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16.3k reviews for:

The Road

Cormac McCarthy

3.92 AVERAGE


I like books with closure, this one doesn't have that, still a good book to me. The book really gets you into the feeling of the situation. Post nuclear war world with a man just trying to survive with his young son. Love is a powerful thing. Very haunting lonely read.

cold. desolate. birdless. and. devastatingly. sad.
rach_earley's profile picture

rach_earley's review against another edition

DID NOT FINISH: 68%

Went on vacation and started reading a new book, never returned to this one. 

This book was hard for me to rate. The writing style took me a bit to get used to but there were some truly beautifully written parts, and some parts that just felt really repetitive. If you need an engaging plot this is not the book for you. I would have liked a little more background information for the world building but the relationship between the main characters felt very authentic. What a bleak book that I wanted to keep reading. 

Es un libro que se me hizo un poco pesado, pero la historia sin duda llega al corazón y hace sentir al lector nervioso

Who hurt Cormac McCarthy to write such a harrowing story? This book is where hope goes to die, it will leave you empty and depressed. Would highly recommend pairing this book with ‘On the Nature of Daylight’ by Max Richter.

Very simple plot and dialogue, can get very repetitive at times. Behind the post-apocalyptic setting and linear progression down a road there is a story of acceptance and forgiveness. As the father comes to terms with the situation and forgives himself for his wife’s suicide, eventually coming to realize there is power in the human spirit and you can make a life in this empty wasteland.

⭐️⭐️⭐️ ⭐️ 4/5 reminds me of my childhood.

it's art spilled on paper, no i will not elaborate

[b:The Road|6288|The Road|Cormac McCarthy|https://i.gr-assets.com/images/S/compressed.photo.goodreads.com/books/1600241424l/6288._SY75_.jpg|3355573] by [a:Cormac McCarthy|4178|Cormac McCarthy|https://images.gr-assets.com/authors/1611995562p2/4178.jpg]

This is one of the very rare times where I actually believe the movie is better than the book. So good, in fact, that it pushed me to read the original novel it was adapted from. But to my disappointment—I didn’t enjoy it nearly as much.

I don’t know if it’s my fault or if it’s the way the book is written, but for the life of me, I couldn’t concentrate while reading it. McCarthy fills the pages with long, often vague descriptions that seem meant to evoke emotion or immerse you deeper into the setting—but for me, it did the exact opposite. The world he built remains hazy and unclear, and maybe that was intentional… but I didn’t connect with it.

The symbolism and deeper meaning that others praise? It mostly fell flat for me. It felt like a lot of repetition, internal monologues, and drawn-out scenes that ultimately added little to the core narrative. And just when things would finally pick up and get tense—some genuinely gripping action or emotional moment—it would be over in a page or two, and you’re back to wandering, literally and figuratively.

That said, I won’t deny the book has its merits. When things got intense, when the danger felt real, those moments were its peak. I just wish there were more of them.

All in all, I respect what McCarthy was trying to do… but it didn’t land for me the way it did for others.


A "ponderous counterspectacle of things ceasing to be" through which a man and his son carry the light.

The state of leftover humanity reminded me of Saramago's "Blindness". Skin crawling. But there was also dim hope and goodness and, of course, the final escape.

Dear god, this crushed me. Completely.