Name: Vojtech's review of The Road by Cormac McCarthy
Item: The Road
Rating: 5
Author: Vojtech

Cormac McCarthy

In a novel set in an indefinite, futuristic, post-apocalyptic world, a father and his young son make their way through the ruins of a devastated American landscape, struggling to survive and preserve the last remnants of their own humanity. 250,000 first printing.

The Road

Sadie Hoffman

There is no prophet in the earth’s long chronicle who’s not honored here today. Whatever form you spoke of you were right.

He said: If he is not the word of God God never spoke.

Karmen 

The boy sat by the fire wrapped in a blanket watching him. Drop of water, a fading light. Old dreams encroached upon the waking world.

Chey

I will do what I promised, he whispered. No matter what. I will not send you into the darkness alone. 

She was gone and the coldness of it was her final gift. 

Kyler Phillips

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

Jeremy Fiest

He walked out in the gray light and stood and he saw for a brief moment the absolute truth of the world. The cold relentless circling of the intestate earth. Darkness implacable. The blind dogs of the sun in their running. The crushing black vacuum of the universe. And somewhere two hunted animals trembling like ground-foxes in their cover. Borrowed time and borrowed world and borrowed eyes with which to sorrow it.

Sophia Bowers

Jemima Scott

With an introduction by novelist John Banville. In a burned-out America, a father and his young son walk under a darkened sky, heading slowly for the coast. They have no idea what, if anything, awaits them there. The landscape is destroyed, nothing moves save the ash on the wind and cruel, lawless men stalk the roadside, lying in wait. Attempting to survive in this brave new world, the young boy and his protector have nothing but a pistol to defend themselves. They must keep walking. Winner of the Pulitzer Prize for Fiction, The Road is an incandescent novel, the story of a remarkable and profoundly moving journey. In this unflinching study of the best and worst of humankind, Cormac McCarthy boldly divines a future without hope, but one in which, miraculously, this young family finds tenderness. An exemplar of post-apocalyptic writing, The Road is a true modern classic, a masterful, moving and increasingly prescient novel.

Winner of the Pulitzer Prize for Fiction

Vojtech

Colton Ray

Empty and more than a little pretentious. 

There's the seed of a good plot here, but that's all there is. This is not a novel; it's an empty sketch of one. The apocalypse setting is never explained or defined and rarely even alluded to. The dialogue is hands-down the worst I've ever read. It's like listening to two Siri apps talk to each other. 

There are some interesting imagery, but its undercut by the clunky writing. Mccarthy seems intent on writing in mostly sentence fragments or confusingly structured sentences. He also inexplicably omits commas and apostrophes when he feels like it. It took more effort to take these out than it did to put them in, and what purpose does their absence serve besides annoying the reader? This seems like it was written by a particularly pretentious and unimaginative ninth-grader who got mostly C's in English class.

There is absolutely no plot to speak of, the nameless characters just wander around Nowheresville, USA, occasionally running into cannibals or insane old men, but most of the time, no one. I found it unbelievable that they never run into any animals. It would be much more interesting to see the characters try to catch fish or hunt rabbits rather than stumble upon a storehouse full of canned beans. 

There's not much else to say here. This is the most overblown and overrated novel I've read in a long time. If this tripe was written by any other author, it would be sent to the trash bin, but since this is a famous author he gets Oprah awards. This had the potential to be something great, but it's just so lazy. This is a book that substitutes characterization, character growth, plot, and setting for little bunches of pretty, shallow description.

Read this after seeing Neil Druckmann speak about it as an inspiration for The Last of Us.

Extremely well written. A lot of the book is the man and boy scavenging; it’s woven with these metaphors that make the mundane descriptions interesting.

What really stands out to me is the idea of being the “good guy”. Does it make you the bad guy to protect your son no matter what, or is that inherently good?

I  loved when the boy asks these questions that surprises the dad. They seem out of place in their situation, but were common questions in the world before. Things like, “what are our long term goals?”

