A Review: "The Road"

I admit I was a little reluctant to read The Road at first. I have read Mccarthy’s No Country for Old Men and enjoyed it, but The Road was obviously somewhat of a departure from Mccarthy’s other books. It is post-apocalyptic fiction where as most of Mccarthy’s other books are westerns. I was almost expecting something similar to I Am Legend. I was, however, delightfully wrong.

The Road is post-apocalyptic fiction and is just as bleak as the genre should be. Mccarthy lets his reader wonder what brought the world to this point. His focus is on one man and his son and their struggle to survive. These two are only ever referred to as “the man” and “the boy,” and are never given names. This adds to bleakness of the novel. As with all Mccarthy novels, there are some disturbing elements here. Plants will no longer grow on this version of earth, so some have been driven to cannibalism. This leads to a few chilling scenes. Mccarthy could easily leave the reader without hope at the end of this novel, however, he chooses not too. While the book is bleak, and there is no happy ending, there is still life. The Road is not an easy read, but it is brilliant, compelling, and haunting.