The Road

Awards

2007 Morning News Tournament of Books Winner

2007 Pulitzer Prize for Fiction

Review-A-Day

"It's an adventure, believe it or not — the sort of book that, if only for the relentless clarity of the writing, the lucid descriptions of the grasses, the mud, the thorns, and the very arc of the road that cuts through all that, presents a clear and episodic progress from one small terror to the next. Forget comfort and possession. Postapocalypse or not, it's classic McCarthy....You should read this book because it is exactly what a book about our future ought to be: the knife wound of our inconvenient truths, laid bare in a world that will just plain scare the piss out of you on a windy night." Tom Chiarella, Esquire (read the entire Esquire review)

"The love between the father and the son is one of the most profound relationships McCarthy has ever written, and the strength of it helps raise the novel — despite considerable gore — above nihilistic horror....Fans of McCarthy's brutal world view may not approve, but other readers will welcome the unexpectedly hopeful ending." Yvonne Zipp, The Christian Science Monitor (read the entire CSM review)

"The Road is a much more compelling and demanding book than its predecessor....The new novel will not let the reader go, and will horribly invade his dreams, too....It is an interesting question as to why McCarthy succeeds so well. The secret, I think, is that McCarthy takes nothing for granted." James Wood, The New Republic (read the entire New Republic review)

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Vschoen, March 30, 2012 (view all comments by Vschoen)
“The Road”, written by Cormac McCarthy is a novel that tugs at the harsh reality of the outcome of a destructive society. In this post-apocalyptic novel, two protagonists struggle to survive as they embark on a seemingly never-ending journey. As a reader you will be introduced to the conflict of good vs. evil and what is justifiable in the midst of ‘life or death’ situations. The audience will discover the definition of perseverance and will be able to visualize the depth of a father-son relationship. The novel was a wonderful novel that taught me many life lessons. I would recommend you read it although you must be aware that the novel is very depressing and is quite violent in some scenes.

The novel ”The Road” begins with a father and a son in the midst of an extremely horrific setting with “Everything paling away into the murk. The soft ash blowing in loose swirls over the blacktop,” (McCarthy, 4). The novel progresses as the man and the boy travel the country on foot in order to escape unfriendly people and unwelcoming situations. Along their journey they encounter cannibalism, hypothermia, and extreme malnutrition. Not only is their journey significant for how it reflects modern-day society, but their journey also gives the reader a strong appreciation for shelter, food, water, and clothing.

“The Road” reflects society as a ‘dog eat dog’ world; everyone looking out for themselves or their loved ones and caring little about those who they don’t affiliate themselves with. A secondary theme is the conflict between determining who is ‘good’ in the world and who is ‘bad’. The struggle between good and evil is utterly difficult. Is the man who steals their clothes in order to stay warm an evil person? Is the group who kills a dying man in order to eat his flesh to fuel their hunger a bad group of people? You as the reader have the liberty to decide what is justifiable in a twisted world. You may also begin to question the actuality of human nature and how one will do anything to survive including putting someone else in misery. Where is the line drawn and how does our society in the 21st century reflect these selfish motives?

It is important to take notice that there are no chapters in this novel, nor are there any sections. McCarthy chooses to organize different thoughts, the changing of scenery, and t coming of a new day through page breaks. There are also no quotations in the dialogue. For example,
“It’s okay
Please, Papa. Please.
It’s okay.
No it’s not.” (McCarthy, 134)
Although, the story is still very easy to follow and very rarely does the style inflict confusion. The story is told chronologically although flashbacks do occur causing the plot to bounce around a few times. The flashbacks take the reader to a time that is still post-apocalypse; leaving the reader with no insight into how the world came to perish. One can identify this novel with other futuristic novels. For example, Brave New World, written by Aldous Huxley, and Fahrenheit 451, written by Ray Bradbury, also showcase a distorted future occurring as a result of society’s materialistic desires, narcissistic motives, and warped morals.

Overall, this is a wonderful novel that will give you a gripping vision into the world’s possible future. The novel will teach you many new and important ideas into the harsh reality of our society in this day in age. The comments on egocentric personalities and the difference between good and evil is a heart-quenching story that will force you to question life’s current state. If you enjoy reading about futuristic novels and are not threatened by the depressing themes the novel centers around, then “The Road”, written by Cormac McCarthy, is most definitely a novel for you. Enjoy your reading!

