The Road

By: Cormac McCarthy

Narrated by: Tom Stechschulte

Pulitzer Prize, Fiction, 2007

America is a barren landscape of smoldering ashes, devoid of life except for those people still struggling to scratch out some type of existence. Amidst this destruction, a father and his young son walk, always toward the coast, but with no real understanding that circumstances will improve once they arrive. Still, they persevere, and their relationship comes to represent goodness in a world of utter devastation.

Bleak but brilliant, with glimmers of hope and humor, The Road is a stunning allegory and perhaps Cormac McCarthy's finest novel to date. This remarkable departure from his previous works has been hailed by Kirkus Reviews as a "novel of horrific beauty, where death is the only truth".

McCarthy, a New York Times best-selling author, is a past recipient of the National Book Award and National Book Critics Circle Award. He is widely considered one of America's greatest writers.

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Critic reviews

"McCarthy's prose retains its ability to seduce...and there are nods to the gentler aspects of the human spirit." (The New Yorker)
"One of McCarthy's best novels, probably his most moving and perhaps his most personal...Every moment of The Road is rich with dilemmas that are as shattering as they are unspoken...McCarthy is so accomplished that the reader senses the mysterious and intuitive changes between father and son that can't be articulated, let alone dramatized...Both lyric and savage, both desperate and transcendent, although transcendence is singed around the edges...Tag McCarthy one of the four or five great American novelists of his generation." (Los Angeles Times Book Review)

Father and Son

I have listened to nearly 200 books. This book is as good as Memories of Running, The Kite Runner, and the Life of Pi. I have two sons, and this book perfectly captures the powerful connection between father and son. The writing is terse and gripping. If your lip doesn't start to quiver at the end of the book, you are made of stone.

You won't regret using a credit on this book.

An unflinching portrait of the apocalypse

The prose in this book is almost lyrical. It is so utterly minimalistic that you stop to wonder how so much meaning can be packed into the briefest of phrases. The Road is one of the most depressing books I've ever read, because the picture it paints is so terrifyingly plausible. There are layers upon layers here, which bear repeat readings. The perspective focuses on the fragile but strong relationship between a father and son, and wisely does not venture beyond it. The catastrophe that ended their world is never named or explained, which makes sense: How would survivors of such a calamity even really know what happened without TV, without the buttresses of civilization? Full of haunting imagery that McCarthy presents largely free of opinion and merely lets "be," this book will stay in your head for weeks after you finish it. Required reading for anyone interested in post-apocalyptic ideas, and anyone who ever loved their father. Simply outstanding; this is one of my top five favorite books ever.

Will touch your soul

The first time I listened to this book I stopped after about 3o min because it seemed so boring and the subject so depressing. A friend told me to give it another chance and so I did. I am glad that I listened. First,the narration is perfect, each word clearly spoken with just the right intonations. The writing was beautiful and made me think long and hard about my life, my family, my own spirituality and beliefs. It touched my soul.

Monochromatic and mono-everything.

I downloaded this book because of the great ratings and the interesting plot synopsis. It's a very interesting concept, but, for me, didn't deliver much more than that. A man and a boy (both nameless) walk on a road to try to get to the sea. They're starving and scared of others. The end.
The other thing that bothered me was that the dialog was very minimalistic and the narrator sounded remarkably like Eeyore saying the lines. I kept imagining Eeyore and piglet walking down the road.

Hated the story.

Just on and on and on and never change. Definitely not for me. Realized to late that it would suck the whole way through so I listened to the end. Terrible.

I found this one tedious <br /><br /><br />

I felt like they kept telling the same story over and over first Hungry cold and starving then we find food someplace then we eat and we're hungry then we're starving moving on

Can't get it out of my mind

I'm so glad I got this one on audio b/c the narration was so well done. I listened to it over 1 run and 2 long car drives. It takes place in nucleur winter, and involves 2 survivors, a man and his small son, walking south on "the road" headed somewhere warmer, - I was told that premise and wasn't particularly interested, but I needed a book for my long drive and I was riveted, disturbed, fascinated, and totally impressed with the terrific writing. I think that there are major religious themes (There is no God and we are his prophets) but I have not worked them all out yet. Get this book

Overall very depressing

After reading the book I will definately not be renting the movie. This is my second McCarthy novel and same as the last one... I just don't get this author's appeal. I will not be going back for a third helping.

Eh

I heard about this book from a literature class I took. The professor said so much about it I just had to read it. The man and his son spend a lot of the beginning alone, so it’s a little slow. Soon, though, it settles into an interesting story of a father and son trying to survive the apocalypse. The tempo does pick up and many of the situations they encounter make you question how you would survive the end of the world, especially if you had to care for a young child.

I didn’t think there was anything extraordinary about it outside the conversation you would have about it. The story and writing, though, are not anything amazing. It evokes a good amount of emotion, has a solid ending and a really good narration.

My Nightmares live in this book

This book potrays every bad dream many of us have had about the future of the earth. And yes, it is beyond depressing, but I couldn't put it down. This story is so well written and narrated and I thought the ending was just right.
This is not one to enjoy, but maybe to make us think. Listening to this makes me believe that perhaps we should not only pray for world and realational peace, but resolve to make it happen each day in our own lives.