The Road

241 pages

English language

Published Jan. 22, 2006

ISBN:
978-0-307-26543-2
Copied ISBN!
Goodreads:
6288

View on OpenLibrary

View on Inventaire

4 stars (3 reviews)

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 …

16 editions

Overwrought, didn't quite land for me

3 stars

I can see why for many this is a beloved book for some, but it didn't capture me.

The writing often felt plodding and overwrought, instead of evocative and touching. And this novel is all scene and style and very little story, so there was not much else to go on.

I found myself wishing this had been a short story instead of a novel.