The Road (Oprah's Book Club)

Art is different from entertainment because art changes you, and this book affected me more deeply than any piece of art I've ever encountered. Not that I think it's perfect -- I see many flaws. But they don't matter. It accomplished its mission. Cormac McCarthy has written the definitive literary depiction of the power of love. Although they were cold, dirty, starving, frightened, I was surprised to find myself at one point envying them, for they were nurtured from within by the power of love. Especially the father, as it's the nature of the parent-child relationship that the parent gives and the child receives. CM is saying, that when all hope is gone, love remains. And he's done it so convincingly that during the days I was reading this book, when I had occasion to throw away some food, I found myself thinking "I wish I could give it to them." In some part of my mind, I felt convinced that these people really existed. That was how completely I entered into their world. Caution: spoilers ahead!! I have never cried so hard at any death in a movie or book. It started with the line: "when he lay down he knew that he could go no further and that this was the place where he would die. The boy sat watching him, his eyes welling. Oh Papa, he said." I'm crying for the loss to the man, who showed so much courage, self-denial, sheer grit, and boundless love. We want to see that kind of all-out effort succeed and be rewarded, but life isn't like that. We know the horror the man must feel in leaving his son alone in that world, with nothing but a half a tin of peaches to sustain him. In his final gesture of love, the man declines the peaches and tells his son to save them for him -- for tomorrow, when he knows he'll be gone. I'm crying for the loss to the skinny, starving boy, who has lost his smart, determined, vigilant and tender father -- the only thing standing between him and a horrific future as a catamite or cannibal's dinner. And I'm crying for the loss to myself of the most inspiring character in the fiction world: a man with the strength to keep going, keep walking, keep searching, when almost all others have given up (like his wife) or given in to their basest instincts (the roadagents). "The Road" left me knowing that love is all that matters, and determined to live my life out of that knowledge. I want to give up living from my mind and start living from my heart. Perhaps I will adopt a child. The story is more powerful than a thousand sermons. Cormac McCarthy strips away all the superfluous stuff that has nothing to do with love. We don't know whether the man preferred to go out for sushi or steak, jazz music or country. Was he a lawyer, salesman or mechanic? None of that is essential to who he is. We don't need him to crack jokes or say profound things. All we know of him is what he does, and that's plenty. We see him putting his son's welfare first, over and over again. When they are hiding from the cannibals, he considers running to draw them away from the boy. That he himself will end up in that basement doesn't even figure in his decision not to do it -- only that he doesn't think it will work. His own pain weighs nothing when compared to his motivation to save the boy. As for those who fault the man for not helping strangers -- I don't agree. Any morsel of food given to strangers is taken from the mouth of his son, or lessens his own chance to stay alive long enough to get his son south. He had to choose and he chose his son. So the story had a deep emotional impact on me. But in addition, it is a story of ideas. How low can man go? What darkness beats in the heart of men, only thinly veiled by our (currently) abundant society? At what point is life no longer worth living? At what point should the strong drive for self-preservation be ignored, if it means committing atrocities on others? And lastly, to what extent am I taking life's current luxuries and comforts for granted? I'm sure many a reader of "The Road" has collapsed into bed after a night of reading and felt immense gratitude for their cozy bedroom, their clean sheets, their fridge and a tasty midnight snack. Things that troubled me about the story: I wanted them to stay longer at the bunker. At least to make full use of those provisions and take the time to fatten up and rest before heading on. They could've hauled a load of groceries off a mile or two and pigged out for a few weeks before coming back for more. The more weight they put on, the less crucial it would be to find fresh provisions when they finally did leave. I wanted to see him make a major effort to find a way to disguise the trap-door to the bunker. It had gone undiscovered for almost ten years, if it was well hidden perhaps it could go undiscovered for at least a few more months. Setting off the flare gun was irresponsible. They wasted a flare and announced their position, perhaps drawing the thief. But those are minor quibbles. After finishing "The Road," I felt profoundly blessed, and cleansed from within from the tears shed. I knew I was in the presence of greatness. Cormac McCarthy has given mankind an immense gift, for which I paid only $7.99. Thank for Cormac McCarthy.

