Cormac McCarthy

Chloe Moretz (Abby - Let Me In)

Recently I watched the movie The Road which was adapted from Cormac McCarthy's much loved and discussed novel.. It is set in post apocalyptic America and it is about a father and son struggling for survival on the road to a warmer place.  They are always trying to hide from the gangs of cannibals that roam the countryside.  Viggo Mortensen and Charlize Theron star while the child actor Kodi Smit-McPhee in this later went on to take the lead role in Let Me In.  Let Me In is a remake of the excellent Swedish movie Let the Right One In (Lat den ratte komma in). This is a horror movie about the friendship between a bullied boy and a girl vampire, really very good!

I was dreading watching the road as I'd heard the novel is very bleak but it wasn't as bad as I thought it would be.  There are a couple of quite disturbing scenes in the movie. 

Now I am reading Child of God by McCarthy.  It is about an awful character called Lester Ballard who goes around the countryside of Tennessee committing unspeakable acts.  I''ve found myself cringing yet I am unable to stop reading!  The novel is delivered is short direct passages which I like a lot and occasionally there is some lovely description:

He passed a dark lake of silent jade where the moss walls rose sheer and plumb and a small blue bird sat slant upon a guywire in the void. pg 26

Sometimes McCarthy delivers a one word or two word sentence.  I'm not finished the book yet but I'm wondering what the hell?  Is this really humanity?  I've become increasingly cynical anyway so maybe McCarthy has some answers for me!  And I feel quite stimulated mentally so maybe I need to read more challenging books this year.