The Road by Cormac McCarthy

The Road
by Cormac McCarthy

Synopsis:
A searing, post-apocalyptic 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:
Oh, what an emotional roller coaster! It's hard to say you "like" this book, because it is such a tragic state of events the characters find themselves in, but this is a beautiful book. It is so dark in it's subject matter, and it is so hard to imagine being a parent and caring for a child in the post-apocalyptic world. 


This book is set in the hell of nuclear winter. The mother commits suicide after the birth a her child in the post nuclear world. The father knows they won't survive long in their current environment so he makes the decision to take the son and head to the coast. He isn't sure what awaits them, but it must be better than where they are.


The father and the son set out on a desolate, lonely and harrowing trek. The father's only concern is to keep his son alive and to keep moving. Amid the tragedy, bleakness and terror of their journey, one thing is clear: the ultimate love and devotion the father has for the son. 


McCarthy's work is lyrical, poetic and mesmerizing. The descriptions of the world the father and son must traverse is so concise and clear, the author paints a picture with his words. Boiling it all down, the only thing that is important in life is love. The father and son have nothing material, there is no hope for their future, but they have everything in each other. What a gift this book is, I highly encourage you to read it.

Intended Audience: 18+ for violence


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