Jevin Sidhu

Read this after seeing Neil Druckmann speak about it as an inspiration for The Last of Us.

Extremely well written. A lot of the book is the man and boy scavenging; it’s woven with these metaphors that make the mundane descriptions interesting.

What really stands out to me is the idea of being the “good guy”. Does it make you the bad guy to protect your son no matter what, or is that inherently good?

I  loved when the boy asks these questions that surprises the dad. They seem out of place in their situation, but were common questions in the world before. Things like, “what are our long term goals?”

Tobias V. Langhoff

I first read this book several years ago, as my first taste of McCarthy, and loved it. Now, after having read his entire bibliography (in roughly reverse chronological order), I revisited this great novel. It's interesting to recognize parts of his earlier works in this; it feels like a distilled version of McCarthy's writing, a culmination of his themes and prose. Even less plot than in his other books, fewer characters (and none named), even sparser prose and more powerful language. It's not his most gruesome story, but it's his bleakest and most desperate (among many other bleak and desperate ones like Blood Meridian. The overarching themes of redemption and perseverance in the face of strife from novels like Outer Dark are even starker.

jack

ugh. super tedious and boring. not my thing at all stylistically or genre-wise. felt like i was playing a dumb video game that i would have given up on out of boredom (though in the book's defense, those video games probably take massive cues from this). felt like it was too edgy for its own good, and while there are obviously good ideas under the hood, it just was too jarring to get through personally. this is my second time attempting to read this book and i really had to just force myself to power through it this time

Gracie Marsden

Dark, terrifying, but hauntingly beautiful.

Tristan McAteer

In a novel set in an indefinite, futuristic, post-apocalyptic world, a father and his young son make their way through the ruins of a devastated American landscape, struggling to survive and preserve the last remnants of their own humanity.

La strada

silvia

«Un tempo e un mondo presi in prestito e occhi presi in prestito con cui piangerli.»

esperanza 

A very mellow book with bleak writing. I cried at the end. Wish there was a bit info, and backstory (?) on the cannibals and the pregnant woman. Keeping it on the bookshelf.

Carter Rabasa

This is probably the bleakest book I've ever read. The fact that it is being made into a motion picture is completely astounding to me. I have no idea how anyone considers this a great book, much less a masterpiece.

Sean Goodwin

Derek Barlas

Wow, talk about dark! This book is dark with a capital D . I read No Country for Old Men and loved it - I loved this one just as much, but it is a bit depressing.

Katelyn Payne 

This book is good but I don’t think I would put it as one of the best books I’ve read. I read this book for my English class this tri and my teacher claims it is one of his top 5 favorite books because it’s so great. I just feel like the story arc is a little predictable. They’d walk a little bit, get lucky, that would last for a couple pages then they would be on the move and almost die again. I also didn’t like the fact there was no connection created between me and the book. It simply felt like I was reading words and not an actual story. I do think the story had potential but not the way it’s written here.

fiona

dnf at a little over 50%.

atmospheric and i do love myself a good depressed father who has to take care of their child. but i got so bored and the dialogue was so drab and repetitive that I stopped really caring after a little while.

This book is everything I didn’t know I needed in my life. It’s one of the most touching and beautifully written books I’ve ever read. It’s deep and heartbreaking. It has changed my entire perspective on the way I view humanity, the earth and my parents. It is simply life changing. 🔥

Gripping, haunting and beautiful, sunk into my bones like a chill. 

Gripping, haunting and beautiful, sunk into my bones like a chill. 

I carry the fire within me. 

Heart-wrenhing, tragic, and full of the kind of open-ended mystery that keeps me up at night.

