jordan wilkerson

Haunting. I couldn't put this book down; McCarthy's stream-of-consciousness prose carries you right through page after page and the lack of chapter breaks makes it all the more engrossing. It's bleak, gray, and without much hope, much like the world the characters inhabit. One of my favorite things about this book is the painful little reminders that the current dying world is the only one the boy has ever known (like when they encounter the mounted deer head and the boy just stares at it, unsure what to make of it). I also love that the author refuses to clarify what happened that brought about the apocalypse, because it really doesn't matter. What matters is the man, his son, and the road. This is the second of McCarthy's novels I've read, and I can't wait to make Blood Meridian number three.