The recently deceased Cormac McCarthy’s novel, “The Road”, is heralded as the best parenting book ever written due to its enduring relevance and intense depiction of parental love and bravery amidst a catastrophe. The author relates her own experiences of surviving Hurricane Katrina, which informed her parenting approach, focusing on physical resilience and preparedness, aligning closely with the themes in McCarthy’s novel.
Key Points:
- “The Road” by Cormac McCarthy, although a post-apocalyptic novel, is revered for its deep exploration of parenthood under the most challenging circumstances.
- The author draws parallels between her personal experiences during Hurricane Katrina, where she confronted the limitations of civic infrastructure, and the journey of the father and son in McCarthy’s novel.
- Despite focusing on physical resilience and survival skills in her own parenting approach, the author recognizes that the core of the book lies in the emotional work of survival – maintaining an emotional baseline of determined love.
- The novel is regarded as an unconventional guide to parenting, focusing on the emotional work of being loving and brave while fearing for one’s life.
- The author believes that McCarthy’s narrative is essential as it resists the typical narrative of heroic individualism and instead emphasizes shared survival and emotional resilience.
Source: https://www.thecut.com/2023/06/cormac-mccarthy-the-road-is-a-parenting-book.html
