Book Review: The Road by Cormac McCarthy

RATING:

Genre: General Fiction > Post-Apocalyptic

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.

Literary Awards: Pulitzer Prize for Fiction (2007), James Tait Black Memorial Prize for Fiction (2006), Quill Award for General Fiction (2007), Puddly Award for Fiction (2010), National Book Critics Circle Award Nominee (2006), National Book Critics Circle Award Nominee (2006), Believer Book Award (2007)

*****

You forget what you want to remember, and you remember what you want to forget.

POIGNANT.

I didn’t expect to like The Road. It was so depressing. But amidst the hopelessness, I found salvation in reading it. Obviously, the characters drove the story rather than its plot. The bond was strong between the father and his son; the love between them was incomparable.

The setting was desolate. Without food, water and shelter constantly, the father and his son need to watch out for other travelers. There are the “good guys” and the “bad guys” – The “bad guys” being those who would kill them for the blankets at their backs alone. Who would eat them after being killed (I know, gross and morbid). It was a tiring battle. Not to mention the father’s memories of his wife. Not to mention the son’s fight over despair. Not to mention the countless times they are both at the brink of their deaths.

This is not action-packed, but the terror lied in escaping the dangers of the road. It will never be safe, and that makes it so creepy.

The Road almost made me cry in the end. It was not fair! But I loved the son, loved his father even more. The portrayal of their unconditional love to each other gave me goosebumps, it left me reeling.

.: maria :.

“giving up is the ultimate tragedy.”

8 thoughts on “Book Review: The Road by Cormac McCarthy”

Another similar book in our shelves! And almost the same rating. 😀

bookchilla

March 23, 2012 at 10:23 pm

Yay! more to come, i hope =)

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As usual, Cormac McCarthy blows the reader away. This unusual piece of work tears you apart with not just its subject matter — not new — but with its narrative and the beauty between its primary characters, father and son. And its prose. As always, its prose. The father and son are bound to one another, not simply together, as most of us would write , but — to paraphrase — are to each other — “the world entire.” While its plot and conclusion are — of necessity — predictable, the narrative of their journey and relationship with one another is anything but. This is a beautiful piece of writing, with a very strong story to support it.