'The Road' by Cormac McCarthy is a haunting yet profoundly moving narrative set in a post-apocalyptic world. The story follows a father and his son navigating a desolate and bleak landscape, a world devoid of hope. Their journey to the coast is fraught with dangers, where survival is a constant battle against lawless bands and the unforgiving environment. McCarthy's eloquent prose captivates the reader, painting a vivid picture of a world in ruins, where the only constants are the bitter cold, ash-laden winds, and unrelenting darkness. The palpable desolation in the narrative grips you, evoking a sense of the dire circumstances faced by the protagonists. What truly shines in this tale is the poignant relationship between the father and his son. The unwavering love and reliance they have on each other in the face of despair and devastation is both heartrending and uplifting. Their bond serves as a guiding light in a world where darkness prevails, showcasing the resilience of the human spirit. McCarthy's unflinching portrayal of human nature - encompassing both its destructive and tender aspects - is deeply thought-provoking. The contrast between ultimate destructiveness and the enduring tenderness that sustains these two individuals in a world of ruin is both compelling and reflective. This novel is an emotionally charged odyssey that lingers in the mind long after the last page is turned. Though the subject matter is grim, McCarthy's storytelling prowess and the depth of the human connection depicted within the narrative make it a compelling read. The exploration of themes like love, survival, and the human condition makes 'The Road' a book that leaves an indelible mark. While the book is a powerful, emotional journey, it's not for the faint of heart due to its dark and at times, distressing themes. However, for those willing to delve into the depths of human endurance and the unbreakable bond between a father and his son, 'The Road' is an evocative and unforgettable experience. As a fan of Cormac McCarthy's writing, 'The Road' lived up to his legacy, though it is undeniably an intense and gripping read. This book deserves high praise for its exceptional storytelling and exploration of the human spirit in the face of adversity. Therefore, I rate it four stars for its evocative narrative and powerful emotional depth.

This is the first Cormac McCarthy book I have read. I had heard from so many people that I would love him as a writer and this book was a good indication that they were correct. The book, which won the Pulitzer Prize for Literature last year, is a bleak narrative of a father and son's journey through the post-apocalyptic South. A non-specific, but apparently human-caused catastrophe has destroyed most of the earth and killed almost all human life. People survive on leftover non-perishable food (the cataclysm happened a number of years earlier so these items are almost non-existent) and cannibalism. It is a desolate and dangerous world for a father and young son to walk through and walking seems to be the one universal activity in this world. And it's a dangerous activity because both "the good guys" and "the bad guys" are on the move, scavenging for scraps of food and instruments of survival. Houses have been vacated and left to rot, everyone is the road, on the move. The few houses which are still inhabited are places of unimaginable horror, which McCarthy uses to illustrate the animalistic evil which thrives in this dismal environment. This flourishing of evil is one of the main themes McCarthy wrestles with throughout the book: what will men do once there is nothing left to live for and little to live on? (In this way, the book is similar to another apocalyptic book I have reviewed here, Children of Men and revisits themes of William Golding's The Lord of the Flies.) There is not much in the way of plot or denouement. There are few clues as to what event has destroyed life and hope. There are no chapter divisions, mirroring it would seem, the endless march of the unnamed characters. And there are only a handful of geographic markers (though the one I liked was the barn that read, "See Rock City"). Yet, even devoid of these traditional literary markers, the narrative is utterly gripping. I had a difficult time stopping reading and was I not in the middle of visiting family with my four children I probably would have simply sat and read to the end without pausing. The book is simply a narrative of events, observations, and pain. But the writing is so beautifully descriptive, both of the landscape and the human condition, that the spare plot line is absolutely spell-binding. At the end of "the road", you will have gotten to know the two main characters with a familiarity that lesser writers usually need 600 pages to convey (this book is less than 300.) You will feel like their aspirations and their despair are somehow yours to bear as well. And, even though you don't know their names, you will likely care very deeply about them, as I did. The fact that McCarthy invites the reader to care so deeply about the main characters, and because the father and son are just like many fathers and sons we all know, he is able to make this grotesque world seem less outlandish and implausible. As I read, I began to visualize myself in the circumstances of the book and ask, "what would I do?" or "how would I fare?" And, though his characters primary concern is their immediate survival, they ask those questions that arise in any human situation, prosperous or desperate: "Am I a good person?", "Are we some of the good guys?" (Those that are left.) At one point in the book, the father suggests to one of the travelers that they meet that his young son is a "god", and in this apparently god-forsaken world, it is a poignant image. Though the boy is a dependent on the father and not the other way around, he is also the father's only source of joy and comfort, and is his moral compass, reminding him that as one of the "good guys", they should help others, even if it puts them in greater danger. This book is beautiful and gut-wrenching, it's a serious work of literature and a page-turner. I highly recommend it and I look forward to reading more of McCarthy's work. (I also recommend keeping a dictionary handy while you're reading it.)

