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martereadsalot 's review for:

The Road by Cormac McCarthy
4.0

“Borrowed time and borrowed world and borrowed eyes with which to sorrow it”
Well, that was depressing.

How does one review a book like this?
There’s no denying that it captures the truth of a post-apocalyptic world like no other book I’ve read. The despair created by having no goal; by every day being a repetitive fight for survival. How every small moment of happiness will forever be bittersweet.
And at the end of the day, the world just doesn’t care; its purpose isn’t to create happy endings for people.

Despite, or maybe because, it’s so successful in what it sets out do, I never want to re-read this. The experience can only be described as draining.
There are no chapters, only a continuous flood of episodes from a father and son’s fight for survival. So, there are no breaks – nowhere to catch your breath or naturally put the book down. The structure itself is as ruthless as the story.

The more I mull this over while typing up this review, I realise just how well done this was. I might not have understood every philosophical pondering nor every metaphorical moment. But if a book can leave me both psychologically and physically exhausted, then there is something special here. It’s not enjoyable, but it’s pretty damn good.