The Road (Oprah's Book Club) by Cormac McCarthy Summary and Reviews
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Book Reviews of The Road (Oprah's Book Club)
Book Review: Genius
Summary: 5 Stars
McCarthy is the greatest novelist writing today. His writing is beautiful, evocative, poetic and original. In all his novels he grapples with the weighty, philosiphical issues that other modern writers seem keen to steer clear of. If you fail to be moved by this book - seek immediate help! The man is a genius. Book Review: A Writer's Writer
Summary: 5 Stars
As a hobby writer myself, I can say that there are times, when you're writing, that you would write a paragraph or sentance or even a line that says everything you want it to say. There's rare, but they make it completely worth the effort.
This guy writes like that ALL THE TIME!
Book Review: Apocalyptic poetry
Summary: 5 Stars
'The Road' is a book that I will remember for a very long time: it is scary, realistic, poetic and magnetic. McCarthy cleverly forms a novel out of something that wouldn't normally be considered worthy material for a piece as weirdly elegant as this.
'Dave Grrrr' is right, the main characters do not have any background, names or outstanding traits in their personalities. This, however, is certainly not a fault in the book. The characters are exactly what they should be - stripped of identity, status and hope: in the world portrayed in 'The Road' they are completely meaningless and thankfully remain so. The father and son are simply two human beings reduced (very literally) to the bones of what humanity originally stood for. In 'The Road', the father and son struggle along their way, desperately trying to survive and get further south to warmth. With only each other for company, they trudge along defiantly knowing that hope is all but lost.
'The Road' is as scarily realistic as it is ominously prophetical. This is not a happy read at all and certainly not one to be picking up from the shelf in the airport when looking for some uninformative reassurance as to how humanity will continue to thrive depite everything. 'The Road' laughs savagely at Hollywood and Disney's long legacy of glitzy futures and happy endings and hits home with an interesting account of what could be, or, perhaps, what is already. Definitely one to think about.
Book Review: Post apocalyptic masterpiece!
Summary: 5 Stars
Ever wonder what the end of the world will be like? This book makes a compelling read of what be humanities future. It is really a simple story but its implications are profound. The world has been turned into a living hell of dark gray ash. The road through this world is traveled by a man and his son as they try and escape to the sea. The journey is about more than just their survival, its about good and evil, and the meaning of existence. Mr. McCarthy proves again why he is an American literary treasure. Book Review: Sparse language to match the scenario
Summary: 4 Stars
This latest novel by Cormac McCarthy is very different from previous offerings; set in a post-apocalypse world where humans are faced with scavenging to survive, we also glimpse those who have abandoned all contrivances of humanity to survive by cannibalism and worse. The story is a simple one of father and son heading south to find, they hope, a warmer climate whilst trying to live by a code that doesn't see them slip into the abyss that others have succumbed to. They occasionally meet 'the bad guys' and the vision McCarthy creates is frightening and real. It is the possibility that these inhuman humans are just around every corner that lends the book an almost unbearable tension as we more and more want the 'good guys, those carrying the fire' (of humanity) to prevail. This is an excellent read, very thought-provoking and I give only 4 stars simply because it is probably not McCarthy's greatest work but a good one nevertheless.