You need to sign in or sign up before continuing.
Scan barcode
emgrbu's review against another edition
- 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
Graphic: Death and Pandemic/Epidemic
Moderate: Gore, Gun violence, Violence, Death of parent, Murder, Fire/Fire injury, and Injury/Injury detail
Minor: Child death, Cursing, Vomit, Grief, and Cannibalism
maulikki's review against another edition
- 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
Graphic: Animal death, Body horror, Child abuse, Child death, Confinement, Cursing, Death, Emotional abuse, Gore, Gun violence, Pedophilia, Physical abuse, Rape, Sexual violence, Slavery, Suicide, Torture, Violence, Blood, Excrement, Vomit, Kidnapping, Grief, Cannibalism, Suicide attempt, Death of parent, Murder, Pregnancy, Fire/Fire injury, Abandonment, and Injury/Injury detail
aburnss's review against another edition
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? No
4.75
"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 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.
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.
Graphic: Child death, Death, Gun violence, Suicidal thoughts, Suicide, Violence, Cannibalism, and Death of parent
Moderate: Child abuse, Rape, Murder, and Injury/Injury detail
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
- 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
Graphic: Child death, Death, Suicide, Torture, Violence, Medical content, Trafficking, Cannibalism, Death of parent, Fire/Fire injury, War, and Injury/Injury detail
rainerasnic's review against another edition
- 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
Graphic: Animal death, Death, Gore, Gun violence, Suicidal thoughts, Suicide, Terminal illness, Violence, Cannibalism, Death of parent, Murder, Fire/Fire injury, and Injury/Injury detail
Minor: Slavery
paukinra's review against another edition
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? It's complicated
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? N/A
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
5.0
Graphic: Child death, Death, Gore, Suicidal thoughts, Suicide, Terminal illness, Violence, Grief, Cannibalism, Abortion, Death of parent, Fire/Fire injury, and Injury/Injury detail
Moderate: Eating disorder and Slavery
Minor: Miscarriage, Rape, and Pregnancy
queerloras's review against another edition
- 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? It's complicated
4.0
Graphic: Body horror, Child death, Death, Gun violence, Slavery, Suicidal thoughts, Violence, Trafficking, Grief, Cannibalism, Murder, and Injury/Injury detail
leebeeloves's review against another edition
- 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
4.0
Graphic: Death, Suicidal thoughts, Cannibalism, and Death of parent
Moderate: Blood, Grief, and Injury/Injury detail
erebus53's review against another edition
- 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
4.0
My overall impression of this book was that it was like a zombie apocalypse story, minus the trees and the zombies. In a non-descript North America that has been razed by fire, a man and his boy walk south in the hopes that they will get to warmer weather, and find it easier to survive. The main characters are known simply as the man, and the boy. This sort of increases the feeling of the bleakness, because for the most part, people are few and far between, and so you don't need a whole heap of names to disambiguate people.. and those names you do get from people are arbitrary and fairly meaningless.
Obviously this is a story of survival, and the balance of grief, hope and faith. As they travel down a highway they have to overcome obstacles both physical and emotional. The narrative is a mix of procedural descriptions, and poetic prose. It almost feels like the pretty bits are mismatched to the story, but I figure you have to have some fancy bits for your essays about the Literature (crozzled means with dark crispy bits on the outside.. like bacon). Typically the poetic observations are those of the end of day; musings that find one just before sleep after a long day of slogging through the countryside. It might help to have a dictionary nearby, because you don't get a Pulitzer by only using common words. There is a harsh poetic beauty to describing a highway full of burnt out cars whose occupants were scorched inside as they tried to flee the firestorms.
Ten thousand dreams ensepulchred within their crozzled hearts.
I really loved the descriptions of coming upon windfall resources, and in my own mind, I would have stopped my journey if I found plenty of resources.. or at least had a breather. Maybe I'm too risk averse to survive the holocaust of a continent. From what happens it doesn't look like radiation is a part of it, so this is a different take on things than other apocalyptic stories like Mad Max.
It was certainly an interesting read.
Graphic: Animal death, Body horror, Child death, Chronic illness, Cursing, Death, Gore, Gun violence, Mental illness, Physical abuse, Suicidal thoughts, Suicide, Terminal illness, Torture, Violence, Blood, Vomit, Kidnapping, Grief, Cannibalism, Stalking, Death of parent, Murder, Fire/Fire injury, Abandonment, and Injury/Injury detail
mildlypretentiousreader's review against another edition
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? No
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
4.0
—————————————————————
A slow-paced book, The Road by Cormac McCarthy tells the desolate and cumbersome story of a father (“The Man” ) and his son (“The Boy”) as they travel through a post-apocalyptic United States of America. Their world is severely limited by their grim circumstances. Harsh living conditions, starvation, the threat of animals, the inhumanity of other people. Society is now rampant with thieves, bandits, cannibals, and the like who will do virtually anything to stay alive. Because of the harsh and untrustworthy nature of nearly everyone in the USA, the Man copes with this reality by trusting and helping no one he and his son come across. Although harsh, considering the circumstances, the Man feels this is necessary. If push comes to shove,
Graphic: Animal cruelty, Animal death, Death, Gore, Physical abuse, Violence, Blood, Vomit, Grief, Cannibalism, Abandonment, War, and Injury/Injury detail