[MissLadyLoki]

Originally Posted by Zombie

Yar, 'zactly. He doesn't explain how the apocalypse thing happened, because it doesn't really matter - it happened and the man and the boy have to deal with it. Were something similar to happen to us, I don't think we'd have all the details at our disposal immediately, if at all, especially if it happened to the same degree as it does in the book. Hard to get reliable info when the world is mostly dead. No radio, no TV, no newspaper.

Also, the re: the dialogue - we have to remember that the boy is just that - a boy. He's very young, and he's in an impossible situation. Not much room for learning how to be a sparkling conversationalist or how to be more articulate. I think the man and the boy's dialogue is pretty spot-on - they communicate in basics, because basics are what they need to survive.

McCarthy has a gift for apt dialogue - check out exchanges in No Country for Old Men, Blood Meridian, Child of God, any of the Border books, etc. All the dialogue styles fit the situations the characters are in, whether they're uneducated, degenerate hill folk in Appalachia or sly Texas lawmen.

McCarthy is definitely not for everyone, but hearing his writing put down like that makes me sad panda.

I'm sorry, but that was my thoughts when I tried to read The Road. it was just something I'd never seen before and it struck me as being very odd.