Comments on: Eric Recommends: ‘The Road’ http://www.ericdsnider.com/blog/2007/08/16/eric-recommends-the-road/ Eric D. Snider's blog. Mon, 01 Dec 2008 17:49:57 +0000 http://wordpress.org/?v=2.6.3 By: John http://www.ericdsnider.com/blog/2007/08/16/eric-recommends-the-road/#comment-53488 John Fri, 17 Aug 2007 01:25:36 +0000 http://www.ericdsnider.com/blog/2007/08/16/eric-recommends-the-road/#comment-53488 Here we go: http://news.ansible.co.uk/a240.html#leguin Here we go:

http://news.ansible.co.uk/a240.html#leguin

]]> By: John http://www.ericdsnider.com/blog/2007/08/16/eric-recommends-the-road/#comment-53487 John Fri, 17 Aug 2007 01:21:45 +0000 http://www.ericdsnider.com/blog/2007/08/16/eric-recommends-the-road/#comment-53487 Yeah, the book -is- SF, just not the SciFi kind of SF. Ursula LeGuin published a very funny essay recently on the horror the literary elite have towards "genre" fiction. "On Serious Literature", I think it's called. Yeah, the book -is- SF, just not the SciFi kind of SF.
Ursula LeGuin published a very funny essay recently on the horror the literary elite have towards “genre” fiction.

“On Serious Literature”, I think it’s called.

]]> By: Slash http://www.ericdsnider.com/blog/2007/08/16/eric-recommends-the-road/#comment-53459 Slash Thu, 16 Aug 2007 22:16:32 +0000 http://www.ericdsnider.com/blog/2007/08/16/eric-recommends-the-road/#comment-53459 Eric: that's exactly why they started using that term. Science fiction has too much lasers and robots baggage. A well written story about a possible future doesn't need any of that. Tammy: That's part of the appeal, I think. There is that feeling of inevitability to the world. Canned food runs out. Humanity is over. Eric: that’s exactly why they started using that term. Science fiction has too much lasers and robots baggage. A well written story about a possible future doesn’t need any of that.

Tammy: That’s part of the appeal, I think. There is that feeling of inevitability to the world. Canned food runs out. Humanity is over.

]]> By: Eric D. Snider http://www.ericdsnider.com/blog/2007/08/16/eric-recommends-the-road/#comment-53451 Eric D. Snider Thu, 16 Aug 2007 20:54:25 +0000 http://www.ericdsnider.com/blog/2007/08/16/eric-recommends-the-road/#comment-53451 Slash: Speculative fiction is probably a good description of the book. I wouldn't say "science-fiction" because it doesn't have any science in it. In fact, he goes out of his way NOT to talk about the science-y stuff (e.g., what happened to the world). Tammy: Almost all of the humans were dead, too. Some animals probably survived, but not very many, and with all of their food sources gone, they wouldn't have lasted long. The humans only managed because they could find old reserves of canned goods to survive on. Slash: Speculative fiction is probably a good description of the book. I wouldn’t say “science-fiction” because it doesn’t have any science in it. In fact, he goes out of his way NOT to talk about the science-y stuff (e.g., what happened to the world).

Tammy: Almost all of the humans were dead, too. Some animals probably survived, but not very many, and with all of their food sources gone, they wouldn’t have lasted long. The humans only managed because they could find old reserves of canned goods to survive on.

]]> By: Tammy http://www.ericdsnider.com/blog/2007/08/16/eric-recommends-the-road/#comment-53446 Tammy Thu, 16 Aug 2007 20:38:03 +0000 http://www.ericdsnider.com/blog/2007/08/16/eric-recommends-the-road/#comment-53446 As I read this book I kept noticing how beautiful his writing was. Phrase after phrase, I would admire how he put his words together. Eventually I realized that that was all I was noticing. The writing was wonderful, but the story just wasn't there. The boy didn't feel real. He was too perfect, too innocent for the world he grew up in. I guess it is considered part of the brilliance of the book that McCarthy didn't explain anything about the world it was set in, but didn't anyone wonder how all the animals could be dead but the humans were still alive? As I read this book I kept noticing how beautiful his writing was. Phrase after phrase, I would admire how he put his words together. Eventually I realized that that was all I was noticing. The writing was wonderful, but the story just wasn’t there. The boy didn’t feel real. He was too perfect, too innocent for the world he grew up in. I guess it is considered part of the brilliance of the book that McCarthy didn’t explain anything about the world it was set in, but didn’t anyone wonder how all the animals could be dead but the humans were still alive?

]]> By: Slash http://www.ericdsnider.com/blog/2007/08/16/eric-recommends-the-road/#comment-53440 Slash Thu, 16 Aug 2007 20:13:21 +0000 http://www.ericdsnider.com/blog/2007/08/16/eric-recommends-the-road/#comment-53440 It is a brilliant book. And while it is not what people think of as 'science fiction', it is in fact what is commonly called 'speculative fiction'. Which is the fancy new term for what well written sci fi has turned into. It is a brilliant book.

And while it is not what people think of as ’science fiction’, it is in fact what is commonly called ’speculative fiction’. Which is the fancy new term for what well written sci fi has turned into.

]]> By: Winslow http://www.ericdsnider.com/blog/2007/08/16/eric-recommends-the-road/#comment-53345 Winslow Thu, 16 Aug 2007 13:05:10 +0000 http://www.ericdsnider.com/blog/2007/08/16/eric-recommends-the-road/#comment-53345 I loved this book too. I felt it for weeks after I finished it. I loved this book too. I felt it for weeks after I finished it.

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