The Road
By Cormac McCarthy
- Release Date: 2006-09-26
- Genre: Literary Fiction
Description
WINNER OF THE PULITZER PRIZE • NATIONAL BESTSELLER • A searing, post-apocalyptic novel about a father and son’s fight to survive that “only adds to McCarthy’s stature as a living master. It’s gripping, frightening and, ultimately, beautiful” (San Francisco Chronicle).
One of The New York Times’s 100 Best Books of the 21st Century • A Kirkus Reviews Best Fiction Book of the Century
A father and his son walk alone through burned America. Nothing moves in the ravaged landscape save the ash on the wind. It is cold enough to crack stones, and when the snow falls it is gray. The sky is dark. Their destination is the coast, although they don’t know what, if anything, awaits them there. They have nothing; just a pistol to defend themselves against the lawless bands that stalk the road, the clothes they are wearing, a cart of scavenged food—and each other.
The Road is the profoundly moving story of a journey. It boldly imagines a future in which no hope remains, but in which the father and his son, “each the other’s world entire,” are sustained by love. Awesome in the totality of its vision, it is an unflinching meditation on the worst and the best that we are capable of: ultimate destructiveness, desperate tenacity, and the tenderness that keeps two people alive in the face of total devastation.
Reviews
I Cried
5By goosefrabaOne of the most beautiful books ever written.Pretty good
4By Billkress njLiked the style of writing … original. Would recommend if you like apocalyptic but with strong family values on the brink.It’s a good read but not exciting
4By luism1randaaIt’s enjoyable but consistently consistent. There are no twists and turns, no real surprises. It’s definitely a slow paced book that’s almost entirely about the tone and setting. Don’t know if I would read it again but don’t regret the first time.A dark but beautiful journey
5By GroovyBoomstickThis story is as beautiful as it is bleak, and even in an apocalyptic wasteland there is always a fire that will light your way, no matter how dark things may appearSo lost by the context
2By RaelljazzmineDeceased or not, I was so lost by reading this. And the man didn’t even put up chapters nor quotation marks! I was all “Huh?” and “What?” throughout the story. A complete waste of a book.The road
4By claww123The story was as dreary and lifeless as the imagery and wordsSad
3By БLoonИSuch an abysmal tale starting in nothing and ending in nothing. Beautifully written and full of hope and heartbreak.Great Read
5By Case704This was a very good book. It left a lot to the imagination and I really enjoyed that. I can’t wait to watch the movie.Humanity Lives
5By Kitty#27Amazing book. It’s hopeful but realistic. Life will always find a way!10/10
5By kailyn michelle davisI love it . It was so good and it was so productive to me and i feel so good and so yea and it made me feel so uh like i made me some hot cocoa and a donut with it😂😂so yeaExcellent, Tense, Depressing, Foretelling…
5By urjimboA unique writing style initially confusing but quickly intimate and necessary. I hovered over the characters as they made their way down The Road.Touching
5By Ed AinslyIt is hard to think that I will ever forget this book. It is dark and sad. Sometimes poetic and sometimes scary. The imagery is hard to forget.Read this book
5By musician realA very moving, beautifully written story about love and perseverance.Well penned
3By NateHiggershamKiller style. A bit gloomy tho. Goes on too long same thing over and over. Like life.Great writing
5By EDM-lover-22Beautiful minimalist writing. I love the lyrical attributes and rhythm you feel while reading The Road. I drew a lot of inspiration from McCarthy in my own writingExcellent
5By livikitty08Likely outcome eventuallyGCBSF: Good Cataclysm. Baby-Sitting Father!
5By lovefromjackDear Cormac – Wow. The writing in this is very good. I worry about you. Because if this story was inside of you, it must be pretty dark in there. How are you? We loved the babysitting in this scintillating novel – I particularly loved the scene where the man taught the boy to shoot a flair gun. This novel and the Ann M. Martin classic “BSC in the USA” speak to each other across the void. Both are about road trips, babysitting, and flawed father figures. Cormac - Quick question: Is this our actual future? By which we mean, is the heat death of the universe going to kill everyone we’ve known (and the humanity and warmth inside us) and snuff out every light we’ve ever turned our faces to in hope as the universe succumbs to entropy and everything descends into darkness? And finally, was it jorts when they find the pants and cut them? – Jack Shepherd and Tanner Greenring (P.S. We loved this one)VERY GOOD
3By Prophet AmosThe book had a good feel to it, at times quite depressing. I enjoyed the relationship between the father and his son. I was informed by an Apple Representative that McCarthy choose to keep contraction errors, which resulted in bastardizing the English language, and McCarthy passing poor grammar on to young impressionable minds. I gave it an OK rating due to the intentional errors by McCarthy.The most vivid images.
5By KRAZYvKILL3RI think this book is so exciting to read as you are inside what the author was trying to describe that he was painting in his head. I also think this book is great to read in a time of climate change. Reads like a movie playing in your thought process the whole road. McCarthy succeeded above and beyond in putting crystal clear images in the readers mind while they read making him a pure artist in literature.
