Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #15971 in Books
• Published on: 2006-11-03
• Binding: Hardcover
• 256 pages

'Best Fiction of 2006', Observer
'One of the most powerful novels of 2006...an indelible end-times
parable'

Waterstone's Book Quarterly
'Both terrifying and beautiful, it is about...the best and worst
of humankind...[it's] impossible to recommend it too highly.'

Sunday Herald
`An epic prose poem...builds to such a pitch of mournful
incantation hat something like real grief pours out'

Customer Reviews

This is art
I guess it's fitting that Cormac McCarthy has written a novel about the end of the world as so many of his characters in previous novels come to a point in their lives where it feels like it's the end of their worlds.

This novel is gripping from the very first page. McCarthy's writing is to the point and economical but no less beautiful for that, more so in fact. McCarthy is one of the few writers I have read who can make me stop mid page to wonder at his language or to deal with the emotions he has evoked.

I very rarely read books twice but The Road has encouraged me to go back to read McCarthy's classic Blood Meridian again. I love his prose.

compelling and almost hypnotic
The Road came to me highly recommended and initially I was disappointed - few characters and little going on. I felt like giving up. I persevered and became more and more drawn into what was happening. The author cleverly leaves out details of what has happened, allowing the reader their own interpretation. With each page turn, I increasingly cared about the fate of the nameless father and his son and their incredible bond which became more tangible as the book progressed. Beautifully written and thought provoking, this book isn't just about a post apocalypse trek across America, it acts as a warning, questioning the values of our materialistic and complacent society. A classic read, up there with the likes of 1984 and Of Mice and Men. A slow burner but definitely worth it!

McCarthy disturbs again!
2) THE ROAD Cormac McCarthy

Dystopian nightmare set in a post-apocalyptic America where a father and son head along an endless highway in search of some kind of salvation. Great energy is expended avoiding the attentions of roving cannibal gangs and one particularly sickening image of a spitted baby is vintage McCarthy-I was reminded of the eyeball gouging incident in `The Crossing.'
This is a spare and dark fable of our times however finally possibly redemptive and even hopeful. There is a possibility of the survival of civilised society though it must be strong and well-armed and able to defend itself against the barbarians who have lost all semblance of humanity. This is a recurring theme in McCarthy's work. The act of standing up and being a man whatever the cost, standing up for values. And of course the ever present evil-in this book represented by the cannibals and as with his other work, evil is all-pervading and almost overwhelmingly powerful. The character of 'the Judge' in Blood Meridian is one of the most enduring personifications of evil in all of literature. His destruction of life entails the same curiosity as a child pulling the wings off a fly or the legs off a spider. In this case united with the chilling lack of emotional engagement of a true psychopath. 'The Judge' makes Hannibal Lecter look like an engaging and conscientious social worker.
'Blood Meridian' remains McCarthy's masterpiece but 'The Road' has the status of a modern myth. He is most deserving of the Pulitzer Prize and it is right that he is finally receiving the recognition he merits. 'The Road' is also a fitting warning tale for readers living in a world that appears to be sleepwalking down that very road into a disastrous future. Let's hope he's wrong but I wouldn't bet on it. Time to start stockpiling the beans and kalashnikovs!