Reviews tagging 'Pregnancy'

The Road by Cormac McCarthy

26 reviews

lilybear3's review against another edition

challenging dark emotional hopeful mysterious reflective sad tense medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Plot
• Strong character development? It's complicated

4.75

I've been curious about this book for some time and I finally got around to it.  When reading and reviewing this book in 2023, it's important to remember this book was first published in 2006.  I didn't initially see why this book won a Pulitzer Prize, however, at the time and for all of it's hidden intricacies, it is great.

On the surface, the book is very straightforward and sentences are mainly stating what a character is doing or feeling, what the environment is, etc.  However, every now and then, we get a poetic and philosophical paragraph that wants the reader to stop and think.  This book is not a feel good book and there are some gruesome imagery at times, but it's not extremely pessimistic either.  There is hope, even if just a little.  Other themes are love, loss, grief, and humanity. 

I think this modern classic is really accessible, the writing isn't too complicated, except for a few words here and there that I didn't recognize.  I've seen other reviews question why there aren't quotation marks when characters are speaking and the lack of apostrophes in contractions like "cant."  These details are intentional.  As a reader, I could still understand who was talking based on how dialogue is laid out in other books.  I'm speculating here, but I think it represents the fall of structure and formality, almost all of humanity is gone.  It might also be hinting at the lack of education and need for written language.

I love a dystopian and I love that there are so many scenarios that fit that description.  There aren't a lot of details as to why the world has turned out this way, but I kind of like that the reader doesn't know and that is left to their own imagination.  I thought it might be a statement on environmental issues, but we just don't know.  Obviously, reading this in 2023 has made me compare it to more recent media like "The Last of Us," but I don't think that's a bad thing.  Both The Road and "The Last of Us" have similar themes, as mentioned above.

I could write an essay on this book.  I wasn't sure what I was walking into (I encourage you to do this with any book you read), but I ended up enjoying this a lot.  I couldn't put this book down.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Body horror, Murder, Grief, Gun violence, Injury/Injury detail, Medical content, Violence, Blood, Fire/Fire injury, Child death, Death of parent, Chronic illness, and Death

Moderate: Cannibalism

Minor: Animal death, Rape, Self harm, Slavery, Suicide, Torture, and Pregnancy

bookish_bry's review against another edition

dark emotional hopeful reflective sad 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? Yes

4.5

I really enjoyed this book. It was incredibly bleak, but there was also some burning embers of hope on almost every page. I really liked the relationship between the father and son. The father was really trying hard to raise his child the best he could even in a world of death and suffering.

The apocalypse itself didn't always make the most sense. It wasn't really steeped in much reality, but that didn't detract from the story too much. I really liked the writing style, but that comes from having listened to its audiobook. Judging by the other reviews, there may be some style choices that could have made it hard to read a physical copy. The audiobook however was great.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Blood, Death, Grief, Chronic illness, Cursing, Death of parent, Murder, Cannibalism, Gun violence, Injury/Injury detail, Gore, Suicidal thoughts, Suicide, Torture, Violence, and Vomit

Moderate: Rape, Pregnancy, and Pedophilia

The canabolism is pretty bad through the book. This includes the main characters stumbling across a baby being cooked. There are many dead bodies. Also, the characters almost starve to death a few times.

mrm4games's review against another edition

adventurous dark emotional medium-paced

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

4.0

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Content Warnings

Minor: Pregnancy, Excrement, Murder, Death, Medical content, Medical trauma, Cannibalism, Violence, and Vomit

revolution666's review against another edition

dark emotional sad tense slow-paced

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

3.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Cannibalism, Violence, and Death

Moderate: Abandonment, Torture, Murder, Gun violence, Slavery, Suicidal thoughts, Blood, Death of parent, Injury/Injury detail, and Terminal illness

Minor: Fire/Fire injury, Child death, Cursing, Gore, Rape, War, Pregnancy, Grief, and Animal death

erica_lannan's review against another edition

dark emotional reflective sad tense slow-paced

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

3.0

I would have made a lot of different choices than the father throughout the book, so it was hard in a lot of ways for me to relate.  It's definitely a book that has challenged my worldview, and it made me think deeply about the will to fight/live/survive/humanity itself.  That being said, I really didn't like it, although I CAN appreciate the writing.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Death of parent, Death, and Cannibalism

Moderate: Chronic illness, Grief, Body horror, Injury/Injury detail, Rape, and Slavery

Minor: Violence, Car accident, Pregnancy, Trafficking, Suicide, and Sexual violence

breedawnwriter's review against another edition

challenging dark emotional inspiring reflective sad slow-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Character
• Loveable characters? It's complicated

4.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Cannibalism, Murder, Death, Death of parent, and Suicide

Moderate: Blood, Suicidal thoughts, Injury/Injury detail, and Gun violence

Minor: Vomit, Rape, and Pregnancy

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

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

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

caffeinecrow's review against another edition

dark sad 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

1.25

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Blood, Death, Cannibalism, Death of parent, Fire/Fire injury, and Violence

Moderate: Grief, Pregnancy, Sexual violence, and Suicidal thoughts