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The Road

by Cormac McCarthy

The Road Cover

ISBN13: 9780307387899
ISBN10: 0307387895
Condition: Standard
All Product Details

 

Awards

The Rooster 2007 Morning News Tournament of Books Winner

2007 Pulitzer Prize for Fiction

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)

Synopses & Reviews

Publisher Comments:

A searing, postapocalyptic novel destined to become Cormac McCarthy's masterpiece.

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.

Review:

"Even within the author's extraordinary body of work, this stands as a radical achievement, a novel that demands to be read and reread....A novel of horrific beauty, where death is the only truth." Kirkus Reviews (Starred Review)

Review:

"The Road offers nothing in the way of escape or comfort. But its fearless wisdom is more indelible than reassurance could ever be." Janet Maslin, New York Times

Review:

"One of McCarthy's best novels, probably his most moving and perhaps his most personal." Los Angeles times

Review:

"I'm always thrilled when a fine writer of first-class fiction takes up the genre of science fiction and matches its possibilities with his or her own powers....[A] dark book that glows with the intensity of his huge gift for language." Chicago Tribune

Review:

"[B]eyond the inherent technical difficulties of concocting the unthinkable, McCarthy has rendered a greater and more subtle story that makes The Road riveting." Boston Globe

Review:

"[O]nly now, with his devastating 10th novel, has [McCarthy] found the landscape perfectly matched to his cosmically bleak vision....[E]xtraordinarily lovely and sad...[a] masterpiece... (Grade: A)" Entertainment Weekly

Review:

"The setup may be simple, but the writing throughout is magnificent....McCarthy may have created a world where things are reduced to their essence, but he continually surprises by finding a way to strip them further." Chicago Sun-Times

Review:

"The wildly admired writer Cormac McCarthy presents his own post-apocalyptic vision in The Road. The result is his most compelling, moving and accessible novel since All the Pretty Horses." USA Today

Review:

"[F]or a parable to succeed, it needs to have some clear point or message. The Road has neither, other than to say that after an earth-destroying event, things will go hard for the survivors." Houston Chronicle

Synopsis:

A man and his young son traverse a blasted American landscape, covered with "the ashes of the late world." The man can still remember the time before. The boy knows only this time. There is nothing for them but survival — they are "each other's world entire" — and the precious last vestiges of their own humanity. At once brutal and tender, despairing and rashly hopeful, spare of language and profoundly moving, The Road is a fierce and haunting meditation on the tenuous divide between civilization and savagery, and the essential, sometimes terrifying power of filial love. It is a masterpiece.

About the Author

Cormac McCarthy is the author of nine previous novels. Among his honors are the National Book Award and the National Book Critics Circle Award.

What Our Readers Are Saying

Add a comment for a chance to win!
Average customer rating based on 22 comments:

Jenche, January 1, 2011 (view all comments by Jenche)
I love the writing style in the book. Poetic, and beautifully tragic. It was really short, but emotionally more difficult to read. Probably could be read in 6 hours. This is how every parent/child relationship should be-apocalypse or not. It gives perspective in the sense of simplification, survival and how those can be achieved with out certain sacrifices. I seen the movie before I read the book, and the book was well worth the read... way more detail and description, and subsequently, more exp...moreI love the writing style in the book. Poetic, and beautifully tragic. It was really short, but emotionally more difficult to read. Probably could be read in 6 hours. This is how every parent/child relationship should be-apocalypse or not. It gives perspective in the sense of simplification, survival and how those can be achieved with out certain sacrifices. I seen the movie before I read the book, and the book was well worth the read... way more detail and description, and subsequently, more explanation. Though it still remained perfectly anonymous, which is why this is one of the best end of the world books out there. The thoughts I had during this read, whether apocalyptic or just (about)relationships kept going beyond the words on the page.
Was this comment helpful? | Yes | No
Rachel Coker, October 14, 2010 (view all comments by Rachel Coker)
This book is at once bleak and beautiful, simple and complex, raw and refined. It’s a triumph in terms of McCarthy’s use of language, with descriptions of a post-apocalyptic world that are achingly evocative. I have a longstanding (and maybe peculiar) interest in utopian and dystopian fiction, and this book will stand out in that genre along with masterpieces such as “Brave New World” and “Fahrenheit 451.” It’s amazing to me that McCarthy can at once offer so little detail about what caused the apocalypse or even where in the former United States his characters are and yet leave no doubt about their circumstances or the outlook for their survival. My own hopes and expectations for humanity are more optimistic than those expressed here, but there’s no doubt that McCarthy’s imagined future could come to pass in a world with so much violence and hatred. “The Road” is difficult to read -- and impossible to put down. Experiences like this are the reason I read novels.
Was this comment helpful? | Yes | No
(1 of 1 readers found this comment helpful)
writermom, April 5, 2010 (view all comments by writermom)
At once unbearable to read and impossible to put down, this book took my breath away from the start and I held it until the last page. As a busy mom to two young boys and freelance writer, I rarely read a book this quickly. This book kept me up turning the pages late into the night, and kept me awake even longer after turning out the light while Cormac McCarthy's vivid imagery held my imagination captive. The phrase "triumph of the human spirit" is tired and over-used, but it is truly the best description for this book. After reading it, I found myself watching my two boys with different eyes.
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(2 of 3 readers found this comment helpful)
View all 22 comments

