The Road (was Homer & Langley )

[Carvill, John]

Heh. Yeah, I knew *you* wouldn't be put off by any grisliness. But I was thinking of people like my wife who can't stand violent or disturbing scenes. And to be fair, the ones in 'The Road' are quite nasty.

Yes indeed, 'grisly' is a great word. Wasn't aware of the etymology, thanks for that.



-----Original Message-----
From: David Morris [mailto:fqmorris at gmail.com] 
Sent: 16 July 2010 15:03
To: Carvill, John
Cc: alice wellintown; pynchon -l
Subject: Re: The Road (was Homer & Langley )

I am a big fan of Blood Meridian, so I'm not afraid of "grisly
scenes."  So I'll take your advice and read The Road.  Hell, even
McCarthy's lesser works are still pretty damned good.

BTW, I love that word, "grisly."  I wondered about its etymology,
thinking "gristle."  But, no.  Here's what I found:

Grisly:  O.E. grislic "horrible, dreadful," from grisan "to shudder,
fear" (cf Du. griezelen, Ger. grausen "to shudder, fear").

from "Online Etymology"
http://www.etymonline.com/index.php

On Fri, Jul 16, 2010 at 8:31 AM, Carvill, John <john.carvill at sap.com> wrote:
> Yes, it is dark, and there are a few quite grisly scenes, some of which threaten to take up unwelcome long-term residence in your head. But ultimately it does carry - at least I *think* it is intended to carry - a positive message about humanity, and the writing is really extraordinary.
>
> I would unhesitatingly recommend 'The Road' to pretty much anyone, except anyone with delicate sensibilities. I don't think I'll bother with the film, even if they've done it well I would expect that the film would deliver all of the horror and none (or not enough) of the beauty.