Yeah, so I've read 150 pages so far. Here we go. Also, spoilers.
- About forty pages in I was right on the edge of getting tired of the book. Yeah, yeah it seems early but at that point I wasn't sure how the rest of the book was going to go. Forty pages in, it seemed like it could be 280 pages of a guy and his son just bumming around and being hungry and miserable. And yeah, sure, that sort of is what the book is so far, but they do run into other people and other stuff happens, it's not just bumming.
- So yeah, the timing of running into others was just about perfect, nice work Cormac. Dragging out that brooding mood setting stuff before jumping into the action
- For some reason I really like the guy who was struck by lighting. Or maybe more accurately I liked the scene with him. It's hard to say how I'd feel about him, as his character wasn't really fleshed out too much.
- Speaking of him, was he actually struck by lighting? I got the sense that the guy (it's annoying not having a name to say) was lying to his son, trying to protect him from something but 1. I'm not sure what would make a person look like they were stuck by lighting (I mean, besides like a nuclear explosion or whatever caused this apocalypse) but 2. why say it was lighting when it was clearly something pretty bad? Like, what are you hiding by saying it was lighting, how is that any better than whatever really happened. Maybe he wasn't lying and I just read it wrong. That's a real possibility.
- I like that we never (or at least haven't yet) gotten names for either of them. It makes it much more ominous and eerie. It also sort of emphasizes the whole "it doesn't matter who you were, all that matters is what you do now" thing that most apocalypse stories seem to mention a few times. But it does it in a much more subtle and less in your face way than many stories. And fits with the general vibe of the story, more on that later.
- That flashback scene with the boy's mother (and presumably the man's wife/lover) was surprisingly brutal. I don't really know why, it's sort of a cliche apocalypse story line (person driven to suicide), but it felt brutal, sudden, and dramatic, maybe because the rest of the book is a bit more laid back and reflective vs. the constant brutality of many apocalyptic stories, so it stood out more to me? Who knows.
- What was the apocalypse here? My mind keeps saying nukes, but I don't know if that's because someone (possibly the annoyingly talkative lady at the bookstore) mentioned it when talking about the book, or if my mind just is assuming that. It could also be some sort of natural disaster or something, maybe the book will end with a big "save the earth or we'll all end up as cannibals who get struck by lightning" moment.
- I'm new to Cormac McCarthy's punctuation rules, and they're weird. I can sort of understand the "let's not use quotation marks" thing, it gives the story a more "in the mind" feel, like, when you're living like this guy and his son are, you live internally, in your head, not externally. The lack of quotation marks makes it seem more stream of conscious, I kind of like it. It's weird, but it works. It also makes it seem more like pretentious literature, which I of course love.
- But what's with his apostrophe rules? "I'm" and "I'd" and those have apostrophes, but "won't" and "doesn't" becomes "wont" and "doesnt." Why are those different? Does it add anything? I could understand not having any just to be pretentious, but doing it inconsistently seems weird.
Those are all the thoughts that come to mind immediately, Im sure Ive forgotten some pretty huge things and Im sure Ill almost forget to include them in my next update. If everything goes according to plan I should finish by Thursday of this week, which means in all likelihood I will finish by Thursday of next week. Until then, stay tuned.
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