Let’s walk along "The Road" by Cormac McCarthy, which my oldest daughter read at her lit teacher’s suggestion. It looked intriguing, there on the “return” pile by the back door, yet when I picked it up she said, “It’s just so depressing!” That it is. “The Road” tells about “the man” and his son, “the boy.” No names, but that’s the least of their problems. They live in America after some huge disaster. We’re not talking your standard terrorist attack or anything. No, in this world the daylight is gray. Corpses litter the landscape. The few trees you might see are burning. There are no animals, except for the stray mutant creature. By day the banished sun circles the earth like a grieving mother with a lamp. We’re never told exactly what happened, but we do know that the man did live most of his life when things were “normal.” The boy was born, and the mother apparently couldn’t handle things to come and did away with herself. So it’s just the man and the boy, walking along the road in an attempt to get to the coast. Why, it isn’t exactly clear — once they reach the coast, things don’t seem much rosier. And along the way, they are in fear of “bad guys” who sometimes appear in truly terrifying ways, but mostly they don’t run into anyone at all. When they do, the man wants to get away from them as quickly as possible. The boy, who truly seems too good for the world he’s landed in, always does want to help the others. The writing in this book is usually spare, but there are a whole slew of “big words” scattered throughout too (like catamite, which I looked up and then wished I hadn’t). Punctuation is scattered — no quotation marks, and most contractions dont have apostrophes. However, almost immediately this seemed okay: in a world where pretty much everything has fallen apart, who cares if you’re using the proper writing conventions? So, although the setting is pretty much pure desolation, I thought this was an excellent book and I’m glad I read it. The writing is really good; good in a way that makes me want to give up writing anything: He thought that in the history of the world it might even be that there was more punishment than crime but he took small comfort from it. Or this exchange between the man and the boy: Do you wish you would die? No. But I might wish I had died. When you’re alive you’ve always got that ahead of you. Or you might wish you’d never been born. Well. Beggars cant be choosers. You think that would be asking too much. What’s done is done. Anyway, it’s foolish to ask for luxuries in times like these. I guess so. Nobody wants to be here and nobody wants to leave. And I loved this description: Still there was something perverse in his searching. Like exhausting the least likely places first when looking for something lost. See, McCarthy described a feeling so well. I can totally relate to that. Love when an author does that. The Road: bleak. Depressing. Excellent.

Warning: This recording is not unabridged (as stated in the website description)! I happened to find several sections that had been cut from the text. That is because some transitions were so awkward and abrupt that I suspected the author wasn't responsible. When I checked the printed book, sure enough, paragraphs had been cut from the reading. There are undoubtedly other passages that were cut that I did not discover. The reader himself does a fabulous job. It is truly a shame that someone decided to spoil a brilliant reading and a fabulous book by hacking out sections. It's even worse that this is misrepresented on the website.

It was right there, in the description of the item in my Amazon cart; it was in parenthesis: (The Oprah Winfrey Book Club)--and, after a few clicks and an innocuous transfer of some money-numbers on a computer screen, the book was mine and it was on its way. Over the next couple of days, as I awaited the book's arrival, I had to wonder what I'd done. Was I actually going to like this book or was I going soft, like a piece of fruit being tossed (and dropped a few times) around the library by a couple of bored high-school kids that don't understand why anyone would read the book when you can just watch the movie? I'd been told to check out Cormac McCarthy several times over the past few years and I'd been putting it off. I like stories of the macabre, I told myself. I'm not mainstream. I don't like the sort of books that populate the shelves of Barnes and Noble. (Although I couldn't quite stifle that voice in the back of my head that kept whispering: What about King, you idiot. How much more mainstream can you get, you hypocritical bastard.) I thought that if Oprah liked it, the woman adored by so many middle-aged woman across America, it probably wasn't for me. When the book arrived, sure enough, there it was: that great big gleaming O sticker, stuck to the front of my new book like a tumor, a mark that, to me, was as glaring and hideous as a scarlet A. I took the book to work with me, shamefully hiding the Oprah Book Club sticker with my fingers, and I read the first 50 pages or so. I read some more at lunch. I was intrigued; I was curious; I was drawn into the world of the book. I hadn't imagined a place so perversely dark and hopeless, so vague and yet so very real--so very human. I forgot about that little sticker on the front cover and I finished the book in a day and I immediately looked up Oprah's Book Club--what other kinds of things were on that list? What was I missing? "The Road" by Cormac McCarthy is a very good book. Its subject matter is most decidedly horror, but its style and restraint are the qualities of good literature. It chronicles the journey of a man (never named) and his young son as they travel through a world after some sort of apocalyptic disaster (never explained). All we know is that it's cold, food is extremely scarce, and everything is in ruins, covered in ash and falling to pieces. McCarthy's sparse writing style works perfectly to convey the desperate numbness of humanity reduced to a state of aimless survivalist. People are kept locked in basements like cattle to be eaten by other people; a woman gives birth to a baby and roasts it on a spit for dinner with her male companions; all the plants and birds and everything is dead. It is a bleak world and a bleak story, but with a lot of heart and much to say about the nature of altruism and the human spirit. Now, I've looked through Oprah's list of books from the past few years and most of what's listed there are not of much interest to someone like me who loves the horror genre and loves subversive fiction (besides a few works of Faulkner), but I have to say it is a solid list of 'literary' pieces of writing that I'm sure are important and powerful in the canon. I must say, my respect for Oprah has jumped considerably after looking over her list of books and knowing that she actually reads and encourages others to read--in a society that is becoming more and more illiterate and loosing its historical memory, anyone totting the value of the written word is a commendable and upstanding member of the human race in my eyes. Read "The Road." It is a wonderful piece of literary horror fiction.

