The Road

The Road by Cormac McCarthy is sometimes thought of as one of the classics of the dystopian and post-apocalyptic genres, and it's easy to see why. While listening to The Road, read by Tom Stechschulte, I could see the melancholy blend of destruction, isolation, and hope - which echoes tone, mood, and conventions of earlier films and books - and the influence it has undoubtedly had on later works. McCarthy's writing is seemingly simple, yet also literary and complex. I somewhat regret listening to this book instead of reading it visually, as I feel like I lost a lot of the plot and details by choosing the audio version for this particular title, despite the excellent narration. I may well return to this story of a father and son, traversing the road in post-apocalyptic America, in its print form. I can, however, safely say that while the plot didn't move quickly enough nor was the writing at a sufficiently “popular level” for me to retain this audiobook without intense concentration, the parts I did hear and remember were often moving, infuriating, and/or thought-provoking. ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️