<p>I’m reading The Road by Cormac McCarthy right now, and this is one of the quotes that really made me think. So, any interpretations? What did you think of it?</p>
<p>Well I never was dead yet but I don’t think I am never to be dead.</p>
<p>I have not read it though, so don’t know the context of the quote.</p>
<p>Never to be—future; what never was—past.</p>
<p>At this point in one’s life, what never was does not translate yet into never to be.</p>
<p>I loved The Road, harrowing as it was to read. We don’t know what the ‘never to be’ is, so we can have no regrets about it. We can, however, regret what never was. Since you haven’t finished the book, I won’t tell you how I think this relates to the ending. :)</p>
<p>“We don’t know what the ‘never to be’ is, so we can have no regrets about it”</p>
<p>I don’t know about that. Ask some of the students on CC who didn’t get into, say, Harvard. Or someone who wanted to be a doctor but bombed Organic. Or someone who wants kids but can’t have them. Or if someone dies younger than they should and their family thinks of all the ‘never to be’s’. I think there are many ‘never to be’ s that people have regrets about.</p>
<p>We read “The Road” for our bookclub this month. It was an extremely hard read for most people. I had forgotten the date of bookclub so I literally had to read this book over two nights. In the end I felt that it was the best way to read it because I may not have otherwise finished it as I was so distressed at parts. </p>
<p>I don’t know that I will recommend this book to anyone in the future. There is suppose to be a movie version coming out soon.</p>
<p>swimcatsmom, I agree with some of your examples, but not others. If you don’t get into Harvard, you might regret it temporarily, but I doubt you’re going to look back 30 years later and still bemoan the fact (or at least I hope not!) </p>
<p>In the context of the book, where the past and, I hope, the future are very different from the world we live in now, what I wrote does make more sense. You’ll have to read the book and see if you agree with me!</p>
<p>My comments were not in the context of the book at all as I have not read it. So they were just based on the stand alone quote. To be honest I don’t think I have any plans to read the book having read this thread. I tend to brood on things and if it is as distressing, in parts, as it sounds, I will give it a miss. (in the context of me - I am still haunted by a really horrible scene I read decades ago in book by one of my previously favorite authors).</p>
<p>I understand - it doesn’t sound like a book for you. It is absolutely horrifying in parts, no question. But the writing is exquisite (a rarity these days), which is why I loved it. I was also so moved, in a good way, by the ending that I cried, something I seldom do when reading.</p>
<p>Booklady - I also thought that the writing was absolutley first rate. The picture he painted with the writing was incredibly vivid which made it even more depressing for me. I also cried at the end of the book.</p>