Reviews with content warning for Death of parent - The Road

Reviews tagging 'Death of parent'

The Road by Cormac McCarthy

141 reviews

lukel's review against another edition

challenging dark emotional hopeful inspiring reflective sad tense medium-paced

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

4.0

An interesting story of survival, loss, and how to have hope when faced with the darkness. Slow, but moving and emotional

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parathenormal's review against another edition

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dark hopeful reflective sad tense slow-paced

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

4.25

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dnssanies's review against another edition

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dark emotional hopeful mysterious 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

3.5

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suneaters's review against another edition

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challenging dark emotional 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

4.75

It’s beautifully written, heavy, hopeful, and tragic. The whole thing has a very dreamlike feel. It’s the most nonlinear feeling linear narrative I think I’ve ever read.

The end is hopeful, with the boy being found by a man and a woman with a boy and a girl that are both around his age. It shows that even at the end, there are “good guys” that carry the fire.

It’s also very realistic.

The man and his son nearly starve numerous times, fall ill, are injured, have bad luck, are robbed, and generally aren’t always easily able to traverse the terrain. Sometimes, they both want to die.

I found the depression to be well written and true to life.

This is in stark contrast to the survive at any cost apocalypse stories or even the murder house full of trapped people waiting to be eaten. One already missing his legs, presumably eaten. The boy also sees a dead baby being spit roasted over a fire and desperately asks his father if they would ever do that, to which the father says no.

This book was not enjoyable to read nor was it supposed to be. Yet I read it all in one sitting, desperate to know how their journey ended and where the road ended.

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surdiablo's review against another edition

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dark emotional sad tense slow-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? No

3.0

So I admittedly had a rough time liking this initially, not because I minded the lack of punctuation or anything similar, I just couldn't connect with it emotionally. The slow, monotonous pacing didn't help either as it felt like it was going nowhere for a while, besides showing how bleak and miserable the world is. However, it picked up around 40% and I found myself interested in it for the most part. This book is unequivocally the embodiment of bleakness, yet it surprisingly manages to instill a sense of hope all the while. Make no mistake, this book can leave you torn apart. There were several gut-wrenching moments, and even though I had already seen the movie and knew what was in store, the ending was emotional. I can see why this one is polarizing aside from the writing style, as people may find the plot or character development lacking, but I think McCarthy crafted a compelling journey that we were meant to take alongside the duo, and it's doubtful any other book can the beat the experience it provides in that sense. It's a beautiful yet disturbing novel that you may or may not click with, but it's also rather short so I would recommend giving it an honest try and not putting it away immediately if you are taken aback by the writing style.

<b>“He walked out in the gray light and stood and he saw for a brief moment the absolute truth of the world. The cold relentless circling of the intestate earth. Darkness implacable. The blind dogs of the sun in their running. The crushing black vacuum of the universe. And somewhere two hunted animals trembling like ground-foxes in their cover. Borrowed time and borrowed world and borrowed eyes with which to sorrow it.”</b>

“He walked out in the gray light and stood and he saw for a brief moment the absolute truth of the world. The cold relentless circling of the intestate earth. Darkness implacable. The blind dogs of the sun in their running. The crushing black vacuum of the universe. And somewhere two hunted animals trembling like ground-foxes in their cover. Borrowed time and borrowed world and borrowed eyes with which to sorrow it.”

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finchyness's review against another edition

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dark emotional 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

5.0

Every page adds to the dramatic irony between the reader and suffered existence of a man and his boy. There is no hope - and yet, still, they choose to walk along the road.

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