The Road.

[mazolaman]

Just reading the post about the Hemmingway novels,which are all a fatastic read.

I read the road a while ago,and it struck me as being written in a similar style,sparse,with not a wasted word,yet beautifully descriptive and atmospheric.

The film is a poor second,the book is brilliant,if depressing...!

After some unexplained apocolypse,the sun no longer shines and society has disintergrated,leaving a free for all,where canibalism is rife,and survival is a fight.

Written in the third person,regarding the struggle of a man and his son,born after the apocolypse.They try to reach the southern coast,where they hope salvation lies.

At times grim as hell,but also very moving,and gripping.

beautifully written.

[CigarmanTim]

A good read. Disturbing at times

[jquest63]

Agreed, a well written journey. Epic search for "home". Also, recommend Homer's Odyssey.

[MIKA27]

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I love Homer's Odyssey. Some might not know that the film "Oh Brother, Where Art Thou?" is based around the "Odyssey". Loved the book & loved the film. The Cohen Bros are absolute legends IMHO. I re-read the book after seeing "Oh Brother...", and enjoyed it even more.

Here's a snippet from the Wikipedia article about the film:

Similarities between the film and The Odyssey

The opening credits quote from a translation of The Odyssey by Homer. The similarities between O Brother, Where Art Thou? and The Odyssey are numerous, ranging from the obvious to the obscure. While the Coens did not originally intend to base the film on Homer's epic, Joel Coen has been quoted as saying:

“ It just sort of occurred to us after we’d gotten into it somewhat that it was a story about someone going home, and sort of episodic in nature, and it kind of evolved into that. It’s very loosely and very sort of unseriously based on The Odyssey. ”

While the overall plot is only vaguely similar to that of the Odyssey, there are certain "episodes" that closely mirror the poem's classical influence.

If anyone's interested, here's a link to the article where most of the similarities between the book & the film are listed:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/O_Brother,_Where_Art_Thou%3F

Thanks mate, I'll check the link out next time I head out with a stogie and my iPad.

I agree, the Cohen brothers are indeed movie legends, anything they touch is gold!

[dicko]

I really enjoyed the film, will chase down the book. cheers

[mazolaman]

Nice one Dicko,it's well worth finding the book.

Bloody gut wrenching at times.

[Wiley]

Oh lord, was this movie depressing as hell. Really, sleep depriving. Good, yet terrible.

[bstarrs]

I actually read this book the first time I was in Cuba. Got hooked into it on the plane and was done by the time I got back to Canada. One of my favorite books, very engaging and emotional story. The movie was a pretty good representation of the book, at least as good as I think it could get.

[aglanixp]

I read this a few weeks ago after I had seen the movie. I though both were great in their own way.

I think that if you enjoy one, you will at least like the other.

I also saw the film based on "the sunset limited". Man there was some great dialogue in that movie.

I can see how that would have been a great play to see.

His books are great in general.