In his Pulitzer Prize-winning tour de force The Road, Cormac McCarthy, the reclusive master of Americana literature, ignores all of the usual tropes of post-apocalyptic novels. Instead of focusing on the usual (Russian nuclear holocaust that seems to plague the subgenre), McCarthy creates a story of love, hope, and survival in a desolated world in which those very concepts have been obliterated as completely as the landscape. The Road is very similar to that of McCarthy's earlier novels, in that it is about as dark and cynical as anyone in the world is willing to experience. McCarthy's characters are often searchers, individuals who embark on a not very well defined quest to find parts of themselves they know are missing even if they can't readily be identified. In The Road, we travel with two survivors, a man and his son, who push their meager belongings down a highway in a shopping cart, the land all around them a grey moonscape. We don't know the man's name, or his son's. Their names are not important. Their bond is what makes this story tick, thus that is where the most detail is placed. We don't know exactly what caused the world to become a wasteland. We get a memory flashback or two from the father (the boy was born just after the holocaust), of burning environments. It was more than likely not a nuclear war, because none of the locations shown are radioactive, and cities are still standing, albeit shells of themselves. All we know is that father and son are together, treading on, through a burned out America where ashy snow falls from the sky. The father wants to take them south, where the winters are less harsh and perhaps there will be more "good" people. There is no promise that this location will be any better, but it does provide hope. Sometimes hope is the most important thing to hold on to. Human encounters are few, and rarely pleasant. Whether it is a harrowing near escape from a cannibal clan, or the father's cold-blooded abandonment of a man stuck by lighting and dying on the side of the road, the objective is to avoid human contact at all costs. If this novel sounds bleak, it is. However, it is also one of the most enduring and riveting novels I have read in recent memory. It is almost impossible to not read this novel in one sitting. McCarthy's spare prose, although awkward at first, is perfectly accessible. The two protagonists hit so close to home because they personify that most elemental of human relationships - parent/child - stripped down to the level where the deepest possible connection is made from the instinct to survive. The boy is only able to survive because of his father. His father is only able to survive because his son needs him. McCarthy has written a post-apocalyptic novel that eschews politics and focuses on the human fallout. While there is a grim inevitability to the narrative even in its few bright moments - the lucky discovery of a well provisioned, un-looted bomb shelter behind a farm saving our heroes from starvation at one point - The Road is nevertheless a testament to human resilience and strength under even the most soul-crushing adversity. Four and a half stars.

This is a remarkable story, well told, and I found it impossible to put the book down. The Road takes place after a nuclear holocaust with few survivors. There is complete destruction with the story following a father and son who have lost everything and must leave their home to survive before winter sets in. They set on a course to a warm coastal climate. Due to total destruction they must walk, encountering death, destruction, and challenges to survive. Food and fuel for warmth is scarce, and no one else to rely on since society has collapsed and thieves will steal any and all possessions or murder without hesitation. One of the complaints of the book is the lack of emotion in the story. There is emotion between the father and son, but they do not do not discuss it or allow it to come to the surface. These two individuals are survivors and allowing emotions will result in giving up and dying. They have lost their wife/mother, family members, friends and way of life. In addition to surviving they are also mourning. Mourning for there family, and for a life that will never exist again. They only have one another to rely on. The son depends on his father for survival, and does not want to be left alone. I estimate that he is anywhere from 12 - 14 ears old. Dialog takes place between the father and son with very few other characters introduced in any dialog. Complaints I have read from personal reviews include the lack of punctuation, particularly the absence of quotations. This did not bother me, since the dialog is primarily only between two characters and it was easy to tell who was speaking. Another complaint is the content is very depressing. That I have to agree with, but this is a story following total destruction. Some people have a problem with the cannibalism, but as a post-holocaust story it fits and makes sense. It adds to the challenges for survival. My personal negative is the use of a shopping cart on their journey through snow and mountain trails. For me this was distracting because shopping carts are useless outside of a smooth tile floor, plus they never go the direction you want. I also take issue that there was nothing left from the holocaust. The only thing that survives are very few people. With nothing surviving and only two characters presented there is few channels to end the story. The ending was somewhat disappointing, but not sure the story could of had another ending. With few distractions the full story is about the interaction between the father and son. Despite the flaws, for me, the story was engrossing. Before reading The Road I was not expecting much from a novel with nuclear destruction as the background. I was mistaken. I could not have been more taken in and engrossed by the story. The dialog, interrelationship, utter dependence, and underlying emotions is gripping. This is an absolute must read.

