The Road
Books | Fiction / Literary
4.1
(35.8K)
Cormac McCarthy
WINNER OF THE PULITZER PRIZE • NATIONAL BESTSELLER • A searing, post-apocalyptic novel about a father and son's fight to survive, this "tale of survival and the miracle of goodness 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 CenturyA 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.
Romance
Science Fiction
Buy now:
More Details:
Author
Cormac McCarthy
Pages
256
Publisher
Knopf Doubleday Publishing Group
Published Date
2007-03-20
ISBN
0307267458 9780307267450
Ratings
Google: 4
Community ReviewsSee all
"This was my book club pick several years ago. I usually choose January and pick a dystopian novel to balance Christmas sentimentality and superficiality. This book is dark, dystopian and explores the profound heroic attempt to create normalcy in a deeply disturbed context. Maybe went a bit overboard. Once you have read this, you will never see the world (or Christmas) quite the same. "
"I don't really get why this book won any awards. Now, maybe I'm just uncultured swine, but this book has zero character development or emotional depth, and the awful grammar makes it a pain to read and know what is even going on (Mrs Dalloway and Ulysses pulled it off better). The book is literally one huge depression-fest with no explanation on what happened, no hope, and no interesting plot or descriptions to compensate for it. J. G. Ballard's Drowned World portrays a significantly more interesting post-apocalyptic world with characters losing hope and going nuts than this. And I'm pretty sure his book was written before Mccarthy's. Idk why anyone would read this unless it was for school or to act like they're highbrow for reading it. "
"Ugh. I have resisted reading this for years because I was sure I would hate it, and I did, I’m not sure what magical optimism washed over me to give it a try. I don’t shy away from difficult or painful reads, but what I loathe is a story that seems to exist only for that purpose, to present the reader with a story that squeezes these feelings out of them like a sponge so that they can feel these emotions. "
C
CaitVD
"I didn't have very high hopes coming into this book, but it exceeded my expectations. It's the most realistic apocalyptic themed book I've ever read. I loved seeing the contrasting morals between the father and son, watching the son question what separated them from being one of the bad guys. I also like how the book is structured. No chapters makes it seem more fast paced."
"3.75 star.<br/><br/>Iv had to contemplate on my feelings about this book for a while. The writing is straight forward, blunt, and in great detail. That might sound like I didn't enjoy it but for some strange reason I did. Thinking about the end of the world, everything slowly decaying, would you waste words? Would you not try to take in everything around you? What would you do for your child? I don't even have children but I know instantly I would kill whoever touched them. The words fit the world perfectly.<br/><br/>Reading this felt like progressively inching closer to doom and was terrifying in its truthfulness. An unforgiving earth trying to rid itself of the pest. Bad guys out weighting the good. Uknowing how the end came but not hard to believe that it was our own doing. A bleak grey landscape with no hope.<br/><br/>"Nobody wants to be here and nobody wants to leave." <br/><br/>Of course symbolic gestures fly over my head at every chance but I felt it in the words. That they all meant something important in their simple script. So why so few stars. Maybe because I didn't get all of them and it wasn't for me. The one bullet and me eagerly awaiting it's fate that went no where. Fewer reason that I'm only know understanding but still I have my reasons all the same."
"The concept of the book is good. I am not sure if it is because I don’t have a family but I could not get past the little boy whining and the fathers interaction with him. "
R
Rebecca
"Basically the world is in complete ruins there’s barely anyone left and this father and his son are trying to survive. Most of the people left are cannibalistic and they only have one bullet in their gun. There traveling on this road trying to find some sort of civilization. I hope this was helpful 😁, the writing was absolutely beautiful and the story was a masterpiece. "
Similar Books
4
![Never Let Me Go](/_next/image?url=https%3A%2F%2Flikewise-stage.azureedge.net%2Fmakeover%2Fresizer%2FgFsX7DGbfoU7x3vWkaz.jpeg&w=3840&q=75)
4
4
4
3.9
3.7
4.2
4.1
3.9
4
4.4
4.4
4.2
4.1
4
4.1
3.8
3.8
4.2
4.2