Today's @LitBooth was written and contributed by @Banuel
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TITLE: The Road
AUTHOR: Cormac McCarthy
Set in a barren post-apocalyptic landscape, this novel follows the journey of an unnamed father and his son as they travel down 'the road' to try and find some kind of salvation and avoid the perils of exposure, starvation and violence.
To start with, let me say that I could not recommend this book highly enough. The notion of a post-apocalyptic novel is not a new one to me; I have indulged in Day of the Triffids, War of the Worlds and Cell to name but a few. However in all of these novels the focal point is the event that caused the downfall of humanity and the struggle to overcome this. In "The Road" the apocalypse event is unnamed and irrelevant. The poignancy is instead focused on the character's survival completely segregated from the event that led to their fate. Stephen King's epic masterpiece "The Stand" is the closest comparison I could offer, but at just over 300 pages opposed to The Stand's 1500+, this is a much easier and digestible read. That is not to say, however, that it achieves any less of an impact.
The Road paints the most desolate and soulless landscape imaginable which is further aggrandised by the anonymous characters that are followed. The anonymity of the man and the boy, as they are solely referred to, does not deny or detract from feeling a connection with the characters and even with the world that they live in, as monochrome and monotone as it may be described.
In fact I have a great deal of admiration for the way that McCarthy has written the novel. The sentences and paragraphs are very short and sharp and although this may allude to a lack of description, not only does he manage to be succinct and poetically pictorial but the blunt writing style fits in with the inhospitable and reticent setting.
It is not often that a novel can draw me into such a vivid world, especially one so despondent and despairing. There are moments of absolute unexpected horror, yet throughout McCarthy somehow manages to keep a positive undercurrent. You desperately wish the man and boy to make it to some form of safety although they are constantly on the verge or death.
I never expected so much emotion and impact from 'The Road' and I would advocate its purchase. I fear that my poor literacy skills do not do justice to the beauty and quality of writing in this book. To conclude here is one of my favourite excerpts:
"The ashes of the late world carried on the bleak and temporal winds to and fro in the void. Carried forth and scattered and carried forth again. Everything uncoupled from its shoring. Unsupported in the ashen air. Sustained by a breath, trembling and brief. If only my heart were stone."
Today's contibution comes from @JoyAndIceCream. I understand this to be a particularly popular book, so it will be interesting to hear people's thoughts.
Don't forget to submit your own reviews to litbooth[at]gmail.com.
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TITLE: The Host
AUTHOR: Stephanie Meyer
The earth has been taken over by 'souls' who implant themselves in humans bodies. There only so many true human survivors left.
Melanie Stryder's body gets taken over by 'Wanderer' but shes not ready to give up without a fight. Their two emotions and desires start to merge into one and they form a strange but heartbreaking friendship.
Personally I found this book's description and dialogue to be more emotion evoking than the twilight series. It managed to describe all types of love without sounding too much like a fairytale or teen angst novel.
This @LitBooth was contributed by @SeeKay
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TITLE: Crime and Punishment
AUTHOR: Fyodor Dostoyevsky
For many who have yet to pick up this book and thumb its 400+ pages, the words ‘Crime and Punishment’ are likely to evoke feelings of trepidation and tedium, but I wish ardently to implore you to cast side such unwarranted preconceptions and give this wonderful book a chance.
In short the story follows the trials and travails of a young but unstable student as he plans and executes the murder of an elderly usurer. As we progress through the book we see a once bright scholar deteriorate, weaken and become unstable beneath the weight of his guilt and an unbridled paranoia at one day being caught and castigated for his heinous crime.
On the surface this can appear as though merely a typical if detailed murder mystery, but you would be wrong to take this book merely at face value; for beneath the subtle superficiality of the plot exists a complicated and thrilling web of philosophical thought.
This is perhaps most evident in the form of utilitarianism, nihilism and rationalism: seen through the protagonist’s persistent despair in trying to expiate his wrongdoing by contemplating the circumstances under which murdering someone who damages the lives of others can be deemed justifiable, and what the implications might be of exploiting in this fashion man’s fundamental right to freedom by rejecting the order and security afforded by said society; and from all of this more characteristically Kafkian notions of isolation and alienation.
Without wishing to give too much away, the ending is one in which theological symbolism suddenly comes to the fore, and does so in a manner so inescapably overt as to situate itself in a stark and uneasy discord with the philosophies of the book’s preceding sections.
Besides this slight and unexpected anticlimax, the book is otherwise masterfully written and a thoroughly captivating read.
Our first ever @LitBooth contribution comes from @KelseyFails.
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TITLE: The Last Song
AUTHOR: Nicholas Sparks
"[This] was such a fantastic novel. A surly teenager is forced to spend the summer with her father, who she hasn't spoken to in three years. At the outset of the novel, Ronnie is sure that this summer will only be the worst of her life, but she meets someone new, mends a broken relationship, and becomes herself once again."
Welcome to LitBooth, a place for you to escape down the rabbit hole of literary wonderment, put your feet up and indulge in the comfort of the oldest of friends: the humble book.
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