Customer Reviews
The Road - By: KM, 06 Jan 2009 
`The Road' by Cormic McCarthy is about a father & son who are two of the only survivors of an unexplained apocalypse & their journey through deserted America on their way south to try & beat the cold weather.
I wasn't a fan at all of McCarthy's novel No Country For Old Men as although the story was good, I hated the writing style, so I was very sceptical about reading `The Road' but thanks so Amazon Vine I got a free copy so gave it a read & I am so glad I did read it as it is one of the most moving & well written books I have readin a long time (despite his returning bad writing style).
After a slow start tp the book, I was about to give up as the main characters were literally walking then sleeping, walking then sleeping with literally nothing else happening for the first 55 pages or so & just as I was about to give up with it the pace sped up, the story got more exciting & I was hooked. I actually read thisin one (short-ish) sitting & loved the last three-quarters immensely.
The apocalypse is sort of a side story, something that is just there & has happened. This story is mainly about the relationship between a man & his sonin the most extreme & difficult circumstances & the outcome is very emotional, disturbing & heartwarming all at once.
Overall I will happily be recommending this book to others & anyone who doesn't read this is definitely missing out!
The road to hell.......... - By: shinelikestars, 02 Jan 2009 Cripes! Don't read this book if you live alone!
A haunting, mesmeric tale that will stay with you for hours after you've put the book down.
I read itin 4 sittings during a bout of insomnia over Christmas & believe me you're absolutely chuffed to see the dawn rise after inhabiting the sunless world of the survivors for a couple of hours.
Bleak, but not without hope. This book will hook you big time. Buy it now!
Helpless, but not hopeless - By: Ryan Williams, 31 Dec 2008 If you don't know that Cormac McCarthy is one of America's greatest living novelists, & if for some reason you haven't already read his Suttee, Border Trilogy, or Blood Meridian, now's the time to make up for it with this taut, lean tale of survival on a scorched Earth, toldin a prose style as hypnotic & rhythmic as a drum beat. It is a harrowing, forceful work of literature.
A Journey Worth Taking - By: Donald Thompson, 31 Dec 2008 I read this bookin one sitting. I did not want to miss any of the wonderful & haunting writing. The story of a seemingly pointless journey through a post apocalyptic landscape by a father & son is truly a coruscating experience. At times the simple thingsin life, which we all take for granted are thrown into sharp relief by the very desolation & destruction surrounding the protagonists. A simple story, simply told. No reason or justification is given for the holocaust, this is not the story of super heroes or high level politicians surviving the debacle. Simply a story of human courage, honesty & endurance. Some parts are not for the squeamish, but I found it haunting, memorable & very moving.
An apocalyptic vision of the future that is destined for greatness - By: J A C Corbett, 29 Dec 2008 In The Road, Cormac McCarthy presents an apocalyptic version of the future that recalls the great post-war novels that predicted a post-nuclear future.
Some sort of environmental catastrophe has sucked the life from the country. A grey pallor hangs over everything. Society has entirely broken down. A man & boy - we never learn their names - are emerging from the shadows to take the road to the ocean where the promise of redemption lies. Until they do, they lead the lives of rodents - scavenging, hiding, watching, fearful.
It is a perilous journey fraught with constant dangers. In the world of the man & boy, there are only good guys & bad guys, but everything they seem to encounter is bad & to be feared. The prose is unremittingly bleak but it is compelling throughout - I read itin one evening. Although I had seen the film of No Country For Old Men, this is the first Cormac McCarthy novel I have read, & he has a way of cranking up the tension to fever pitch that was reminiscent of that movie. Yet at the same time his language has an almost Beckettian quality (eccentric pronunciation, parsimonious prose).
This isn't just about the breakdown of society, or the preface to the world's end - it as an exposition of the bonds between man & son. This relationship, which was at the book's core, was as poignant & tender as anything that I can remember reading & ultimately marks The Road out for greatness. And despite the dark tone that exists throughout, the message at the book's end is one of hope & the promise that goodness will prevail.
