The Road
Ratings954
Average rating4
One of the saddest books I've read in a long time. It is a book full of saddness, loss, despair, death and just a drop of hope.
if you're in an apocalypse... please drop your morals and just eat dead people like everyone else
if i was in an apocalypse i would simply not let someones death be in vain and imma EAT. Like damn give me that femur bone and let me nibble at it
This was a book that I started to read multiple times but I wasn't able to get into it due to the unique writing style. The book isn't broken up into chapters, and it starts at a slow pace which made it difficult to find good stopping points early on. This, along with the writing style consisting of many run-on sentences, is what blocked me mentally from truly diving into it. Once I finally did, however, it was well worth it.
This book has a lot of dark themes over human nature and how we as people react in grim circumstances. In this post-apocalyptic world there are many gruesome acts that made me wince while reading, and during this journey with a father and son they were plentiful. As I continued reading and getting past that initial slump, I found myself reading long chunks of pages without even realizing it as I was so engrossed in this book. The ending was definitely surprising to me and I think that it summed up the world very well while showing both sides of humanity.
Overall, I would definitely recommend this book to anyone who likes dark apocalyptic stories. The only true ding in this book is the writing style, but if you can get through that you will easily find this book worthy of reading again.
When I went to put this book to my reading list I saw all the one and two star reviews and started to wonder if this book is actually as good as advertised. Well... it's not. I would even like to give it one star but I stopped myself and thought about it. Because if I gave this one star, what would 50 Shades deserve then? This isn't as bad. So two stars it is even though Goodreads' description of two stars doesn't fit it. It wasn't “ok”.
The story about a man and his son. No names, no details. They wander through a grey post-apocalyptic wasteland trying to survive and get to the shore where they hope to find some community. It's a long road though. 300 pages long. Luckily, the font is really big and in terms of normal books it would be 150 pages. But even that felt too long.
The book is weird in that it's not a typical story with opening, middle and end. It's the same thing over and over again. No character development, just some minor events of little consequence that help them survive and fill the pages. It's a mirror to the world where nothing lives and sky is always grey. It's written in a way where it could be 1000 pages long and it wouldn't change a damn thing about the characters. Thank god it's not because I wouldn't have finished it then.
One of my major issues is the boy. Even though he was completely raised in the post-apocalyptic world by his father he still acts like a spoiled brat who was thrown into this scenario after years of comfortable family life. That's atrocious writing. That's not how someone who only experienced dark world like would behave. A kid like that wouldn't question morality. “Are we the good guys? Are we the good guys?” Oh, shut up! Look at the instances where kids in real world were rid of their childhoods. That's not how they act! I guess his behaviour should've brought up compassion in the reader and we should pitty him in such situation. But I felt the exact opposite. This is about survival and that dumb kid only annoyed me by his pleads.
Other thing that I found annoying is the way the dialogues are written. No quotation marks which can be annoying as hell. But that is topped by the actual dialogues of which one third comprises of repeating what the previous person had said. Sometimes in different order of words or with added “yes” or “no” at the beginning. A kindergartener can write better.
Is it on purpose? No doubt. But it's incredibly stupid. Just as the whole book. There is something beneath the surface but the surface itself is so poorly crafted I barely bothered to think about the deeper stuff. That's not a sign of a great book or a great author. It's exact opposite and it's beyond me why McCarthy gets the praise he does.
If you want to know more just save time and watch the movie. I watched it 5+ years ago and barely remember it but the impression it left was definitely better than this book. I think it's very faithful to it so you won't miss much anyway.
Very engaging book – I didn't want to put it down. The writing style didn't quite click with me, since it was difficult to determine who was talking. Also, the lack of punctuation got slightly annoying. Other than that, I loved the story, and made me want to go give my son a huge hug :)
This is a gorgeously written book – in some ways, more of an extended exercise of wordplay than a novel. The other two things I liked most about this book were: (1) reflecting on how poorly suited it is for a film adaptation; and (2) the new words I learned (crozzled, salitter, discalced). It perhaps could only be improved by the addition of zombie killing, but then that would probably be a pretty different book.
A good enough book, not really the type of story I like. It is a survival tale of a father and his son. The whole book is about they trying to survive this harsh, devoid of life world. There is no hope for a happy ending, and everyday is a struggle.
They spend days without eating anything, and have to risk their lives each time they try to forage for food and supplies.
The portrayal of those little moments of happiness and joy were very well placed and described.
An interesting book in its bleakness, but I have to admit I found it a bit boring.
I'm a sucker for dystopian stories. I had a feeling the movie version wasn't going to be as dark as the book, but this made me appreciate how true to the book it was.
Things start off bad and get worse. And worse. And worse. And then it's over.
Do not read if you are dealing with any form of depression because you will do something you regret.
Empty. Empty and hopeless are my two words for this story. A sad and touching journey of father and son. Very early you sense how this journey is going to end, but you hope for better all the way through.
A trip through Hell. So incredibly bleak and depressing, yet also somehow kept me holding on to a small shred of hope. I recommend this to everyone, but also with a warning that it's going to hurt.
reads like a demented Hemingway - simplistic, but profoundly beautiful, poetic, and dark. really cannot wait to check out McCarthy's other stuff
recommend pairing with Brian Eno - Ambient 4: On Land
One of the most depressing books I've read, but the father-son relationship was well-crafted.
What can I say, I was not in fact blown away, as some people have described it to me.
The fun thing to me about the book was, that I did know anything about the story until I started. The post-apocalyptic style thus took me by surprise and was one of the little surprises in the book.
At times I felt that the story was not going anywhere. But then it did it so well, that I kept reading. Then there were a few more gems. The intricacies of the desolate protagonist telling himself and his son that they are the good guys, while in fact they are very similar if not the same as most of the people they meet. The times the slow journey was relieved with supplies and a place to rest.
In conclusion. Nice minimalism in the dialogue and pace in the story.
Oh yeah, and what the f*** was up with the last paragraph. After all this simple minimal train-of-thought kind of dialogues and factual description, the last paragraph all of a sudden is a bit of beautiful deep poetic prose completely out of place.
Finally got around to this book. Been wanting to read it for awhile. It just did not do much for me. It was well written, but I just did not get anything out of the story. I did not like the way the boy was written. The kid was annoying throughout most of the book.
If you want a good Fathe/Son Apocolypse story, go read The Walking Dead.
