was disappointing after the book.

I really don't want to give anything away here in case others are going to read it.
It IS an awesome book. Having never read anything by McCarthy before, this was a good introduction to his style of writing. It's gritty, visceral, emotionless and yet somehow touching.
The characters are familiar to you and the way they act is not without mistakes - too often they stumble (literally and figuratively) on their journey, almost dying several times. They are vulnerable and the danger is always quite present.

I think unlike "Treasure Island", which I think we agreed the characters might have been too typecast, the father (especially) in this book is quite human. He is scared but must act as if he is not; he makes mistakes that almost cost them everything; he sometimes gets frustrated and angry with his son - he is a father, after all.

The book also deals with some pretty heavy concepts- the topic of suicide is frequently brought up and confronted, as well as themes of sacrifice and the fine line between retaining one's humanity and personal survival. I already mentioned the cannibalism, but it is reintroduced frequent throughout their trip (a constant worry).

I think that the Road itself is a character in a way; it is temperamental, harsh, and cruel. It is the father and son's constant companion and source of frustration. At times it is amiable and permits quick travel, and other times it makes their journey impossible.
I think that it sets up two different conflicts within the book - between man and himself, which is represented by the dynamic between the boy and the father (the boy representing a bit of the superego, while the father struggles between all three: id, ego, and superego); and between man and his environment.
The roving gangs are not individual characters, but ambassadors for the Road. They personify It's cruelty and inhumanity, they have lost everything that makes them human and become all environment, despite their familiar appearance.

The topic of God is also (understandably) brought up. At times the father claims "there is no God", and others he is seen praying or blaming God for their situation. He even associates the boy with God at certain points, "If he [the boy] is not the word of God God never spoke".
But I believe the Road is also a stand-in for God. It is a challenge and it is taken on a degree of faith that there is relative safety upon reaching their destination. The Road provides rewards with one hand and punishes with the other. It is a test, without gaurantee of any benefit for attempting to walk the Road.
I think, perhaps, the book is a metaphor for the search for God.

... Which makes the ending all the more delicious.


But! I won't ruin it. Go read this book!!!

Big thumbs up from me, a riveting read.

hot iron

So the rest of the book pretty much lived up to my expectations - it wasn't bad. I had really hoped that there would be a final double-cross with Silver at the end; one of those top-of-the-cliff life or death decisions with Silver holding Jim before he is shot and killed by, say, the doctor.
But alas, 'twas not to be.

And yeah, what was up with the shortened ending? It's like - "so we left the island and sailed back home; Silver disappeared; and I never went back to Treasure Island again... The End."
Man... absolutely no retribution for Silver at all... weird.

Since Jim killed Hans, did anyone else feel like maybe he should have killed Silver too? I mean - pretend that the scenario that I just imagined had actually happened in the book. Hawkins killing Silver woulda been so much more debatable than the death of Hans; that was a life or death situation - kill or be killed. So it's "morally justifiable".
But killing Silver? That would have introduced a way different side to Jim. Maybe introducing the transition from plucky boy-hero into manhood; where things are not so black and white. Wouldn't that have been interesting???

I think so.

But blah blah blah - happily ever after ... All this needs is a heroine that Jim "gets" at the end, after the whole adventure and they can finally "be" together - sailing off into the sunset...

I liked the character of the doctor while he was treating the pirates, kinda smart-ass, kinda authoritarian. It perfectly fits the mental stereotype that I have of physicians today (which is now rooted in personal interactions with them...)


As far as further reading, I might have to step down a little... I really struggled to find time to read the end of this in time due to school, and if I'm not really into what we're reading then I'm probably not going to read it at all.
"Screwtape Letters" sounds... well, biased.
C.S. Lewis was quite outspoken about his beliefs. As far as discussion goes... what are we going to discuss? The nature of good and evil? Eventually it's going to boil down to a debate of self-determinism ("free-will") versus authoritarian directed influence - and I'm willing to bet that I know where that will go. To be honest, I'm not into having those discussions; it boils down to belief and that is inarguable when it comes to theistic concepts. Not that being inarguable is reason to not approach a subject, but I'd rather talk about something a bit more complex with less defined lines...
Like... the aid process in the developing world?
Like... exerting contorl over a culture for altruistic reasons?

If we're giving suggestions for books, I'd love to read Fahrenheit 451 by Ray Bradbury. Or how about Catcher in the Rye, in respect for J.D. Salinger's recent passing.

relax, don't do it

whoa! what happened?! all of the sudden it's been a week and i don't remember how it ended! oh wait! yes i do! i just found it to be sudden and anticlimactic.. maybe it was because i read the last half in one go, and that made it seem like one giant scene in which action was more or less a description of events in a past tense... or maybe it was because i had too many expectations for what i wanted to happen... or MAYBE i could feel the thickness of the book dwindling, and was more excited at that then the leavings of character's finality all over the page... OR PERHAPS i just wasn't eating spicy salsa with chips, taking away that physical excitement that i am experiencing right now, which i wasn't ... then.

however without my angst caused by literary boomlessness, i DID feel satisfied when it was over. i truly didn't want silver to be hung, or even tried. let alone marooned or killed. and nobody else i wanted to live died either, so that was a bonus which i'm not often given in these dramatic-tug-on-my-ensnared-heart days of drama. i may or may not have been a wee bit frustrated at jim's little solo adventure, but mainly because i tried to imagine it so furiously that it became real and scary and something i didn't ever want to experience. but that was purely a directional thing (shouldn't all boats just go straight?! conFOUNDED technology)... other than that. i dunno. i for sure enjoyed it, but didn't get a gratifying sense of accomplishment when finishing it. my inner sanctum of imagination (and it's populace) were not dressed to the teeth in pirate gear and raring to seek out some plunder, but a keen interest in big knives and muzzle loaders seemed to develop, which i do not condone but educationally allow. good pick glynis. good pick.

((is everyone good with 'the screwtape letters'? protest or proceed?))

Fin.

I finished Treasure Island pretty early on in January, and then read Enter a Murderer and finished Rebecca, so this final Treasure Island post might be a bit scattered. (Both of those books come highly recommended, by the way.)

I rather liked the ending. Even though Long John kept switching sides and lily-footing about. (I actually don't even know if "lily-footing" is the right word...but it conveys my meaning?) Which was a bit lame, seeing as until he was shown to be terrified constantly he was FREAKING AWESOME, and then he just became super nifty. It's a step down.

I'd like to know if it really is possible to man a schooner with just a maimed captain, cabin boy, doctor, pretty much useless squire, and one partially-able seaman. Did that seem far-fetched to anyone else? Or the part when Jim is sailing the boat to the North end of the island?

Speaking of Jim sailing the ship, it seemed a bit out of character when he killed Israel Hands and had zero regret. Granted, he'd been hardened by being on the island some and it was basically self-defence and Israel was a stinker: but still! He shoots him and pushes the other dead guy overboard and looks at their bodies for awhile and is all, "Whatever." What happened to the old, kind-hearted Jim? The one who was concerned for his mother, etc? It seemed a sudden and unprecedented change.

The end of the book was well done, I think. No dilly-dallying. They got off the island and Stevenson wrapped it up nicely.

Speaking of Stevenson, did you know that he died of a brain hemorrhage in the Samoan Islands?