The Road by Cormac McCarthy
Published by Vintage International
Publication date: April 7, 2006
Genres: Book Clubs, Dystopian, Fiction, Horror, Literary, Science Fiction
Bookshop, Amazon
You forget what you want to remember and you remember what you want to forget.
A man and his young son are walking on a desolate road surrounded by burnt trees and ashes. In the distance fires still burn. They are headed…where? To safety would seem to be the answer, but in Cormac McCarthy’s The Road there is no safe place. The world as we know it has gone up in flames. Extremes of nature means fires, earthquakes, snow, and pounding rain. The survivors have settled into two groups—those with a moral code and those without. For those without, everything and everyone is prey. For everyone else, there is only the slog to stay alive.
The America of The Road is dire. Whatever resources were left have been plundered long ago. Houses, stores, trains, and buildings stand empty, stripped of anything of value—food, medicine, clothing. Fields are barren, livestock and even pets gone. Sheltering anywhere for too long attracts others who, more often than not, are the enemy. The road is all there is and father and son trudge it as winter approaches, heading south to the ocean and warmer weather where the chances of surviving are greater. The have only each other, a shopping cart of scavenged supplies, and a loaded gun. They are malnourished and the man is sick.
I’ve never read McCarthy before, but was mesmerized from The Road’s first page. Yes, this is a dark, terrifying vision of the apocalypse, but it is just as much a story of the boundless love between a father and his child. Even with the need for constant vigilance, they talk and talk, the boy asking his father what the world was like before. The father teaches him, not the normal things like how to tie his shoes or brush his teeth, but how to hold a gun and stay warm outdoors in freezing weather. How to scan the landscape and proceed with extreme caution at all times. It’s sweetness mixed with horror in a way that’s unforgettable. Together they see and experience things no one should have to and for the father, the battle to protect his child, not just physically, but emotionally, is a losing one.
But when he bent to see into the boy’s face under the hood of the blanket he very much feared that something was gone that could not be put right again.
I can’t tell you why I decided to read something so bleak right now, but I can tell you that it was absolutely worth it. I’m almost thinking about reading it again. Not to be stuck is a place of horror, but because McCarthy’s writing is that sublime. He is a dystopian Kent Haruf, another author with a gift for words. The novel is stripped down—no punctuation, no chapters—just paragraphs of sentences so purely perfect that there is no other way they could have been put together. Each word honed to its essence in a way that burrows far under the skin and into the core, becoming as real as life. The Road is why I read. To be awestruck, to be hit hard and shaken by words that stay with me. This is not a book you’ll forget.
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Yes! This is one of my fave books of all time! I love the “carrying the light” messages. So bleak but also so beautiful. Great review!
I feel about it, the way I felt when I discovered Kent Haruf- like why I have wasted so much time reading anyone else? I want multiple copies- one to treasure and one to mark up.
Have you read his other novels? Anything you’d recommend?
Dang! Now you’ve made me want to read it again. It’s been so long, I barely remember the story, but do remember that journey AND how it ends. Maybe this summer when I have more time I should give The Road a second read. Nice review!
I don’t want to impose on our bookish friendship too much, but if I could only recommend one book to you, this would be it.
Great review of one of my all-time favorite books. I remember when I finished reading it, I thought wow, I don’t know how McCarthy wrote this but everything just worked. Then I told every reader I know to read it. It is everything I want in a book.
Yes. Yes. Yes! “Everything I want in a book” that is exactly it. Which seems kind fo strange considering how brutal it was, but it was perfect.
Beautiful review, Catherine. I love this book so much, though it pretty much epitomizes “dark literature” for me. You’ve made me want to read it again–I think it would be for the fourth time.
Thank you! It is one of those books that hit me so hard I could hardly write about it. His writing was so perfect anything I said would fall short.
I completely understand- I want to read it again right now.
Oh Yes, who can forget The Road. Glad you visited it now! I read the book when it came out & saw the movie when it finally appeared. Remember the scene were the survivors are held in the basement? I won’t say anymore but that scene scared & freaked me out. The book is simply told yet explosive. The ending as well. I also read his novel All the Pretty Horses, which was fine, but this one was superior.
I will NEVER forget that scene. I didn’t know there was a movie but I don’t think I could watch it.
Yes the movie with Viggo Mortensen …. is quite worthwhile. But it does have THAT scene in it!
Oh, Lord! I’m probably not going to be able to watch that movie. I got freaked out just being in Costco today surrounded by people wearing masks and gloves and buying pallets of water (which I totally do not understand).
Amazing review for an all-time favorite of mine. You’ve made me want to pick it up again after four years!
Thank you thank you thank you, for recommending it. I’m evangelical about it- everyone should read it.