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Captain Cook, March 30, 2012 (view all comments by Captain Cook)
Suffering, terror. Hopelessness. Good and Evil. Cormac McCarthy's The Road embraces all of these as the reader delves into the painful lives of an unnamed man and his son. This pair traverses the wasteland in hopes of salvation, when it is uncertain that salvation exists at all. In the meanwhile, they do their best to survive in their caustic and danger-riddled world where some messy issues are brought up. In my opinion this book is a must-read; It is incredibly tense, the next step is never certain, and the novel bears an important theme for the reader to ponder. This novel is, however, very graphic and disturbing, so I would not suggest it for younger readers or the faint of heart. If you can bear with it though, absolutely read this book.
McCarthy's story is very bleak, taking place in the near future after the apocalypse. As the pair travels westward across what was once the US they encounter horrors, obstacles and regrets that would never be seen today’s world. All of these things happen in the hope that the man and his son will discover salvation once they reach the west coast. The Road is a dystopian novel, but given this categorization is limiting, as this story is very different from others and cannot be directly compared to many novels in the genre.
The Story begins with a premise which is key from beginning to end. "They were moving south. There'd be no surviving another winter here"(4). Immediately readers are thrust into a frantic migration for survival. Near the journey's beginning they encounter a dying man, the boy's first view into reality's severity. Soon thereafter they face one of many problems: the so-called bad guys who rove the wastes preying upon unfortunate survivors. In their dwindling chance for survival, they enter the heart of their worst nightmare. This isn't initially clear, as they hope to scavenge food behind a locked door in a house. "There's a reason this is locked"(91) the man claims, and he is right. Behind the door isn’t salvation, but something much more sinister. Their travels continue and they struggle against the past and their hunger until questions like "are we going to die now?"(74) become commonplace. The road these two travel holds many more winds and bends, both literally and figuratively, but nothing that happens could be predicted.
Ultimately, The Road works toward the idea that the line between good and evil blur as the post-apocalyptic wasteland confronts the reader, man, and child with unimaginable horrors, sufferings and sorrows. As the plot progresses, language becomes increasingly important to this theme. Conversation between the man and boy grow more sparse, and almost always end with "okay"(172). They have witnessed so much, done so much that little can be said. McCarthy creates what is perhaps the most convincingly gray tones and environments ever devised (the shade gray is referred to over eighty times in the novel,) and because of this gray world opposing characteristics are highlighted in the man and the boy. The man, having been hardened by the wasteland sees no good in others. Yet, his child is much more sympathetic, even begging "just help him"(218) at one point. After so many things go wrong, he is constantly troubled by the question "are we still the good guys?"(65) Herein a massive gray area arises.
In the end, the reader is left to conclude that the line between good and evil does blur; In order to survive, many characteristics of the good guys are not necessarily good, but in order to survive many things representative of goodness have to be sacrificed. Under such extreme conditions nothing else could be expected. For all of the agony and hopelessness wrapped within, The Road is a very powerful and engulfing novel which I wholeheartedly recommend.

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will not bill, March 29, 2012 (view all comments by will not bill)
The Road by Cormac McCarthy

The Road is a gripping novel that keeps the reader on the edge of their seat the entire time while making the reader ask the question, "What would I do if the world ended and I survived?".
The Road is the story of a father and his son's struggle for survival. The novel is set in a utopian society in a post apocalyptic world where few have survived and resources are scarce. The main plot of The Road is the father and son's journey along the road toward the coast in search of a government safe haven. Along the way they encounter many conflicts and life threatening situations against the "bad guys". After the world ended many became desperate and would do anything to survive. These "bad guys" would, rape women, kill, steal, and even eat other human beings just to survive. The Road is a gripping, edge of your seat, and bone chilling thriller that easily keeps readers entertained. I would give this book 4/5 because of its great word choice, and the re-occurring themes of conflict and survival.
I gave this book four out of five stars, but the description and word choice at times was easily a five. McCarthy went into such description with various interesting words to paint a picture in the readers minds. "Middens of anonymous trash. Farmhouses in the fields scoured of their paint and the clapboards spooned and sprung from the wall-studs" (127). As I was reading this I could easily picture the father and his son walking along the road and everything they saw. McCarthy was constantly alluding to the gray ash and how the rest of the world was completely gray. "Nights dark beyond darkness and the days more gray each one than had gone before. Like the onset of glaucoma dimming away the world" (1).
At times the language got too graphic for my stomach and I imagine many other readers. This is one reason I would hesitate to recommend it to some of my friends. I have always considered myself having a tough stomach and being able to handle gross things, but sometimes I was taken back by The Road. "A charred human infant headless and gutted and blackening on the spit" (58). This type of description and word choice was common and is a main reason I would only recommend this novel to people over the age of fifteen.
As a reader it was really easy to pick out the themes of conflict and survival. The main conflict comes between the son and father when it comes to survival. The son wants to help everyone along the road, but the father wants to worry just about themselves. Also the conflict between the "good guys" and "bad guys". This conflict makes the readers imagine what they would do if the world ended. Would they become a person like the son and father? or would they become like the "bad guys" and become desperate and eat other humans? The Road constantly makes the reader think what they would if they were put in the shoes of the son and the father.
Overall I would give The Road by Cormac McCarthy 4 stars out of 5. At times McCarthy's word choice and description was brilliant, but at other times it was disgusting and gut wrenching. For this reason I would not recommend this novel to anyone under the age of fifteen or anybody who does not do well with violence. The themes of good versus evil, conflict, and survival are all applicable to our lives today and were easy to understand. The Road is an easy read that will be sure to keep you entertained and on the edge of your seat.

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Product Details

ISBN:

9780307387899

Author:

McCarthy, Cormac

Publisher:

Vintage Books USA

Author:

Various

Subject:

Literary

Subject:

Fathers and sons

Subject:

Voyages and travels

Subject:

General Fiction

Subject:

Literature-A to Z

Copyright:

2007

Edition Description:

Trade paper

Series:

Vintage International

Publication Date:

20070331

Binding:

TRADE PAPER

Grade Level:

General/trade

Language:

English

Pages:

304

Dimensions:

12 x 9 x 5 in 9.74 lb