Reviews tagging 'Child death'

The Road by Cormac McCarthy

66 reviews

vonnibel's review

dark mysterious reflective sad tense slow-paced

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

5.0

beautiful beautiful prose. the right side of the book kept getting devastatingly thinner and thinner. kind of want to immediately reread it just to be with the boy and his dad one more time. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Child death

Minor: Cannibalism

bitterpearl's review

dark emotional funny hopeful mysterious reflective sad medium-paced

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

5.0

It's an eye-opener about the effects of climate change on our planet, but at the same time the author teaches us that if current society is stripped bare of its material wealth, power, and pleasures, nothing else will help the human race but love.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Suicide, Mental illness, Gore, Physical abuse, Vomit, Suicide attempt, Death of parent, Body horror, Sexual assault, Death, Sexual harassment, Violence, Cannibalism, Terminal illness, Injury/Injury detail, Self harm, Pregnancy, Chronic illness, Suicidal thoughts, Panic attacks/disorders, Pandemic/Epidemic, Blood, and Child death

izzykai's review

dark sad tense slow-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

3.0

It was quite repetitive to be honest. It felt like the same sad day repeating for 300 pages and then an underwhelming ending with few questions answered. When something exciting did happen it was over so quickly. There are no chapters which sucks cause I like having chapters as checkpoints. 

The minimal punctuation was a weird choice. Not using quotation marks sometimes made reading the dialogue confusing... and the run on sentences and not a single exclamat!on po!nt gave a deadpan college essay feel. I know this was done purposefully to set a certain vibe but I did not prefer it.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Violence, Death, Gore, Gun violence, Child death, and Death of parent

byelingual_kegan's review against another edition

challenging dark emotional sad tense medium-paced

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

5.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Blood, Injury/Injury detail, Animal cruelty, Animal death, Gore, Violence, Death, Child death, Death of parent, Cannibalism, and Murder

grankottekarin's review

dark emotional sad fast-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? A mix

3.0

It's a really good book, thought provoking and written in an interesting way. It probably deserves a higher rating but, even if I appreciated it, it wasn't really my cup of tea

There were so many bad things constantly happening that you got kind of numb to it - but then again there's some meaning in that too

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Content Warnings

Moderate: Death of parent, Violence, Blood, Cannibalism, Child death, Child abuse, Death, Trafficking, Suicide, Murder, Grief, Gore, and Injury/Injury detail

Minor: Rape, Torture, Animal death, Sexual violence, Sexual assault, and Vomit

rachaelh79's review against another edition

challenging dark emotional mysterious reflective tense slow-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Character
• Strong character development? It's complicated
• Diverse cast of characters? No

5.0

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Content Warnings

Moderate: Child death, Death, and Cannibalism

michellewords's review

adventurous challenging dark emotional inspiring reflective sad tense

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

4.25

"This is what the good guys do; they keep trying."
Man, this book is something else. I don't know if I can give it a proper review. 
I watched the movie a very long time ago and I remember pretty much nothing except how slow and boring it was. I found the book to be neither. 
I think most people know the plot of this book. In a post-apocalyptic world, an unnamed man and his son are on 'the road' to the ocean to find food and basic survival tools. Along the road, they encounter the results of people trying to survive, and most of them aren't great (biggest understatement of the year). 
This book is short, but man McCarthy sure knows how to punch a book up. The characters were SO well-developed. I knew exactly who the man and his son were. I knew what choices they would make and how they would survive. Their personal arcs and stories were so perfectly written. 
The prose too. OMG, McCarthy walks this fine line where it's very basic writing but throws just enough details to absolutely sell this world. 
The theme that I found the most compelling in this book was this unconscious search for light and goodness, both literally and figuratively. Even in the most obviously terrible situations, the man searched for what could help them survive and the boy searched for goodness in people. It was heartbreaking throughout the book how this search brought so much pain and darkness. It made the ending of this book so much more hopeful than I expected. 
Is it weird to say I loved this book? It's such a dark, drudge of a book-it feels weird to say that I loved it. It was a beautiful tragedy that I am unlikely to forget. 
I don't think I could recommend this book to everyone. There are far too many triggers to be found for the average person. I would recommend it for the stronger stomached and not prone to depressive reflections. It's such a good book, I wish I could recommend it to more people. 
 A note on TW: The Road is truly one giant trigger warning, specifically when it comes to violence and cannibalism. So I mean, you know what you are getting into when you read this book. It truly is a shocking read. The shock value is part of this book and I don't think the story could be told without any of the scenes. Yup, even that scene. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Child death, Violence, Cannibalism, and Murder

Moderate: Suicidal thoughts, Suicide, Death of parent, Gun violence, and Grief

christianbluer's review against another edition

dark emotional reflective fast-paced

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

5.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Body horror, Trafficking, Gore, Slavery, Child death, Murder, Death, Rape, Sexual violence, Suicide attempt, Suicide, Physical abuse, Grief, Cannibalism, and Blood

Moderate: Vomit and Terminal illness

emmgracebuch's review against another edition

adventurous challenging emotional hopeful informative 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? Yes

4.75

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Pandemic/Epidemic and Death

Moderate: Death of parent, Fire/Fire injury, Gun violence, Murder, Gore, Injury/Injury detail, and Violence

Minor: Cannibalism, Grief, Cursing, Vomit, and Child death

maulikki's review against another edition

challenging dark emotional sad fast-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

4.0

I usually like stories set in dystopian worlds, and this one definitely left me thinking. To me, the book was a good balance between light and dark, I really enjoyed all the small believable moments of love and humanity inside the new bleek world. The book rarely gave any answers, and instead presented a parent in impossible situations trying their best to protect their child. I get this is not for anyone, but just for the writing alone, I could recommend this one. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Gore, Grief, Sexual violence, Suicide, Suicide attempt, Physical abuse, Slavery, Pedophilia, Kidnapping, Pregnancy, Torture, Vomit, Abandonment, Animal death, Blood, Death, Emotional abuse, Fire/Fire injury, Injury/Injury detail, Body horror, Cannibalism, Rape, Child abuse, Excrement, Confinement, Cursing, Gun violence, Child death, Death of parent, Violence, and Murder