When one book leads to another

Photo by Timon Studler on Unsplash

I'd being thinking of stepping away from reading dystopian novels and reading something more cheerful. 

The news is gloomy enough, without the added horrors of The Handmaids Tale, The Hunger Games and The Stand. But I've been pulled back into that nightmarish genre by one person. Fran Hill.

A few weeks ago, I finished her novel,  Miss, What Does Incomprehensible Mean?

For those that haven't read it, it's a moving, funny and eye opening insight into a teacher's world. It goes right the way though from the tiny year sevens all the way to the fully grown year 13s. 

One of the books her students read, alongside the powerful and hard-hitting The Handmaids Tale, is Cormac McCarthy's The Road. I had heard of it before. Mainly from memes from the film showing up on people' tweets concerning WWIII or the impact of Brexit. But I'd never took the plunge and started reading it, until now. 

I'm only 18% of the way though the sample on my kindle app, so I can't comment much. It seems rather slow paced so far, which makes sense for a book about a boy and his son travelling by foot though a post- apocalyptic wasteland. 

Rebekah, one of the students in Fran's book, says this about McCarthy's style of writing 'McCarthy's writing is like poetry.' she said. 'Isn't it? So beautiful and - and sparse. Like - winter on the page.' This has got me thinking. What does she mean winter on the page? Is it a lack of adverbs or flowery description? Maybe the lack of speech marks? Interestingly, another dystopian book, the brilliant The Boy and His Dog at the End of the World, also doesn't have any speech marks. Was the author influenced by The Road or is it a thing used in this genre? As I reread my post about The Boy and His Dog, which I wrote in July 21, I noticed that I mentioned that although it's a grim book, it does have glimpses of light, as does Stephen King's The Stand. Something tells me, I'll struggle to find any light in this one, unless it's the love of father and son. 

The way this book is written is a huge contrast to Tolkien's writing in Lord of The Rings, which is like summer on the page. Full of life and vivid descriptions. Though I certainly hope there aren't vivid descriptions when it comes to the cannibalism, which I discovered features in The Road from one of the laugh out loud moments in Fran's book: 

Told people at Bible study about Rebekah's comment and how encouraged I'd been. 'Ooooh, I must read The Road if it's so beautiful.' Jean said. Probably should have mentioned the cannibalism and gore, but the moment had passed. I think she normally reads Catherine Cookson.

I admit, I have being guilty myself of writing a few VSS involving cannibalism, but always on the light-hearted side, which this certainly doesn't sound like. I read this passage today:

He raised his face to the paling day. Are you there? he whispered. Will I see you at last? Have you a neck by which to throttle you? Have you a heart? Damn you eternally have you a soul? Oh God, he whispered. Oh God. 

As I read, I couldn't help but think of the devastation that Rohingya refugees are dealing with as a result of the fire that destroyed their refugee camp in Bangladesh. This is probably how I would talk to God if I had another layer of misery poured upon me like they have. 

I don't yet know what disaster caused the misery in McCarthy's novel. The Guardian calls The Road one of the five best climate change novels. 

What I do know, is that it won't be an easy read. I'm morbidly curious as to the effect that it will have on me. A friend at church said that he cried all the way though the book. I don't know. I hope I'll be able to finish it and not find that I can't bare the bleakness and misery. 

I also don't know when I'll find time to read it. I've still barely began The Fellowship of the Ring. Frodo hasn't even entered the Prancing Pony. And I'm enjoying digging into Deborah Jenkins's novel Braver, so I've got plenty of reading to be getting on with.   

I'm loving Amy Scott Robinson's Lent Devotional images of grace too. A wonderful treat to read and ponder over breakfast. 

I'd love to hear if you've had one book leading to another or what you are reading right now. Let me know in the comments or on Facebook. 

May you always have a book by your side and a good friend to share about it with. 

Martin is a writer, baker, photographer and storyteller. He's been published in the ACW Christmas anthology and Lent devotional. He's currently honing his craft at flash fiction, and you can find him on Twitter here.