On The Road, Again
July 10, 2009 8:38am
After my previous post about Cormac McCarthy’s The Road, my friend Matt directed me to the trailer for the upcoming film adaptation:
Holy Simultaneously Grim and Necro, Batman.
That aside, a certain shot caught my eye:
That’s actual Katrina footage, dirtied up a bit to fit the über-post-apocalyptic setting of The Road. You can see the New Orleans skyline in the background, and that clump of boats behind the two larger ones are boats my company insures. I’m not exactly sure just where in Plaquemines Parish that picture was taken, but it’s definitely here. I’m inclined to think it’s the south side of the Gen DeGaulle bridge, but I’m not sure.
These boats, the Sea Wolf and the Sea Falcon, are part of the Menhaden fleet and I found a number of pictures of them on the NOAA’s National Weather Service (NWS) Collection Catalog of Images. Here’s a shot of them, from a slightly different angle:
Small world.
Tags: Cormac McCarthy, Hurricane Katrina, New Orleans, The Road
Posted in English Lit., NOLA
The Road is a be-a-itch my friend
June 29, 2009 5:04pm
For my birthday, Bea’s Mom got me a copy of Cormac McCarthy’s The Road.
It had been recommended to me, but with the caveat that it was quite dark, and could very well leave one depressed. Knowing my tastes and penchant for post-apocalyptic fiction (can we go ahead and just call it speculative fiction? ;) ), they felt that it was nonetheless a solid suggestion. I have to say, they were partially right.
The basic gist of the story is that a man and his son are survivors of what we can assume is something akin to a nuclear winter. It is indeed dark and dreary, and I will freely admit that I enjoyed going outside and enjoying the warmth of the sun on my face. Later, I talked to Jeremy and gave him my thoughts on the unfortunately short (~250 pg) book. I see where he might have been depressed, but I think I extracted a wholly different sentiment. For me, while the scenario and ordeals were horrible, it was the absolute and unending dedication of the man to his son’s well-being that affected me the most. It is the man’s sheer unwillingness to accept defeat in order to protect another and “keep the light” that I find uplifting.
This book is at times sad, harsh, and utterly bleak, and it is in these situations that the absolute best and worst of man is brought to light. The resounding message for me is that there are those that when faced with it, will keep putting one foot in front of the other because it’s just what has to be done.
