The Road; An Astonishing Tale of Humanity in Ruins
“A capacity and taste for reading gives access to whatever has already been discovered by others.” - Abraham Lincoln
We talk about celebs, sports, technology, style but how will we know all of these if we don’t read, reading gives us an insight to life. Every Monday I will be writing a book review about different books from different genres. I would really appreciate suggestions of books you think I should read and I promise that if it is available I will read it and write about it.
The Road revolves around a journey a father and his son have to take across burnt America to reach the coast, the dangers they face, the weaknesses they overcome and the pain they go through. The road teaches us how important bonds are and how the animal instinct of all humans takes over when they are struggling to survive. It was first published in Great Britain in 2006 and in 2009 it became a major movie.
The unusual way the book is written adds to its uniqueness, the whole book is written with no chapters and we read all 307 pages of the book without knowing the names of the main characters, this shows that names do not necessary help us to connect with an individual, it’s the thoughts and feelings that can create the connection.
The book is joyous, painful and full of love, as McCarthy takes the readers in a journey that seems endless, is filled with struggles and although few has extremely happy moments.
The road is an inspirational book that I recommend everyone to read, as it holds a very important lesson about humanity that we all need to learn.
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thanks Kono :)
am going to search for it now, i love books like that.
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this was really good, keep it up :)
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from reading the review am going to read the book ....
waiting for the next book review :)
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One more typical American novel ! The Americans gave it a lot of prices because they like the apocalyptic stories and the adventure fantasies garnished with horror (and they like themselves). The Americans are not able to write any good book about the contemporary life so they have the massive production of the disaster stories and the empty epics of fighting the way through the troubles. This is the typical boring "Americana" we have seen in the countless movies and tons of the similar books. The human degradation to the animal level has been also researched throughout the modern literary history; so nothing there either. Whatever the technical level of the writer, he does not offer anything persuasive.The author of the review, I am afraid, just follows the American critics in her presentation. I suspect this new idea on the Waleg will have only, or mostly, the presentations of the Americans. How about presenting the works of the Arab authors ?! For a start it would be good to have at least a presentation of the "Ten Things I hate About Me" (as kono has suggested).
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i really appreciate your opinion, but i just want you to know that i didn't follow any critics, i read the book and this is my own personal review of the book. and like i said i am going to read any suggestions you send as long as they are available to me.
I just really don't get why we have to be negative about everything, yes this book is written by an American and it is set in America but so what. when i watch a Movie or write a book i put all politics aside otherwise i can't enjoy it.
i am also sorry to disagree with you , every society has amazing writers, writing is a gift God gave everyone.
Again Ali i want you to know that i will be writing reviews of all types of books, i am already looking for the book Kono suggested , i didn't find it on-line so i am going to the book store tomorrow.
Kono I've read the first book Randa abdel-fattah (author of ten things i hate about me) wrote- 'Does my head look big in this' i will be writing the review about it next week.
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heyy Mariam!! Read Twilight!! Dunno if you're a fan of the series but I keeo on reading the 4 books over and over again, they're just too compelling!! They're filled with emotions, live action and experiences where u seriously feel like you're living the story of the vampire-human romance!! :)
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I was not more specific, sorry; I wanted to say the presentation given above is ("follows") on the line along which almost all Anglo-Saxon critics have presented the book. It is true all societies have talents, but, why on the waleg, of all places, do we have to talk about the American writers and the books ? This is the only objection I had.
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@ Moe
i love the twilight saga books and i am obsessed with them too !! Stephanie Meyer is very talented.@Ali
i get what you mean and i will try as much as possible to read books by non American writers and write reviews on them.
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@Mariam
I KNOWWW, she's like SUPER talented!! The books are AWESOMEE!!! Hope to see reviews of them soon!! ;)
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I recommend:
Human Traces by Sebastian Faulks
The 5 People You Meet in Heaven by Mitch Albom
1984 by George Orwell
Grass is Singing by Doris Lessing
Deception Point by Dan Brown
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Can anyone recommend me a good arab author, who writes in english?
Write a review on Thousand splended suns and kite runner
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I recommend you "Amin Maalouf", he is a great writer.
He writes in French, but his work have been translated into many languages including English, if you can get your hands on 'The Rock of Tanios', I'm sure you will like it.
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To Waleg:I recommend you close this new "column" !!! Clearly, from the very start it is adopting a narrow focus, as both the visitors and the presenter are oriented to the American "publishing production" and soon the page will become a place for the American propaganda. This is something we have enough all over the world and the waleg website should stay dedicated to its initial goal - the ARAB popular culture ! Please, stay what you are.
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You shared your opinion and we respect it!!??
