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The Road (Oprah's Book Club)
WINNER OF THE PULITZER PRIZE • NATIONAL BESTSELLER • A searing, post-apocalyptic novel about a father and son’s fight to survive that “only adds to McCarthy’s stature as a living master. It’s gripping, frightening and, ultimately, beautiful” (San Francisco Chronicle).
One of The New York Times’s 100 Best Books of the 21st Century • A Kirkus Reviews Best Fiction Book of the Century
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.
One of The New York Times’s 100 Best Books of the 21st Century • A Kirkus Reviews Best Fiction Book of the Century
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.
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✨ Summarized by Bookclubs AI
Readers say *The Road* offers a powerful, vivid portrayal of a father-son bond in a bleak, post-apocalyptic world. Reviewers agree on McCarthy’s strik...
Beautiful written book, I loved the style and the overall philosophy of it all, it gave me a lot to chew on and it was an emotional journey to follow along, it makes me very excited to try out more books from Cormac.
A book that exists in the moment, its story devoid of a past or a hope of a future. And as such, an examination of those things essential to the continuation of the human spirit. Profoundly moving, deeply disturbing and at the same time hauntingly beautiful. A celebration of the life affirming bond between parent and child and the power of love above all else.
In a way, this book is responsible for my aversion to post-apocalyptic lit. I saw the movie adaptation of this when it came out, and of course knew that it came from McCarthy’s novel. The movie is bleak, to say the least, and I’ve thought back to it literally every time I’ve even considered watching or reading another piece of dystopian fiction.
So having decided to give the novel a shot, I’m surprised at how much I enjoyed it. “Enjoyed” might not be quite the right word, but it’s pretty close. The writing, obviously, is powerful & well executed. The characterizations are also suprisingly robust. I found myself really absorbed and, despite all reason & evidence, hopeful. The tenacity and strength inherent in this man and his son are impossible to deny, and hard to avoid catching.
I can’t deny that the novel earns its reputation for desolation & bleakness. But as a whole, that was not the effect that I found it had on me. I actually did enjoy it.
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