The Road (book and soon to be film)

[Sole Man]

The Big Lebowky is one of my favorites.

That's becuase yu periodically think you are the dude, don't you?

[GamePlayer]

Damn, it's the end of the day and I'm about to take off again. I promise I'll reply Drunken Idaho. Just got really busy at work today

Who are the Cohens?

Leonard and Sacha

[GamePlayer]

Anyway, let's not get derailed. I wanted to get your thoughts on the dude in the end who asked the boy to come with him. Did you get the feeling that he had been tracking them for a long time? He seemed to suggest that he knew how far they had traveled ("I don't know how you even made it this far..." and also "there was some debate as to whether to help you or not"). I started thinking about this, and I remembered back in the middle of the book when The Man talked about dark nights in the woods where he'd seen a distant, indistinguishable glow. Remember that? Maybe it was the dude checking in on them periodically.

Also, why don't we discuss what we think caused all the devastation? the novel never explicitly says (yet somehow makes it abundantly clear) that there was some nuclear catastrophe. But if you consider the way everything became burned, and the lack of radiation poisoning, then it makes you doubt it. Any thoughts?

I must admit, I never got the idea that they were being followed, except when they came across others. If the boy's new guardian at the end was indeed following they man and the boy all along, the text didn't seem to foreshadow it in many ways. I'm also unsure why they would be trailing them in the first place; what would the motive be? And what of their own supplies and need for shelter. The man and the boy stopped numerous times and even through weather/terrain where they themselves couldn't figure out what was ahead or behind.

Personally, I'm going to stick random chance to describe the final encounter at the end of the book. Or maybe not so random, since the man did indeed say that the boy always was lucky

The description of the post-apocalyptic world does seem to suggest some kind of nuclear war or asteroid(s) impact. It would need to be some kind of event that hurled a lot of particulate matter into the atmosphere for it to still be raining ash after all that time had passed. Though the book never states what is wrong, I thought the man was dying of radiation poisoning. Unless it was some other calamity that was afflicting his body. But the description of the post-apocalyptic world and the fact that they never go into any major settlements means the man is likely aware of the radiation dangers.

[Drunken Idaho]

I got the feeling that the man in the end had been tracking them for some time, perhaps with resources that we don't see. I dunno, I just figured there ought to be more to the glow in the dark that The Man spots earlier on.

the occasional earthquakes also hint at some type of asteroid impact. Like the earth is changing/readjusting due to some large cataclysm. Then again, it could have been a series of bombs that caused that. Some kind of mega-bomb-to-end-all-bombs that McCarthy made up? I'm reminded of a sweet Einstein quote that I'll paraphrase for you:

"I don't know what kinds of weapons will be used in World War 3, but World War 4 will be fought with sticks and stones."

Oh, and has anyone seen the OFFICIAL MOVIE POSTER YET??? Here it is:

[Omphalos]

I got the feeling that htey were being followed. At the part of the book where they came across the portion of the road where human bodies were melted into the madacam, IIRC the man said to his son that he thought they were being followed. I think it was only mentioned that once, but in the end once the man died the other man came out of nowhere. I thought that it was that person, and since the boy was alone, he chose that moment to scoop him up.

[GamePlayer]

I do remember some passages that give the sense they were being followed, but I thought those particular instances were meant to be part of the same people they encountered before. Like the caravan earlier in the book and the one who stole the cart later in the book. But then again, maybe the vague mention of being followed is the point; to give the reader the indication that the man and the boy thought they might be followed, but weren't skilled enough to evade or discover their followers.

Well, when I read it again, and I definitely will since it's such a great book, I'm going to need to keep this point in mind.

I'm not sure how to determine the apocalyptic event. It could be something nuclear or not. But it's really like trying to determine the year. Those details aren't really necessary to the story. Naturally, I'd like to know the answer since I'm so enthralled by the story, but the book is quite vague in the description of those aspects of the fictional world.

Nice cover Drunken Idaho
I saw this one at the bookstore the other day (obviously from the movie):

[Mandy]

A couple years ago Oprah's book club featured The Road (I know, Oprah sucks ) Anyway, a few of his colleagues from Santa Fe Institute discussed the themes of the book, including what might have caused the catastrophe. It's an interesting read, just pretend like you're not on Oprah's website!

http://www.oprah.com/article/oprahsbook ... hemes_01/1