latest read - The Road

The power of influence of the idiot box, also known as, the television:




There I was, one weekend, flipping from one channel to another and stopped on one featuring Oprah interviewing this rather old chap by the name of Cormac McCarthy.

Hmm...
Doesn't right a bell... Doesn't seem interesting enough...

Until she mentioned over and over again:

"First TV Interview Ever"

"Renowned Author"

"Recluse author sitting with me for a once-in-a-lifetime interview"

... again and again...

Watching and listening further, this camera-shy man, never once looking at the camera, with a low voice, one hand almost always covering part of his face, said that this book is dedicated to his son - the love of his life.

Before long, I was in a bookshop picking up the book!

Ah!
The power of influence of tv or more accurately, the power of influence of Oprah. If she runs for President, I'm sure she will win hands down.




The Road by Cormac McCarthy

I would not have thought twice about the man had it not been for Oprah.
Ahh, so he's the man who wrote "All the Pretty Horses" and "No Country for Old Men". Both adapted to movies and the movie from the latter won awards in the recent Golden Globe and Screen Actors Guild Awards.

I should have learnt my lesson from several of her recommended book which did not jive with my type of reading but she was so convincing with her enthusiasm. Thus I fell into the "trap", again! Dang!

But in hindsight, I suppose any book is good even if you do not enjoy reading it. There's always something to learn.

I cannot deny that his ability in describing in elaborate detail his take of post-apocalypse was very good.

I could actually see in my mind and feel the perpetual cold and fear, smoky, gray and barren landscape, as the man in the story and his son walked from one place to another, exploring potentials and putting hope when they so often find that hope are few and far between.


There were two things that I captured from this book:

One, we fear the things we don't know. So, we imagine the worst of everything when in fear. And once in fear, we react to the only way we know how - survival instinct.

And two, for the sake of love, we do extraordinary things, both good and bad. We ignore pain, we ignore our own suffering, we risk our lives and we can even bring ourselves to kill another with the believe to protect the ones we love.


So, yes, this is a love story - a father of his son.


Excerpt from the book:
Just remember that the things you put into your head are there forever, he said. You might want to think about that.

You forget some things, don't you?

Yes. You forget what you want to remember and you remember what you want to forget.


How ironic and how true...



Article from The Associated Press about Oprah's interview with Cormac McCarthy:
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Oprah Winfrey chooses 'The Road,' by reclusive author Cormac McCarthy
The Associated Press
Published: March 28, 2007

NEW YORK: Before Wednesday, few could have imagined the names "Oprah Winfrey" and "Cormac McCarthy" appearing in the same sentence.

McCarthy, one of the United States' most revered and press-shy authors — a man only slightly more accessible than J.D. Salinger — will give his first ever television interview, lured by Winfrey, publishing's biggest hit-maker and a media superstar.

Winfrey announced Wednesday on her TV talk show that McCarthy's "The Road" was her new book club pick.

"Mr. McCarthy respects her work, admires what she has accomplished, has an awareness of her book club, and thought it would be interesting to participate in the conversation with Oprah," McCarthy's publicist, Paul Bogaards of Alfred A. Knopf, told The Associated Press. "He knew who she was when she called."

In selecting "The Road," not only will Winfrey meet with an author who, according to Bogaards, has given just two interviews in the past 40 years, but she has taken on a novel with little of the uplifting spirit she often favors.

"The Road," published last September by Knopf, is a sparely written story of a father and son trying to survive as they wander through a burned, bare, post-nuclear landscape. Praised almost universally by reviewers, it was a finalist for the National Book Critics Circle prize and is considered a leading contender for the Pulitzer Prize.

"It's unlike anything I've ever chosen as a book club selection before because it's post-apocalyptic. (It is) very unusual for me to select this book, but it's fascinating," Winfrey said on her show.

McCarthy, 73, is known for novels such as "All the Pretty Horses" and "Blood Meridian," and has been widely cited as an heir to William Faulkner for his biblical prose and rural settings. He has been called too sentimental, but critic Harold Bloom, famous for his discernment, regards McCarthy as one of the greatest living American writers, along with Don DeLillo, Philip Roth and Thomas Pynchon.

"That shows good taste on her part," Bloom said of Winfrey's choice.

Winfrey has taken on harsher stories before, such as Elie Wiesel's Holocaust classic, "Night," and, notoriously, James Frey's "A Million Little Pieces," a memoir of addiction and recovery that turned out to be largely fabricated.

In the coming weeks, the reclusive McCarthy, who did not appear on Wednesday's show and who lives in New Mexico, will conduct his "first television interview ever," Winfrey said.

"It's a bit of a surprise, but a wonderful surprise," McCarthy's editor, Knopf president Sonny Mehta, told the AP. "This is good news for those of us who have been in the Cormac McCarthy business for a very long time."

"The Road" is one of McCarthy's most popular books, spending several weeks on numerous best seller lists. According to Nielsen BookScan, which tracks about 70 percent of industry sales, it has sold 138,000 copies in hardcover in the United States. Thanks to Winfrey, that total should increase by hundreds of thousands. A paperback was not planned until September, but Vintage Books, understandably, is publishing one now, with a massive first printing of 950,000 copies.

"It's going to be a big year for Cormac," said Mehta, noting the planned release later this year of the Coen brothers film, "No Country for Old Men," based on the McCarthy novel of the same name.

Winfrey's choice also marks the first time in five years that she has picked a work of contemporary fiction. In 2002, she suspended the club for a year and revived it with an emphasis on "classics," such as John Steinbeck's "East of Eden" and Faulkner's "As I Lay Dying." Her pick before McCarthy was Sidney Poitier's memoir, "The Measure of a Man."

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Associated Press writer Megan Reichgott contributed to this story from Chicago.
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