This book is a portrait of 2 survivors who have survived the Apocalypse thus far. A father and a son traveling on The Road. Forced to move because of the absence of all necessities. Nothing grows, no animals can be sustained, food stores are being used up, as is energy stores such as gasoline. The air is filthy and is affecting their ability to breathe. As they move they have to stay away from the other survivors. The ones who made a choice to survive at all costs, including cannibalism and murder. Death surrounds them. The dead are everywhere, those that did not survive the Apocalypse and those that have fallen victim to the other survivors.

It's a struggle between good and evil. The boy asking his father if they were still the "good guys". Faced with survival and fending off the bad guys, the good vs. evil argument takes on a whole new light. In these extreme circumstances can you still hold on to your principles? Is there such a thing as a "good guy" anymore? Social Order no longer exists, there is no one to write it and no one to enforce it. Is good something that comes from within or is it imposed from an external source? This book deals with these themes.

The biggest thing that bothered me was that we never really knew what occured. I finally realized that it wasn't stated because it didn't matter. These 2 individuals were solely focused on moving, keeping warm, security and food/water. They didn't have the luxury of worrying about or even thinking about what caused their suffering. It had happened and now the consequences had to be dealt with. My curiosity couldn't be satiated because I needed to live their experience. The miserable, fearful existence. Nothing else matters than what lay ahead and their struggles of how to understand or deal with what they see and encounter.

This book is the Mother (Father?) of all end-of-the-world scenario books. Very bleak, dark, scary, and disturbing. If you ever thought you could approach the end of civilization as we know it and probably do okay, read this book. Then add in a meteor or nuclear winter that blocks out the sun and makes growing anything damn near impossible for many years. Then add in roving bands of marauding cannibals. Then contemplate how people will have to learn survival skills from the cockroach and you've pretty much got this book.

Plus there's a compelling father-protects-son element that is touching.

But this book is a rough ride. It puts a helluva spin on REM's "The End of the World as We Know It": Don't feel fine.

Post-apocalyptic vision that is both brilliant and terrifying but which left me with hope.

A repetitive scenario through each section of The Road generates a bleak view of the end of the world. McCarthy's setting of a gray and dismal world made me wonder why the characters did not kill themselves. The philosophical implications do have the reader thinking. However, the book is rather boring and mesmerizing. I think that's his point. Think beyond the storyline and to the concept of having no future.

Okay, yeah this was kind of a random whim on my part and I loved it! This was so good, it could very well be plausible. This is a humor book that seems to be written in all seriousness. I can say that I now fill comfortable if and when a zombie attack happens. It was very entertaining. A very good book for a casual read.

This non-fiction book was a wonderful read and I just don't know how this couple and their children live in these conditions in the wilds of Scotland.

Back Cover Blurb:
Chasing dreams of their own photographic business, Ghillie Basan and her husband Jonathan swap the comfort of their Edinburgh home for Corrunich - a remote cottage at the foot of the Cairngorms.
With jumping cows for company, the Basans begin their new life with no electricity and heavy snowstorms. Generators break down and roads quickly become blocked, but the couple have a series of adventures with a fascinating mix of local farmers, terrified tourists, an African president, and their two babies, Yasmin and Zeki.
The Moon's our Nearest Neighbour is a heart-warming, amusing account of a life lived in the picturesque beauty of highland Scotland; and, most of all, of the tremendous strength of spirit in coming to terms with the hardships and isolation of a new lifestyle.

A man must survive in the in a polar environment. What I like most about this book is that it seemed believable, not an over-the-top type of survival tale.

A book I would love to hear on tape by the guy who does the Harry Potter books!

i would have given it a 4, only i hated the last chapter. loved everything else, hated the last chapter.

I found this book to be a bit strange, but really enjoyable. I didn't really like the last chapter, but I think it added a lot of depth to the story. It's not really how I wanted it to end, but maybe that's what made it a good read.

I want to believe! When I first read the ending I didn't even give a second thought to whether or not the original story was the correct one. It wasn't until later that a buddy told me I was an idiot.


I WANT TO BELIEVE

A young boy finds himself adrift in a small lifeboat after the ship he was on sinks. His little boat is not empty, however, as some of the zoo animals that were being transported on the larger vessel have also found refuge in the tiny craft. The boy must brave the capriciousness of not only the animals, but also the sea to hopefully find rescue.

Named for a swimming pool in Paris—the Piscine Molitor—"Pi" Patel begins this tale as a teenager in India, where his father is a zoo keeper. Deciding to immigrate to Canada, his father sells off most of the zoo animals, electing to bring a few along with the family on their voyage to their new home. But after only a few days out at sea, their rickety vessel encounters a storm. After crew members toss Pi overboard into one of the lifeboats, the ship capsizes. Not long after, Pi is joined by Richard Parker, an acquaintance who manages to hoist himself onto the lifeboat from the roiling sea. You would think anyone in Pi's dire straits would welcome the company, but Richard Parker happens to be a 450-pound Bengal tiger. It is hard to imagine a fate more desperate than Pi's: "I was alone and orphaned, in the middle of the Pacific, hanging on to an oar, an adult tiger in front of me, sharks beneath me, a storm raging about me." At first Pi plots to kill Richard Parker. Then he becomes convinced that the tiger's survival is absolutely essential to his own. Is this a "true" account by Pi or is it "fantasy?"

BLURB
This book concerns the oceanic wanderings of a lost boy, the young and eager Piscine Patel of the title (Pi).

After a colourful and loving upbringing in gorgeously-hued India, the Muslim-Christian-animistic Pi sets off for a fresh start in Canada. His blissful voyage is rudely interrupted when his boat is scuppered halfway across the Pacific, and he is forced to rough it in a lifeboat with a hyena, a monkey, a whingeing zebra and a tiger called Richard.

That would be bad enough, but from here on things get weirder: the animals start slaughtering each other in a veritable frenzy of allegorical bloodlust, until Richard the tiger and Pi are left alone to wander the wastes of ocean, with plenty of time to ponder their fate, the cruelty of the gods, the best way to handle storms and the various different recipes for oothappam, scrapple and coconut yam kootu.

Sounds a bit vague I know, but this book sucks you in, and the weird and wonderful become completely plausible in the context of the story. I was a little crushed by the ending - but more that the book was ending than through any fault of the author.

Chris read this first, having listened to it on tape on a road trip. He liked it a lot and when I saw it lying around his mom's house I decided to give it a read. It is a strange tale well-told. I liked it a lot, although I did not feel fulfilled by the ending.

Indian boy trapped on lifeboat with tiger, adrift in Pacific Ocean.

I found this book alot more interesting then I thought I would. Though it is mainly about survival on the ocean with wild animals. I found that it had surprising depth to it, and it kept me on the edge of my seat. That and I like how the pages feel. (I'm impressed by little things)

I read this b/c it was a book of the month selection for my son's playgroup. I wasn't expecting to like this at all. But I loved it! It was such a unique read and a story that stays with you.

I thought this book was going to be pretty sensationalist, but it was very readable. Rather than focusing on the deaths and on the tragedy, it seemed to me to be more about the hope and the drive of the survivors. It dealt quite gently and tactfully with the deceased and gave them appropriate tribute.
It did make me totally afraid to ever fly again. I wouldn't have survived, I think I would have been one of the ones who died of helplessness.

Remember the classic movie starring Burt Reynolds? Well, this is the book the movie was based on. Four self-assured guys go on a canoeing trip down a secluded river in Georgia. They're in for more than they bargained for, and get a few (unwanted) surprises. Very action-packed.