BOOKS: The Road: Cormac McCarthy

Feb. 27—A National Public Radio critic noted that author Cormac McCarthy's novel, "The Road," is like a cross between the writings of Harlan Ellison and James Joyce.

It is a comparison still worth repeating all of these many years later because it remains appropriate. Even on a recent reread.

It serves as a reminder that a great writer can find literature no matter the genre. An argument that "serious" writers such as Michael Chabon and Colson Whitehead have made through a variety of novels for years.

McCarthy captures the horrific post-apocalyptic grit similar to Ellison's "A Boy and His Dog," while revealing fly-on-the-wall, realistic details similar to Joyce's approach to narrative.

It is a heady mix and its power builds as the pages turn. And "The Road" won the Pulitzer Prize.

A father and son have survived some unnamed, unknown cataclysmic event that has killed most animals, most humans and has signed a death knell to civilization. The man is haunted by the past he can recall. The boy has never known a world other than this charred earth.

They make their way along a road. They want to reach the sea, which is more of a reason for continuing, for living day to day, rather than a destination. The man knows that the sea will be as desolate as the road but the only other option is to lie down and die.

The man and boy face foul weather, starvation, abandoned towns, cannibals and thieves. The future is grim but they continue forward to a surprisingly emotional conclusion.

McCarthy makes a brilliant move by never giving his father and son names. They remain nameless. They are a man and a boy, and readers can stamp them with any identity they wish. Some readers may well imagine some man and boy whom they know in these heartbreaking roles.

"The Road" is a grim passage but it gives a fading hope that something good can exist and survive even in hellish circumstances. As the father warns the boy in this book: It often depends on what you let in and what you strive to keep out.