The Road
written by Cormac McCarthy
https://www.ink2quill.com/

“The Road” is a novel written by the American author Cormac McCarthy and is the post-apocalyptic story of a father and son trying to survive in a devastated world. There has been a film of the same name made form the book and the author has appeared on the most famous talk shows to discuss the novel. Most critics loved the story and the author said in an interview that the story came from an idea of what he thought the world would look like in 50 to 100 years. The novel received several Awards including the James Tait Black Memorial Prize, Believer Book Award, National Book Critics Circle Award and the Pulitzer Prize, to name a few.

The Road Goodreads webpage

The Road New York Times Book Review

Cormac McCarthy website

“The Road” is a story of a father and son trying to survive in a devastated land. Now we don´t know for sure what the cause of the devastation was whether it was a nuclear war, or some kind of serious environmental catastrophy but society has all but collapsed. As the story progresses we learn more about the the father and son. We learn for example that the mother commited suicide and a cough from the father that gets progressively worse tells us also that he is dying. The world the author creates is a truly frightening, desolate place of starvation, lack of sunlight, cannibal gangs and oveall hopelessness. One description I loved was how the author described the crashing sound of the trees that were dead and breaking in half.

This is the story of a father´s courage and deep love for his son in a world gone mad. The world of the story is an incredibly depressing place of predation, starvation and the worst part of human nature. In spite of this fact the father decides to fight against the odds without ceding any of his humanity. This story had me wondering what would I do in the face of annihilation or more precisely extinction of the human race? This really is a soul searching question because ultimately it asks a person how strong is their will to live? It´s times like those that character in a person is forged and where they can set a good example for the younger generation to emulate.

“The Road” is such a subtle, well written book about the things that matter most and a courage that you only find in the face of hopelessness. It´set in a miserable world but is a beautiful story of a father´love for his son. I highly recommend “The Road” as a must read. It´s great writing and a beautiful story.

John

 

I2Q Blogs / The Written Medium appius / ink2quill / mccarthy / quill / road /