It's bleak for sure, but there's no overarching power structure that would lead me to call it dystopic. To me, it's more of a love story than anything; in that sense, I found it beautiful.
You'll fight, and you'll shag, and you'll hate each other till it makes you quiver, but you'll never be friends.
Spike ,'Sleeper'
Literary Buffistas 3: Don't Parse the Blurb, Dear.
There's more to life than watching Buffy the Vampire Slayer! No. Really, there is! Honestly! Here's a place for Buffistas to come and discuss what it is they're reading, their favorite authors and poets. "Geez. Crack a book sometime."
megan walker - Jul 09, 2011 9:20:16 pm PDT #15642 of 28297
"What kind of magical sunshine and lollipop world do you live in? Because you need to be medicated."-SFist
Kat - Jul 09, 2011 9:32:28 pm PDT #15643 of 28297
"I keep to a strict diet of ill-advised enthusiasm and heartfelt regret." Leigh Bardugo
Megan, you are absolutely right; dystopic is wrong. Post apocalpytic is more accurate. It's definitely a love story. I think it has the most beautiful vision of a father-son relationship. And definitely a parable. But, good lord, grim!
It reminds me of Winter's Bone which I read with similar speed and it left me thinking.
The relationship between father and son is breathtakingly beautiful. When McCarthy writes, "He knew only that the child was his warrant. He said: if he is not the word of God God never spoke" he is touching on that idea that for a parent, a child is a form of authorization of existence. But there is also the idea of warrant in the Chaucerian sense of someone who is obligated to provide protection. Here the child offers a form of protection, of motivation to live, for the father as well as being a token or a guarantee.
The writing is so spare and yet every detail is really powerful. So many images that I do not want to sit with me.
sumi - Jul 10, 2011 9:49:38 am PDT #15644 of 28297
Art Crawl!!!
I thought that The Road was a beautiful and bleak book. Definitely post apocalyptic.
Atropa - Jul 10, 2011 10:03:20 am PDT #15645 of 28297
The artist formerly associated with cupcakes.
I've started a new section over at Gothic Charm School, wherein I talk about what vampire books I personally recommend. I started out with Dracula, of course. [link]
I posted it on Friday, and I've got 33 comments already! I'm surprised and pleased about this. Now to decide which of my collection to re-read and recommend next. I'm thinking either Anno Dracula or Lost Souls.
Rayne - Jul 11, 2011 2:41:09 pm PDT #15646 of 28297
"Oh no! Has falling sky liquid once again caused you the sadness?" -Starfire
stares at the clock
Why does it feel like time is going backwards today? Isn't it midnight yet?
-t - Jul 11, 2011 3:09:20 pm PDT #15647 of 28297
I am a woman of various inclinations and only some of the time are they to burn everything down in frustration
I know, Rayne. Come on, passage of time, work with me a little!
sumi - Jul 11, 2011 4:03:57 pm PDT #15648 of 28297
Art Crawl!!!
Amazon finally updated the database: my book left Indiana at about 1:30 this afternoon.
le nubian - Jul 11, 2011 6:41:56 pm PDT #15649 of 28297
"And to be clear, I am the hell. And the high water."
Jessica - Jul 12, 2011 2:52:25 am PDT #15650 of 28297
And then Ortus came and said "It's Ortin' time" and they all Orted off into the sunset
I wouldn't call it spoilery - there aren't any plot points revealed that weren't basically things we already knew from Storm of Swords.
§ ita § - Jul 12, 2011 5:04:13 am PDT #15651 of 28297
Well not canonically, no, but this is transformative fiction.
It's spoilery for the TV show. It was originally linked to in Premium Cable.