Reading: The Road pages 1-35

    The book I began reading is called The Road, and the author of this book is Cormac McCarthy. Right off the bat on page 1 the book begins in the story of a father and son traveling across post apocalyptic America to the South so they can survive the harsh winter. In this time, everything is covered in a gloomy gray ash which falls from the sky and coats everything. The man and the boy rely on their surroundings for survival because almost everything is destroyed, and the only way to gain supplies and food is by scavenging it off of anything one can find. The reasoning of how the world became the way it is in this time is not given in the beginning of the book which gives the reader a sense of mystery and eeriness.
   As the story progresses, the understanding of the action occurring becomes more clear. The road in essence is their route to survival. In this books case it could be compared to a metaphorical "Yellow Brick Road" as in The Wizard of Oz; however, although the father and boy know the direction to take, they do not know what lies ahead of them in their path. Along with the concept of the road, the relationship between the father and boy becomes evident as the story continues. The boy acts as the fathers beacon of hope, for without him the father would have no hope to survive. The father's selflessness towards his boy is evident when he finds an old Coca Cola can in a vending machine and gives it to his son because he wants his boy to enjoy the moment since he will probably never again taste a soda.
        Throughout pages 1-34, the main struggle that the father and son must face is the weather. The skies are murky with a combination of gray ash and snow. The temperatures are extremely cold and the only supplies that the father and son have to prevent them from the extremities is a a few blankets, a tarp, and some feeble make-shift snowshoes. Most people would breakdown in these conditions, but the maturity and determination of both the boy and the father is portrayed during these times for neither the father nor boy complain once about their struggle.
      This book has already greatly caught my attention, and to be honest if I didn't have to stop to write this post I'd still be reading it. The book is creatively put together in a series of separated paragraph sections which tends to skip a period of time when a new section begins. However, this setup can be somewhat challenging sometimes to piece together because there is also an occasional flashback that the reader must intemperate. Along with the setup, the vocabulary that Cormac McCarthy uses does cause me some struggles in some areas, but the book overall isn't too hard to comprehend. I feel as though the book causes a sense a guilt on me for all the things I take advantage of because of how easily they are available. Reading about how this father and son have to scavenge for everything they have really makes me think twice about all the things I have and how easily I could lose it all. Overall, this book appears to be a great read and I can't wait to see where this story ends up going.