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16.3k reviews for:

The Road

Cormac McCarthy

3.92 AVERAGE

adventurous challenging tense slow-paced
Plot or Character Driven: A mix
Strong character development: No
Loveable characters: No
Diverse cast of characters: No
Flaws of characters a main focus: Yes
challenging dark emotional mysterious sad slow-paced
Plot or Character Driven: Character
Strong character development: Complicated
Loveable characters: Complicated
Diverse cast of characters: No
Flaws of characters a main focus: Yes
dark emotional sad fast-paced
Plot or Character Driven: A mix
Strong character development: Yes
Loveable characters: Complicated
Diverse cast of characters: N/A
Flaws of characters a main focus: Complicated

This book was dark. I knew it would be going into it but holy shit. McCarthy paints a horrible, vivid, realistic picture of the apocalypse. 

The man and the boy walk through the carnage of the world. The amazing thing to me is how this boy, born after the destruction of the Earth, has so much goodness within him. His compassion is jarring against the horrific backdrop, but in the framing of the story, McCarthy makes it make sense. This boy, who has never seen the world before it was destroyed, still carries hope that there is good out there somewhere. 

The relationship between the father and son made this book. I mean, obviously. There isn’t much plot outside of their relationship. It was just them encountering horrible things or exactly the right thing right when they needed it.

As far as the writing itself went, I liked it overall. McCarthy managed to find the exact specific word for everything so I ended up having to look stuff up in the dictionary quite a lot. (lol) Using that method, he’d sometimes string together some of the most beautiful sentences I’ve ever read. Other times I’d just end up confused but that’s probably just a me problem.  

I really enjoyed the dialogue in the book. Especially that of the boy. It felt very realistic. 

I loved the way the two expressed their love for one another: the father through fierce protectiveness and selflessness and the son through his sheer goodness. It seemed that all the man loved in the world was the boy (understandably) but the boy had love for everything. 

The ending was so sad but I was anticipating it the entire book. I knew one of them would die and it being the father was the more bittersweet option. 

The boy will carry the fire.
challenging dark emotional mysterious sad tense medium-paced
Plot or Character Driven: Plot
Strong character development: No
Loveable characters: Complicated
Diverse cast of characters: Complicated
Flaws of characters a main focus: N/A
challenging dark hopeful mysterious reflective sad tense medium-paced
Plot or Character Driven: Character
Strong character development: Yes
Loveable characters: Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus: Complicated
challenging dark emotional mysterious tense slow-paced
Plot or Character Driven: Character
Strong character development: Complicated
Loveable characters: Yes
Diverse cast of characters: No
Flaws of characters a main focus: Complicated
adventurous challenging dark emotional sad fast-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: Complicated
adventurous challenging dark inspiring sad tense medium-paced
Plot or Character Driven: Character
Strong character development: No
Loveable characters: Complicated
Diverse cast of characters: No
slow-paced
Strong character development: No
Loveable characters: No
Diverse cast of characters: No
Flaws of characters a main focus: Yes
adventurous challenging emotional reflective relaxing slow-paced
Plot or Character Driven: Character
Strong character development: Yes
Loveable characters: Yes
Diverse cast of characters: No
Flaws of characters a main focus: Yes