In een vernietigende zwarte kou doolt een vader naar het zuiden met als enige motivatie zijn zoon. We volgen dit tweetal in een post-apocalyptische wereld van as en onmenselijkheid door zo helder beschreven vernietiging dat de adem stokt. Er is geen hoop, maar de lezer denkt het te kunnen vinden.

Amazing book. People say it's incredibly depressing and a window into what desperation turns people into, but to me, despite having to stop a couple of times as realizations hit me like trucks, it felt a lot more like a amazing story of what a father will do for his child, how his innocence and sweetness keep him going. I would recommend it in spite of how depressing it can get. Thanks to it I was also able to get into McCarthy's literary style, which is also very much appreciated.

Brilliant read, loved it. Fast, free delivery from Amazon

Scritto in ma ieri quasi asettica, in alcune parti ripetitivo, quasi a suggerire il nuovo corso delle vicende umane dopo una misteriosa catastrofe che resta percepibile solo attraverso le tracce che lascia. Ci sono due visioni quasi contrastanti. Un padre che lotta per la sopravvivenza e un figlio che prima accetta qualsiasi nefandezza come qualcosa di indiscusso, e poi, crescendo, inizia a sviluppare una sua personale coscienza. E' un grido forte all'umanità, alla riconquista di valori perduti. Storia che lascia tantissime emozioni e che merita di essere letta tutta di un fiato.

Je n'étais pas du tout familière de l'oeuvre de McCarthy et j'ai acheté ce livre car j'en avais entendu beaucoup de bien. Quelle bonne idée j'ai eu! Ce livre est en fait très rapide à résumer car en substance en fait il ne s'y passe pas grand chose: Après une catastrophe qui a réduit à néant la quasi totalité de l'humanité (façon fin des dinosaures) un père et son fils tentent de survivre dans une amérique en cendres. Leurs objectifs? Se nourrir, se réchauffer, ne pas se faire tuer, bref: survivre. Et... et bien c'est tout! Mais réduire The Road à ce résumé simpliste et se dire que le roman est creux serait une grave erreur. The road ne peut se lire qu'avec une certaine distance, distance que le style minimaliste de l'auteur impose dès les premières pages. Et quand je dis minimaliste, c'est tout sauf péjoratif. Le style de McCarthy reflète parfaitement le monde qu'il décrit. La terre est ravagée, l'amérique (je ne dis même pas les Etats Unis puisque ceux-ci n'existent plus) n'est plus qu'un tapis de cendre, tout (et presque tout le monde) est mort. Les mots mêmes de l'auteur nous font ressentir le vide de l'univers de ce roman. Pas de tournures de styles alambiquées, que des phrases courtes et brutes pour décrire un monde sans un souffle de vie, sans un chant d'oiseau, sans lumières. Les villes, les pays, même les gens n'ont plus de nom (on ne saura jamais celui d'aucun personnage d'ailleurs). L'humanité n'existe plus et les quelques survivants en sont réduits à satisfaire des besoins primaires: homme ou animal, survivants ou bêtes traquées, on ne sait plus trop... Chacun trouvera dans ce livre ses propres métaphores. Certaines sont évidentes: ce chemin sur lequel il faut toujours aller de l'avant sans s'arrêter, ce monde dans lequel tout retourne à la cendre..., d'autre plus personnelles. The Road invite aussi à s'interroger sur les notions de bien et de mal dans un univers où plus aucun repère n'existe. Certains commentaires disent que ce livre se lit d'une traite, qu'il est impossible à poser une fois commencer. Pour moi, ce fut le contraire. J'avançais dans l'histoire à petits pas, incapable parfois de continuer tant l'atmosphère est pesante, tant la lecture est parfois aussi déprimante, longue et dure que la vie que se voient contraints de mener les protagonistes. Un livre indispensable, une sacrée expérience littéraire.