What are you currently reading?

[bada]

Reading a hopeless, (I'm assuming) realistic take on the end of the world involving a father/son in which they suffer a series of horrible degrading experiences doesn't sound like something I could 'enjoy' post fatherhood. I go out of my way to avoid all stories real or imagined involving the suffering of children. I just can't handle it anymore. It would have bothered me before but I could put those feeling in box where as now I can't. I worry enough about the million ways things could go wrong for my kids I don't need extra material.

[tragabigzanda]

Whenever there's active promotion on the part of somebody else, whenever I see somebody all dolled up for a fancy photograph and someone's handing out flyers or whenever there's active promotion for something like that, as an imposition on my day, I hate all those people and I want them to fail. I have a visceral reaction to advertising and promotion. There's just something about salesmanship that grates on me on a very base level and I react very negatively towards it. I want those people to suffer and I want their enterprises to fail.

[E.H. Ruddock]

One of my favorite book-to-movie adaptations was The Road. I thought the despair and utter hopelessness that was in certain parts of the book really were done well in the movie. Man, that book and movie just wreck me every time.

[LoathedVermin72]

I'm not cynical enough for The Road. It's near-laughably bleak.

[E.H. Ruddock]

I'm not cynical enough for The Road. It's near-laughably bleak.

Did you see it or are you just saying that?

[LoathedVermin72]

I'm not cynical enough for The Road. It's near-laughably bleak.

Did you see it or are you just saying that?

Yes, I've seen it.

[E.H. Ruddock]

I'm not cynical enough for The Road. It's near-laughably bleak.

Did you see it or are you just saying that?

Yes, I've seen it.

ok good

[tragabigzanda]

Whenever there's active promotion on the part of somebody else, whenever I see somebody all dolled up for a fancy photograph and someone's handing out flyers or whenever there's active promotion for something like that, as an imposition on my day, I hate all those people and I want them to fail. I have a visceral reaction to advertising and promotion. There's just something about salesmanship that grates on me on a very base level and I react very negatively towards it. I want those people to suffer and I want their enterprises to fail.

[LetMeSleep]

I read and saw The Road when my wife was pregnant with our first. Really screwed me up for a while.

[epilogue]

I guess I just really can't relate to anyone else in this thread.

I don't have kids. I'm not a cynic. I've read the book twice and seen the movie. And I don't understand anything anyone is saying in this thread about either.

[The Argonaut]

I think bada needs to learn how to care less about his child so that he can enjoy this good book.

[epilogue]

No joke.

[LetMeSleep]

I really enjoyed the book and movie. It struck an emotional tone with me that I didn't expect though. As Bada said, post fatherhood there are just some things I don't care for anymore.

[McParadigm]

I guess I just really can't relate to anyone else in this thread.

I don't have kids. I'm not a cynic. I've read the book twice and seen the movie. And I don't understand anything anyone is saying in this thread about either.

All you really needed was your first two sentences. Nothing else needs to be said.

[epilogue]

I guess I just really can't relate to anyone else in this thread.

I don't have kids. I'm not a cynic. I've read the book twice and seen the movie. And I don't understand anything anyone is saying in this thread about either.

All you really needed was your first two sentences. Nothing else needs to be said.

Well... but it did, though. Because other people without kids had expressed other opinions. I get that you didn't notice that. Since you have kids. But people without kids still think/feel things. Just so you know.

[McParadigm]

I guess I just really can't relate to anyone else in this thread.

I don't have kids. I'm not a cynic. I've read the book twice and seen the movie. And I don't understand anything anyone is saying in this thread about either.

All you really needed was your first two sentences. Nothing else needs to be said.

Well... but it did, though. Because other people without kids had expressed other opinions. I get that you didn't notice that. Since you have kids. But people without kids still think/feel things. Just so you know.

I guess the only one I noticed for sure as LV, who is assuredly not people.

[epilogue]

I guess I just really can't relate to anyone else in this thread.

I don't have kids. I'm not a cynic. I've read the book twice and seen the movie. And I don't understand anything anyone is saying in this thread about either.

All you really needed was your first two sentences. Nothing else needs to be said.

Well... but it did, though. Because other people without kids had expressed other opinions. I get that you didn't notice that. Since you have kids. But people without kids still think/feel things. Just so you know.

I guess the only one I noticed for sure as LV, who is assuredly not people.

[LetMeSleep]

It's a story about a father and son in extremely dangerous circumstances. Of course fathers will feel a connection. No one is saying non fathers can't associate.

[LoathedVermin72]

It's a story about a father and son in extremely dangerous circumstances. Of course fathers will feel a connection. No one is saying non fathers can't associate.

the only ones who can't relate are those deadbeat mothers amirite

[epilogue]

I fully acknowledge that parenthood is something that cannot be totally understood until lived/experienced. I don't pretend otherwise. I'm happy with my life choices and I celebrate those of others. I can't imagine how differently I would view things (if at all) if I had kids. That's just, selfishly, one of the reasons I'm thrilled that I don't have them.

And, yeah, I think The Road exists and persists precisely because it affects fathers and non-fathers alike. It's a beautiful story, haunting and awful at turns, but so is life. And the book made me cry -- as a non-parent -- and I think there is tremendous love and hope at the end of the book.