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3.92 AVERAGE
3.92 AVERAGE
The story is focused on the aftermath rather than on the cause of the post apocalyptic world that follows a father and a son struggling to survive.
The world has been destroyed by an unspecified catastrophe, probably by nuclear war or an environmental disaster which I don’t know, as the sky is choked with ash, there is no sun, the weather is cold, the land is barren, and most plants and animals are extinct.
After the apocalypse, the wife argues with the father about their future. Her belief is that she believes death is preferable to the horrors of the new world. She accuses the father of false hope: “You think you’re protecting him, but you’re just prolonging his agony.” She walks out into the darkness and kills herself (likely with a sharp object).
Her suicide isn’t cowardice, it’s a philosophical stance against a meaningless existence. “They’re going to rape us and eat us, and you won’t face it. You’d rather wait for it to happen. But I can’t. I won’t.” She sees the truth: the world isn’t coming back. She believes love isn’t enough to justify the suffering. But the father keeps on living with the boy. The wife sees futility, he clings to duty. His love for the boy is irrational but unshakeable.
The story goes where the man (the father) and the boy, his son, travel south toward the coast, hoping for warmth and survival. They carry a shopping cart with minimal supplies and a pistol with only two bullets meant for suicide if they are ever captured by cannibals.
Throughout their journey, they came across an abandoned house, but then they discovered something quite graphic in the basement: they found naked, mutilated people, a human infant on a spit over coals. But they managed to escape the scene to safety and hide away. The boy got traumatized after that; he asked his father, “We wouldn’t ever eat anybody, would we?” The father replied, “No. We wouldn’t.”
The father would do anything to keep his son alive at all costs. Every decision, whether to trust strangers, when to kill. Because his purpose is the boy. The father would sacrifice his health (giving the boy more food, staying awake on watch). “My job is to take care of you. I was appointed to do that by God. I will kill anyone who touches you.” His paranoia: He assumes everyone is a threat, which keeps them alive but isolates them.
When the boy asks about the past, the father struggles to describe the lost world. His memory is fading, symbolising how the old world is truly gone. “You forget what you want to remember and remember what you want to forget.”
The boy has zero survival instinct, but he has empathy, always clinging to hope and compassion. His fear is becoming a bad guy, as he constantly questions, “Are we still the good guys?” His innocence is what softens his father, but the father’s ruthlessness is what keeps them alive. The boy struggles with the loneliness; he craves connection, asking to help Ely and the thief. He would share his food with strangers even though he himself is starving.
Fast forward to when the arrow attack. A cannibal shoots the father in the leg with an arrow. He kills the attacker with the pistol. The injury accelerates his decline. He coughs blood. "You're going to die, are you?" The father lies: "No, not now." But he dies anyway and tells the boy to keep the gun and carry on the fire. The boy curled beside the corpse for three days, refusing to leave before accepting reality.
The boy moves on and joins a mystery new family, but Cormac left the readers hanging with that: whether the rescuers are good or just luring the boy.
The world has been destroyed by an unspecified catastrophe, probably by nuclear war or an environmental disaster which I don’t know, as the sky is choked with ash, there is no sun, the weather is cold, the land is barren, and most plants and animals are extinct.
After the apocalypse, the wife argues with the father about their future. Her belief is that she believes death is preferable to the horrors of the new world. She accuses the father of false hope: “You think you’re protecting him, but you’re just prolonging his agony.” She walks out into the darkness and kills herself (likely with a sharp object).
Her suicide isn’t cowardice, it’s a philosophical stance against a meaningless existence. “They’re going to rape us and eat us, and you won’t face it. You’d rather wait for it to happen. But I can’t. I won’t.” She sees the truth: the world isn’t coming back. She believes love isn’t enough to justify the suffering. But the father keeps on living with the boy. The wife sees futility, he clings to duty. His love for the boy is irrational but unshakeable.
The story goes where the man (the father) and the boy, his son, travel south toward the coast, hoping for warmth and survival. They carry a shopping cart with minimal supplies and a pistol with only two bullets meant for suicide if they are ever captured by cannibals.
Throughout their journey, they came across an abandoned house, but then they discovered something quite graphic in the basement: they found naked, mutilated people, a human infant on a spit over coals. But they managed to escape the scene to safety and hide away. The boy got traumatized after that; he asked his father, “We wouldn’t ever eat anybody, would we?” The father replied, “No. We wouldn’t.”
The father would do anything to keep his son alive at all costs. Every decision, whether to trust strangers, when to kill. Because his purpose is the boy. The father would sacrifice his health (giving the boy more food, staying awake on watch). “My job is to take care of you. I was appointed to do that by God. I will kill anyone who touches you.” His paranoia: He assumes everyone is a threat, which keeps them alive but isolates them.
When the boy asks about the past, the father struggles to describe the lost world. His memory is fading, symbolising how the old world is truly gone. “You forget what you want to remember and remember what you want to forget.”
The boy has zero survival instinct, but he has empathy, always clinging to hope and compassion. His fear is becoming a bad guy, as he constantly questions, “Are we still the good guys?” His innocence is what softens his father, but the father’s ruthlessness is what keeps them alive. The boy struggles with the loneliness; he craves connection, asking to help Ely and the thief. He would share his food with strangers even though he himself is starving.
Fast forward to when the arrow attack. A cannibal shoots the father in the leg with an arrow. He kills the attacker with the pistol. The injury accelerates his decline. He coughs blood. "You're going to die, are you?" The father lies: "No, not now." But he dies anyway and tells the boy to keep the gun and carry on the fire. The boy curled beside the corpse for three days, refusing to leave before accepting reality.
The boy moves on and joins a mystery new family, but Cormac left the readers hanging with that: whether the rescuers are good or just luring the boy.
adventurous
dark
emotional
reflective
sad
tense
fast-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
Character
Strong character development:
Complicated
Loveable characters:
Complicated
Diverse cast of characters:
No
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Complicated
I read this in high school and loved it. I remember nothing about it right now.
adventurous
challenging
dark
emotional
hopeful
inspiring
sad
tense
slow-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
Character
Strong character development:
No
Loveable characters:
Yes
Diverse cast of characters:
No
Flaws of characters a main focus:
No
hopeful
inspiring
mysterious
reflective
sad
slow-paced
I don’t feel like I read a book. I feel like I caught a glimpse of a life that can’t be described at all — like survival at its bleakest, strangest, & most illogical to my civilized brain.
How did Cormac McCarthy write this ? What breadth of thought to be able to conceive this type of nothingness. This darkness — darker than black, impenetrable and swallowing. It’s harrowing, sublime.
But there is hope too. A lot of hope. How did they make it that far? And I hope no one relates to this book.
How did Cormac McCarthy write this ? What breadth of thought to be able to conceive this type of nothingness. This darkness — darker than black, impenetrable and swallowing. It’s harrowing, sublime.
But there is hope too. A lot of hope. How did they make it that far? And I hope no one relates to this book.
adventurous
dark
emotional
reflective
fast-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
A mix
Strong character development:
Yes
Loveable characters:
Yes
Diverse cast of characters:
No
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Yes
dark
emotional
reflective
sad
tense
medium-paced
dark
emotional
sad
tense
medium-paced
emotional
reflective
sad
Plot or Character Driven:
Character
adventurous
challenging
reflective
slow-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
A mix
Strong character development:
Yes
Loveable characters:
No
Diverse cast of characters:
Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus:
N/A