RHC 2016: Dystopian or Post-Apocalyptic Novel/Book and its Movie Adaptation

My plan is to double up on some of the tasks for the Read Harder Challenge this year, particularly because it’s my first year doing anything like this and I want to make sure I complete as many tasks as I can. Not to mention, the rules state you can do so…so there! For my second RHC book, I read The Road by Cormac McCarthy to complete both the dystopian/post-apocalyptic task and the task of reading a book and watching its movie adaptation. The Road has been on my TBR list for a while and I’m glad I finally got around to it.

I had read reviews of the book telling of its heartbreaking nature, and those folks weren’t lying. I had tears in my eyes a few times with both the book and the movie. McCarthy’s characters, a father and son duo, have only each other while navigating the world after an unknown disaster has destroyed nearly everything. They brave the elements together and face not only bitter cold and smog, but also the “bad guys” who have turned to cannibalism to survive. Even though the story can be dark and depressing, you can feel the love between the man and his boy. It’s hard not to imagine how you’d cope in the same situation with your own loved ones, questioning whether it’s better to continue surviving or succumb to death.

The movie, of the same title, was very true to the book. There was a bit of reordering, added flourishes, and deletions as Hollywood tends to do, but it really didn’t change the story. I only recognized one actor in the film, but the casting was great. I think the movie was more suspenseful (even though I already knew what was going to happen, since I watched it after reading the book). But I can honestly say that this was not a case of one medium being better than the other. I usually prefer one over the other, but I think that the book and movie were so similar and well-written this time that I can’t really choose one. I’d heard many people sing McCarthy’s praises and now I know why. He is a great writer, and I would definitely read more of his novels.

Other books I considered for the dystopian/post-apocalyptic task: Gold Fame Citrus by Claire Vaye Watkins, Thirst by Benjamin Warner

Other books I considered for the movie adaptation task: Wild by Cheryl Strayed, What’s Eating Gilbert Grape by Peter Hedges, Me Before You by JoJo Moyes, Girl on the Train by Paula Hawkins, Billy Lynn’s Long Halftime Walk by Ben Fountain, Fantastic Beasts and Where to Find Them by Newt Scamander (JK Rowling)

*You can find the editable form for the Read Harder Challenge (like the one I used above) at this link. I’ve also found good suggestions for each task on the Goodreads group for the challenge.