The Road: Pulitzer Prize Winner

The Road is a haunting yet beautifully written story about a father and son wandering the desolate remains of a world that once was. McCarthy masterfully illustrates the utter despair and desperation that might be displayed during the last gasps of humanity as well as humanity's determination and resilience with raw emotions and graphic imagery. If you enjoy reading books that take you on a rollercoaster of emotions from despair and desperation to feeling hopeful and loved then The Road is for you.

Set in the post-apocalyptic world, the story of "The Raod" takes us on a journey with a father and a son who are trying to survive and find a place more suitable for life. As the novel unfolds, we follow them through an extremely bleak and desolate landscape of devastated and destroyed America. The landscape is sparsely populated with other human characters, most of whom are dangerous and a threat. The food supplies are scarce, and the characters are constantly on a verge of starvation. The nature of the apocalypse is never spelled out, and in many respects is not consequential for the main thrust of the story. The main focus of the narrative is the personal story between the father and the son, and the lengths to which the former is willing to go for the sake of the latter. It is a gripping and haunting tale, probably with the most depressing overall atmosphere of any work of fiction out there. And yet, it is extremely hard to put the novel down, and given enough time it could conceivably be read in a single sitting. After having finished it, the characters and images have stayed with me for weeks. Which brings me to the following point: if you are squeamish and easily frightened, this may not be the best book for you. Before reading this book, I was only acquainted with Cormac McCarthy's works through their movie adaptation. However, this book left such an impression on me that now I want to go back and read his other novels. I also cannot wait to see the upcoming movie adaptation of this book. This is a true literary masterpiece and an absolute must-read.

This book took me totally by surprise. I was not a Cormac McCarthy reader before this -- he has been called the "finest living writer" of our time, and, if this magnificent offering is any indication, he well might be. I plan to spend more tme with his stuff in the years ahead. His style fascinates: a compelling blend of transgressive punctuation, Hemingwayesque leanness and poetically evocative prose. Part sci-fi, part horror, The Road’s primary selling point is the relational drama between its taciturn main character and his boy. As father of three sons, I was more than moved -- overwhelmed actually --by the pair's interaction, set against their burnt out world. An incident, for instance, featuring the duo and a ransacked soda machine is painfully simple, heartbreakingly beautiful. I think about it now and am struck dumb with emotion. I cry pretty easily when watching a poignant movie; not so much with my nose in a book. But I was sobbing so sputteringly at The Road’s conclusion, I had trouble finishing its final few pages. When I closed the book, I had to go find my adolescent son and just hold him. This novel changed me; it is a treasure I will long remember and ponder.