Sawyer Stever

I don't think the dad is a good parent. I understand that when we are in trauma, we are not our best selves, but I think the dad still has a responsibility to treat a boy with basic respect. There are so many stories of parents like this, I'm ready for a story we are in the trauma of the apocalypse we still see a parent that treats a child the way they deserve to be treated. Couldn't finish

When humanity is on the brink of extinction, to what extent do the constraints of morality uphold? What does it truly mean to be human, and how does humanity uphold amidst even the direst, most challenging of situations? Are humans ultimately the real monsters - ones that seek to ravage what is left of one another in a mere attempt to grasp onto the final remaining sliver of salvation? 

Apocalyptic literature strips humanity 
of its superficial yet characteristic elements; disregarding the complexities and constraints of modernity — equipping individuals with the sole motive of survival. What’s left is a raw, undisguised, unrestrained display of human emotion and struggles at its very core. What does it mean to be human, when the idea of “being human” is all that remains? Conflicts are exposed to us in their entirety in a society where everyone is left to fend for themselves; highlighting humanity’s struggle with egocentrism, the uncertainty of the existence of morality, and the absence of compassion.

Yet it does not stray away from humankind’s core purpose; despite its dystopian setting, apocalyptic literature ultimately serves the purpose of isolating and illuminating human values whilst transcending the boundaries of the world as we know it. This begs the question: in the midst of desolation, is there an ever-so-slight glimpse of humanity left that is truly worth saving?

Probably much more impressive when it was first released but there's been a lot of apocalypse fiction more recently.

I think the author's style just doesn't appeal to me very much.

Kyle Sawatsky

Probably much more impressive when it was first released but there's been a lot of apocalypse fiction more recently.

I think the author's style just doesn't appeal to me very much.

Jonathan Tysick

Although touching in some parts (especially since I have a baby boy), I found this book to be a bit slow, repetitive and sometimes too fancy for my tastes (complex sentences, little used elaborate words). Maybe a 2.5 is more accurate.

Although it hurt emotionally, I truly enjoyed the way this book discussed Post-apocalyptic trauma and grief. It was refreshing to know more about the characters feelings than the actual disaster that got them there.

Bonus points for the imagery staying vivid without long, boring descriptions. 

Although it hurt emotionally, I truly enjoyed the way this book discussed Post-apocalyptic trauma and grief. It was refreshing to know more about the characters feelings than the actual disaster that got them there.

Bonus points for the imagery staying vivid without long, boring descriptions. 

how can one book be so boring and yet fast paced at the same time.

Megan Christensen

charisa

ok, who in the world shelved this as YA in the chinatown library?? if i read this as a preteen i would not have been able to sleep for a week straight. 

in a word: BLEAK. so very bleak. there’s something hemingway-esque about mccarthy’s prose that elevates the feeling of threadbare hope. it’s choppy and sparse, like the very breath of the father and his son. i wouldn’t care for it in most other contexts, but it lays appropriate ground for a brutal apocalypse. 

i’m still trying to decide if this was an ultimately hopeful story, or one slanting towards despair. at the heart of it, i think, is the quiet yet unshakable belief that love is still valid despite the loss of everything else, and that love can provide purpose until the very end. so yes, bleak, but also illuminated by a small, inextinguishable flame!

thinking about morality in survival as well: is there a certain point at which survival becomes inherently selfish? how do you weigh your own suffering and survival against that of others?

Wynter

The Road is a peculiar book. I was simultaneously intrigued and bored by it. The particular writing style, where McCarthy omits all punctuation, but the period, works out well for me. I thought it helped me get deeper into the story without any visual markers to distract me. The action, even though slowly unfolding, is cinematic and vivid. You can see every gruesome and grimy detail with ease. At the same time I couldn't get on board with the main characters. Both the man and the boy annoyed me at times, especially through their stilted dialogue. I thought of giving it a three stars rating, but the end really did touch me, so I'm bumping it up a star. I'm curious to see who the contenders for that year's Pulitzer were competing against The Road.

Started reading to calm my mind and fall asleep in the evening. Finished at 4 AM with my heart pounding. Gripping. Dark.

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The Road by Cormac McCarthy

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