Reviews - The Road | The StoryGraph

15.8k reviews for:

The Road

Cormac McCarthy

3.92 AVERAGE

gnomeanne's review against another edition

4.0

challenging dark emotional reflective sad slow-paced

Plot or Character Driven: A mix

Strong character development: Complicated

Loveable characters: Yes

Diverse cast of characters: No

Flaws of characters a main focus: Yes

powell96's review against another edition

1.0

Long winded and boring. Hated it.

kfirlevy's review against another edition

2.0

dark sad slow-paced

Diverse cast of characters: No

Flaws of characters a main focus: Yes

Do people really like this?
Besides for the prose, which I dig, I don't see what makes this book anything special.

It's about a man and a boy walking down the road towards the beach through a ravaged land trying to survive, and we get to see every step they take and every little thing they do on the way but *nothing happens*.

I could sum this plot up in a few sentences and unless I'm missing something I don't see the point of it.
It's dark, it's sad, it's worded beautifully, but it's got nothing to it which I take away after finishing it.

williswareinc's review against another edition

4.0

A harrowing and emotionally draining vision of a desolate future and an articulate tale of survival. It goes from painless and cathartic to intense and heart-rending very seamlessly. More human and grounded in reality compared to other apocalyptic fiction. The father and son share a tender and believable relationship; their dialogue is straightforward on the surface but bears a considerable amount of depth. A simple reply like "okay" can have so many layers. There's no other passages drawing out the significance of a character’s words. You don't need them. You'll just get how they’re feeling due to the gravity of their conversations and the events that brought them on. The matter-of-fact writing style takes some perseverance. Prepare to have your mind fill in a lot of the visual blanks.