Reviews tagging 'Torture'

The Road by Cormac McCarthy

32 reviews

atreidesjr's review against another edition

dark emotional sad tense medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Character
• Strong character development? It's complicated
• Loveable characters? Yes
• Diverse cast of characters? No
• Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated

5.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Violence, Injury/Injury detail, Gore, Chronic illness, Grief, Murder, Death, Sexual violence, Genocide, Death of parent, Cannibalism, Torture, Slavery, Blood, and Child death

jaynainjayna_16's review against another edition

challenging dark emotional sad tense medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Plot
• Strong character development? No
• Loveable characters? Yes
• Diverse cast of characters? No
• Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated

5.0

This book DESTROYED ME. Like Viola Davis snot falling down and all. I’m usually not a dystopian fan because the usual dystopian settings (sometimes the setting just doesn’t garner my attention), but this book’s setting was really interesting. Stated in the synopsis, it’s all set on a road and rarely deviates from it. This choice purposefully simplifies the story, creating suspense for the reader. There’s only so much that can happen on one singular road and to see what the man and boy encounter throughout their story is touching and jarring. Another interesting choice on Cormac McCarthy’s part is the lack of names in the story. The only time a name is used, we don’t know if it’s genuine, showing the lack of identity and distorted past the characters have. I’m trying not to spoil anything, but the last like 5-10 pages of the book tore me to pieces and I have to reread it again to get the full effect. Anyways, if you’re not a big fan of dystopian books like me, I suggest you give it a go, and maybe you’ll start liking the genre! 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Body horror, Death of parent, Death, Suicidal thoughts, Trafficking, Pregnancy, Slavery, Cannibalism, Child death, and Torture

Moderate: Blood and Excrement

joshloftin's review against another edition

adventurous challenging dark emotional inspiring reflective sad tense fast-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? A mix
• Strong character development? Yes
• Loveable characters? It's complicated
• Diverse cast of characters? No
• Flaws of characters a main focus? No

5.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Cannibalism, Death of parent, Physical abuse, Torture, Child abuse, Death, Gore, Injury/Injury detail, and Murder

proceduralbob's review against another edition

challenging dark medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Character
• Strong character development? No
• Loveable characters? No
• Diverse cast of characters? No
• Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated

4.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Death, Terminal illness, and Gun violence

Moderate: Suicidal thoughts, Rape, Slavery, Cannibalism, Torture, Suicide, and Violence

Minor: Pregnancy

jordancarter2112's review against another edition

challenging dark emotional mysterious reflective sad tense medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Character
• Strong character development? N/A
• Loveable characters? It's complicated
• Diverse cast of characters? N/A
• Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated

3.75

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Content Warnings

Moderate: Torture and Death

cstein's review against another edition

adventurous challenging dark emotional funny hopeful informative inspiring reflective sad tense fast-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Plot
• Strong character development? It's complicated
• Loveable characters? Yes
• Diverse cast of characters? No
• Flaws of characters a main focus? No

4.25

Prescient, disturbing, and sad, occasionally funny, often beautiful, full of (human) nature and faith. Images that stick in your head. Not as completely bleak as I feared and not as violent as some of McCarthy's other works.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Animal death, Blood, Death, Grief, Gun violence, Injury/Injury detail, Medical trauma, Pregnancy, Suicide, Suicide attempt, Abandonment, Slavery, Suicidal thoughts, Death of parent, Fire/Fire injury, Gore, Murder, Pedophilia, Child death, Confinement, Medical content, Violence, Cannibalism, Torture, Rape, Sexual assault, and Sexual violence

Moderate: Adult/minor relationship, Cursing, Chronic illness, and Terminal illness

Minor: Ableism

linds_jacks's review against another edition

dark emotional sad tense slow-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Character
• Strong character development? It's complicated
• Loveable characters? It's complicated
• Diverse cast of characters? No
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

3.75

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Death

Moderate: Murder, Physical abuse, Cannibalism, Gore, Suicidal thoughts, Gun violence, and Slavery

Minor: Pregnancy, Suicide, and Torture

The general dark/depressing tone of the book makes even minor mentions of disturbing topics potentially incredibly triggering.

soswiin's review against another edition

challenging dark emotional sad slow-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Character
• Strong character development? No
• Loveable characters? It's complicated
• Diverse cast of characters? No
• Flaws of characters a main focus? No

4.0

immediately picked this up upon hearing that it served as inspiration for the last of us (2013). writing style was weird with terrible punctuation but it grew on me. there’s no real plot to this, it’s just a bunch of bleak and dreary (albeit haunting and beautiful) descriptions. 

this book also proved my point that there is no man that can write a novel without unnecessarily talking about a woman’s breasts??

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Cannibalism, Death, and Death of parent

Moderate: Suicide, Slavery, Rape, Torture, and Sexual violence

childofmongreldogs's review against another edition

dark emotional mysterious reflective sad tense slow-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Character
• Strong character development? Yes
• Loveable characters? Yes
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

4.0

My first reading was definitely a more enjoyable experience. (Enjoyable in the sense that I didn't see some of the more flagrant flaws in the writing as opposed to the content matter which is mostly unenjoyable and pretty bleak.) 

There are some questions, though. While the boy's age isn't really stated, he seems to be very young in the ways in which he interacts with the world. It makes me wonder about what the world was like when he was small. He clearly understood how bleak everything was (the one question about his mother's disappearance) but he also seemed remarkably sheltered in other ways. The absence of most punctuation lacks clarity in a way that is more confusing than poignant. I will also say that it felt like none of this book was planned. Things happen, the characters react or underreact. There seems to be no direction. I don't know if it's reading into it to say that that might have been intentional since the two of them are wandering aimlessly with no plans beyond survival.

I still like The Road, however; I found that the minimalist way that it's been written really adds to the ambiance. There's a certain void to it, an empty flatness, that's reinforced by the stark punctuation and dialogue between the man and the boy. The stark contrast between the emptiness of the narrative that's pretty much void of description and the "purple prose" that seems to originate from a different perspective was an interesting choice. I actually enjoyed the characters and thought they did have a very strong personality between the two of them though I noticed some reviewers didn't see that. 

Overall, lovely prose, painful emotions, and a heartbreaking ending that leaves the reader with the same sense of mystery made it a lovely read for me. I liked that the questions remained unasked and the novel refused to answer them. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Blood, Child death, Death, Death of parent, Fire/Fire injury, Slavery, Violence, Cannibalism, Grief, and Injury/Injury detail

Minor: Blood, Body horror, Violence, Child death, Death, Grief, Gun violence, Sexual violence, Slavery, Suicidal thoughts, Cannibalism, Death of parent, Injury/Injury detail, Kidnapping, Rape, Sexual assault, Suicide, Torture, and Animal death

sophiejohn's review against another edition

dark emotional reflective sad tense slow-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Character
• Strong character development? No
• Loveable characters? It's complicated
• Diverse cast of characters? No
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

2.0

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Content Warnings

Moderate: Animal death, Cannibalism, Death, Death of parent, Grief, Gun violence, Suicidal thoughts, Torture, and War

Minor: Rape