However we will continue to review such books...Everyone is welcome on Waleg regardless of nationality and religion!
We advise all our readers to read the reviewed book before posting comments with conclusions!??!
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you're so right. americans can't write any good books or plays or movies. that's why they are the most successful even though for a majority of the world the english language is not the native tongue.
you sound so jealous 3anjad ali.
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That's a great idea. People should read more books and discover the beauty of literature.
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If you are successful that only means your product sells well. Why do the american "culture" exports sell well ? Because people like you buy it. Why do you buy it ? Because you do not want to see anything else, and you take the "attractive" stuff that somebody has preconditioned you to see as the "attractive" ! Same with the books, like this one. People like you need more education and flooding all the internet with the american values is not going to help in that. Better look what Chinese are doing ! But, you have been already a lost one ... no use trying with you ... It might be true what some say, that the world will come to senses only one day when it all becomes americanized.
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Ali,
Obviously you haven't read the book. By the way, the internet that you're browsing the site on is an american invention. According to your logic you shouldn't be using it. You think you're smarter than the others but you're barely average. Go get yourself a real life.
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@ Waleg:
For your info, if you were implying myself, I have read the book; though, to be precise - here and there ... To respond to a review, some familiarity with a presented book is needed, of course, but, not necessarily familiarity with every page.
This site may follow with presenting american books, but it will be a bad editorial politics of the site editors. The visitors of the site come for the light pop culture topics from the arab world, and you will be using that interest for presenting the american ideas and values; thus, it will appear that you sit on two chairs - not a very honorable position.
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Before you give an info check your sources ! Sorry to disappoint you, the americans did not invent the internet. Second, I have tryed to read the book, as far as I could bear it. I am not that smart, but you obviously have no clue about the ideological layer of the fiction, so you think I am inventing something as I am smart, wheras this is an old subject written a lot about.
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Ali, i understand what you are saying and i do share some part of your view about the world being too americanized, not that i am 100% against the americans but it is time we look towards our own culture & literature as well as others besides the americans. say for example, the Asians (Japanese would be a great and rich cultural experience). we give perhaps too much credits to the americans instead of our own talented writers. my only suggestion to Waleg is, please keep it balance between Arab produced literature and the rest including American. One book i really love from an american writer would be THE BOY WHO WAS AFRAID BY ARMSTRONG SPERRY. and of course one book written by a Palestinian writer Ghassan Kanafani MEN IN THE SUN tells a tale of how refugees from the problem striken state had to encounter and the political and psychological subtext (subtly criticizing corruption, political passivity and defeatism within Arab and Palestinian society).
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I agree with what you are saying: you may not expect it as it could appear to you that I am too radical and perhaps would like to ban all the american products. I am not, as I am aware that a complete ban could only work against the objective for that, and may generate some interest that otherwise would not be there. The problem with this website is that often they have no position, so it is easy to slip into presenting the arab popular culture from the american point of view - that happens often on the waleg. If they were only representing the american perspective on the topics they bring up, I would say ok, this is not my cup of tea, and go somewhere else; yet, they "wobble" all the time. On the other hand, if they want to present the arab pop-culture to the westerners, or to the arabs born in the west, they should stick to the arab culture, because nobody comes to the waleg to read about the western (or american) news. It would have been even a noble task to have a website that offers the news about the activities from the arab world, something that is almost always misrepresented in the west.
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I ve read your comments and i do not think u r radical, far from that. i think u r wise and have good intention which unfortunately, some folks here just like to jump to conclusion but thats life for you. it is all about making assumptions especially if the person seems to be too "arab" or so called "TOO Muslim". immediately without trying to understand they assume we are backwards, fundamentalist, a party pooper if you may.i believe that we should work harder and grab every chance we get including this Waleg site to portray what is arab and diminish the bad image the world seem to have towards Islam and its Ideas.to tell u the truth, its us arabs and us muslims that seem hell bent on rejecting our own ways and adopting other cultures. thats just my point of view, may be true may be not so true.
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What you have in the comment is the bottom line ! You said: many arabs are giving up their own heritage. If the Chinese, and increasingly the Indians, can be "modern" within their own ways, why not the Arabs too !? The struggle in these times should be not against the west, but for the arab souls. As the Chinese do not care for the occasional bashing from the west neither should the Arabs !
PS:
The negative image is in the "west"; in China, India and Rusia, they do not share the western perception.
kono
Jul 5, 2010
You should read Ten Things I hate About Me if you haven't already. I highly recommend it. I personally don't enjoy reading much, but that book was just compelling..I am sure you'd like it, because it discusses important, but interesting issues about being an Arab abroad.
And thanks for the article.