McCarthy, Cormac (2006). The Road. New York, New York: Knopf BooksISBN: 9780307472120
304 pages
Classification: Fiction
Genre: Science Fiction
Age Level: 17-19
Stars: 5 stars
Subjects: Dystopia, Family, Relationships, Death, War,
Reader's Annotation
In a post-apocalyptic world ravaged by nuclear annihilation, a man and his son walk down a road and rely on each other for survival against the nearly insurmountable odds in the forms of gangs of cannibals, starvation, and a loss of hope.
Summary
An unnamed man and his son are walking through a ravaged wasteland. The boy's mother died in the calamity, as did most of society. Those who are left must fight each other for scarce resources, and these limitations have brought out the worst in human nature. The boy and his father must battle against gangs of roving cannibals, starvation, and as they try to find hope and the meaning of life in a world where all life and humanity has been destroyed. The distortion of good and evil, and the questions this raises about human society, are compelling and dangerous- it forces readers to ask questions that may perhaps be better left unasked as it takes the reader into the darkest parts of the human psyche.
Notes
This book can be incredibly bleak and depressing, and its all-too believable account of a post-apocalyptic world may leave some running for a happier book to follow up after finishing this one. It has been recommended for older teens for its stark portrayal of life and death, love and survival, but it is nonetheless a heart-wrenching tale of paternal love in a world where good and evil have lost their meaning.
Awards
2006 Pulitzer Prize for Literature
2007 National Book Critic's Circle Award Finalist
New York Times Notable Book
2007 James Tait Memorial Prize
2007 Quill Book Award
Other Information
This book is currently being made into a film starring Viggo Mortensen, to be released in 2009. You can find information on the film here. Readers taken in by his style and bleak examination of human nature may be interested in his other novels, particularly No Country for Old Men, recently made into an Oscar winning film.
Author Information