Product Details

ISBN:
9780307387899
Author:
McCarthy, Cormac
Publisher:
Vintage
Author:
Various
Subject:
Literary
Subject:
Fathers and sons
Subject:
Voyages and travels
Subject:
General Fiction
Subject:
Literature-A to Z
Copyright:
Edition Description:
Trade paper
Series:
Vintage International
Publication Date:
20070328
Binding:
Paperback
Grade Level:
General/trade
Language:
English
Pages:
304
Dimensions:
12 x 9 x 5 in 9.74 lb

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Related Aisles

The Road Used Trade Paper
0 stars - 0 reviews
$10.50 In Stock
Product details 304 pages Vintage Books USA - English 9780307387899 Reviews:
"Review A Day" by , "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." (read the entire Esquire review)
"Review A Day" by , "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." (read the entire CSM review)
"Review A Day" by , "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." (read the entire New Republic review)
"Review" by , "Even within the author's extraordinary body of work, this stands as a radical achievement, a novel that demands to be read and reread....A novel of horrific beauty, where death is the only truth."
"Review" by , "The Road offers nothing in the way of escape or comfort. But its fearless wisdom is more indelible than reassurance could ever be."
"Review" by , "One of McCarthy's best novels, probably his most moving and perhaps his most personal."
"Review" by , "I'm always thrilled when a fine writer of first-class fiction takes up the genre of science fiction and matches its possibilities with his or her own powers....[A] dark book that glows with the intensity of his huge gift for language."
"Review" by , "[B]eyond the inherent technical difficulties of concocting the unthinkable, McCarthy has rendered a greater and more subtle story that makes The Road riveting."
"Review" by , "[O]nly now, with his devastating 10th novel, has [McCarthy] found the landscape perfectly matched to his cosmically bleak vision....[E]xtraordinarily lovely and sad...[a] masterpiece... (Grade: A)"
"Review" by , "The setup may be simple, but the writing throughout is magnificent....McCarthy may have created a world where things are reduced to their essence, but he continually surprises by finding a way to strip them further."
"Review" by , "The wildly admired writer Cormac McCarthy presents his own post-apocalyptic vision in The Road. The result is his most compelling, moving and accessible novel since All the Pretty Horses."
"Review" by , "[F]or a parable to succeed, it needs to have some clear point or message. The Road has neither, other than to say that after an earth-destroying event, things will go hard for the survivors."
"Synopsis" by , A man and his young son traverse a blasted American landscape, covered with "the ashes of the late world." The man can still remember the time before. The boy knows only this time. There is nothing for them but survival — they are "each other's world entire" — and the precious last vestiges of their own humanity. At once brutal and tender, despairing and rashly hopeful, spare of language and profoundly moving, The Road is a fierce and haunting meditation on the tenuous divide between civilization and savagery, and the essential, sometimes terrifying power of filial love. It is a masterpiece.
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