The Road
a post-apocalyptic classic and winner of the Pulitzer Prize for Fiction
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4.5 • 319 Ratings
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- £5.99
Publisher Description
One of the New York Times 100 Best Books of the 21st Century
Winner of the Pulitzer Prize for Fiction
A post-apocalyptic classic set in a burned-out America. A father and his young son walk under a darkened sky, heading slowly for the coast. They have no idea what, if anything, awaits them there . . .
The Road is a masterpiece of American fiction from Cormac McCarthy.
The landscape is destroyed. Nothing moves save the ash on the wind. Cruel, lawless men stalk the roadside, lying in wait. Attempting to survive in this brave new world, the young boy and his protector have nothing but a pistol to defend themselves. They must keep walking.
In this unflinching study of the best and worst of humankind, Cormac McCarthy boldly divines a future without hope, but one in which, miraculously, this young family may yet find tenderness.
With an introduction from John Banville, author of The Sea. Part of the Picador Collection, a series showcasing the best of modern literature.
'The Road made me cry for days' – Emma Donoghue, author of Room and Haven
'The most important environmental book ever written' – George Monbiot, author of Feral and Regenesis
Adapted into a critically-acclaimed film starring Viggo Mortensen and Charlize Theron.
PUBLISHERS WEEKLY
Violence, in McCarthy's postapocalyptic tour de force, has been visited worldwide in the form of a "long shear of light and then a series of low concussions" that leaves cities and forests burned, birds and fish dead and the earth shrouded in gray clouds of ash. In this landscape, an unnamed man and his young son journey down a road to get to the sea. (The man's wife, who gave birth to the boy after calamity struck, has killed herself.) They carry blankets and scavenged food in a shopping cart, and the man is armed with a revolver loaded with his last two bullets. Beyond the ever-present possibility of starvation lies the threat of roving bands of cannibalistic thugs. The man assures the boy that the two of them are "good guys," but from the way his father treats other stray survivors the boy sees that his father has turned into an amoral survivalist, tenuously attached to the morality of the past by his fierce love for his son. McCarthy establishes himself here as the closest thing in American literature to an Old Testament prophet, trolling the blackest registers of human emotion to create a haunting and grim novel about civilization's slow death after the power goes out. 250,000 announced first printing; BOMC main selection.
Customer Reviews
Enjoyed
I really got into the book during the second time of reading and enjoyed studying it at a-level.
The Road - poetic and inspired
This is on of the most profoundly moving books I've ever read. To capture the beauty and fragility of the relationship between father and son in such an understated but powerful way is a work of genius. I can't recommend this novel highly enough.
A must read
This was the first book I'd read in a while and just couldn't put it down. Read it start to finish in an afternoon. Doesn't really have a start or an end but leaves you in awe for some time.