Reviews tagging 'Child death'

The Road by Cormac McCarthy

67 reviews

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

grandmoffparkin's review against another edition

challenging dark emotional hopeful reflective sad tense 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? Yes

5.0

A bleak, beautiful book with a great dynamic at its core. Profound storytelling.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Child death and Cannibalism

rafaper19's review against another edition

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? Yes

4.5

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Child death, Death, Blood, Cannibalism, and Gore

Moderate: Terminal illness, Chronic illness, Suicide, and Suicidal thoughts

thimbler's review

dark hopeful sad 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: Cannibalism, Violence, Child death, and Trafficking

Minor: Pregnancy

andyfrenchhh's review

adventurous dark tense medium-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

5.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Cannibalism, Child death, and Death of parent

aburnss's review

challenging dark emotional sad tense medium-paced

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

4.75

 I initially picked up "The Road" as a recommendation from Lisa. I knew going in that it was a dark dystopian read, but I was still surprised with the depth of emotion the book evoked.

"The Road" follows a father and son as they make their way south following a road, amidst a horrifyingly bleak start to a post-apocalyptic winter. While we know little about what caused this ending of normal society, the characters are faced with a level of desolation that is difficult to comprehend.

The world is covered in ash with fires everywhere. The lack of sun and fires have killed nearly all vegetation and animal life. Humans have long been in starvation and the few remaining alive live in terror of roaming cannibalistic groups.

The desperate fight for survival and slow starvation as the book progresses is heart-wrenching. The author expertly demonstrates the fierce love between parent and child in the backdrop of the most bleak of circumstances imaginable. It is difficult to say I enjoyed reading this book, but it was so well written. The desperation and horror grew with each chapter.

The lack of quotations in the dialogue between characters was a masterful choice. Humans in this world had lost everything. Conversation was plagued with the constant lurking of death around the corner and the lack of quotations made the huge difference between normalcy and this horror all the more apparent. 

Several scenes stuck out to me.

The discovery of the locked cellar with emaciated humans tied up for slow consumption. The discovery of the underground bunker and excruciating decision / necessity to leave it. The orchard full of old dry apples and eating and drinking until bloated. The father's desperate instructions to his son on how to use the final bullet to kill himself if he were to be discovered. The naked abandonment of the thief on the road.. and the son's realization that they had indeed killed him.

Each as or more heart breaking than the last, this was not a good book to read before bed. 

This book puts the human condition into dramatic perspective. The issues that plague our minds frequently are so inconsequential compared to the bleak and dying world of "The Road". I won't be forgetting this story any time soon. The writing is beautiful, immersive, and perfectly builds a horrifying dystopia. I would recommend this read to anyone wanting to explore familial bonds in the most traumatic setting possible.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Death of parent, Suicidal thoughts, Child death, Suicide, Cannibalism, Death, Gun violence, and Violence

Moderate: Child abuse, Injury/Injury detail, Murder, and Rape

Minor: Slavery

This book is a dystopian and horrifying world where all manner of dark things happen to and around the main characters.

parathenormal's review against another edition

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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Content Warnings

Graphic: Death of parent, Death, Cannibalism, Torture, Fire/Fire injury, Trafficking, Violence, War, Medical content, Child death, Suicide, and Injury/Injury detail

bean_book's review

adventurous dark emotional reflective sad tense

• Loveable characters? Yes

4.75

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Cannibalism, Child death, and Suicide

Minor: Rape and Medical content

suneaters's review against another edition

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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Content Warnings

Graphic: Death of parent and Death

Moderate: Suicidal thoughts, Cannibalism, and Child death

Minor: Rape and Suicide

uniquelymace's review

challenging dark reflective 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? It's complicated

3.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Abandonment, Animal death, Body horror, Cannibalism, Child death, Vomit, Death of parent, Excrement, Physical abuse, Suicidal thoughts, Blood, Death, Gore, Grief, Suicide, Torture, Murder, Cursing, Pandemic/Epidemic, Pregnancy, and Violence