SOPHIE’S LIBRARY: Book vs. Movie
 Jordan Parker

The Road
Written by Cormac McCarthy

Imagine a post-apocalyptic world where some kind of monstrous catastrophe has devastated the land, leaving it without warmth with very few living things left. There is no electricity, no vegetation, no order, and no safety. This is the horrifying setting of Cormac McCarthy’s tale, The Road.

A tale of courage, terror, and hope, a father and son travel through this barren land that was once their home, headed towards the ocean where they hope to find safety and some sort of salvation. On their journey, they must scavenge for food in order to survive and must trust no one, as even fellow human beings have turned into predators in search of prey.

What makes this story so eerie is that the reader has no knowledge of the characters’ actual names — (known only as “Father” and “Son”) — what city they’re in, how old they are, or how long the earth has been this way. The lack of details gives the story a ghostly simplicity. McCarthy keeps the story in the present tense with a lot of dialogue, which made me feel as if I was actually there watching as the father does everything in his power to protect his son. McCarthy writes about violence, despair, and desperation in such a convincing way that it makes you wonder how you would act in this kind of traumatizing situation.

If you’re in for a gripping story that keeps you on the edge of your seat, this is the book for you. I was constantly wondering what was going to happen next, scared yet enthralled at every plot twist. It’s the ultimate survival story, but it is also a moving tale of unconditional love and hope.


The Road
Directed by John Hillcoat

John Hillcoat’s adaptation of The Road closely resembles the book. It is filmed in a way that provides an unobstructed sense of place, a place which is horrifying to imagine but provides viewers with a deep reflection on the two nearly hopeless protagonists — a father and his son.

Hillcoat’s directing captures the characters’ lingering human spirit and films in a way that is sparse yet poetic in vision. Since the book relies so much on dialogue, I was expecting the film to have huge explosions and hyped-up action sequences to vamp up the story a bit, but thankfully, it did not. Instead, it pays close attention to the connection and communication between father and son, played by actors Viggo Mortensen and Kodi Smit-McPhee. Both actors do a brilliant job portraying survivors who wake up to desperation and fear each day.

What was a bit different from the book was the movie’s take on what happened to the boy’s mother. Throughout the film, the father has flashbacks to when his wife still lived with them. The flashbacks are well done and help you understand how the father is dealing with the loss of his wife and the mother of his son. This fills in the gaps of how their family fell apart, and an added detail I was glad the movie included.

Being such a powerful book, it translated very well into a film, adapting Cormac McCarthy’s tale of despair and courage with great delicacy and care. No matter which you choose — to read the book, see the movie, or do both — it’s a story worth experiencing.

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