The Road is a bleak post-apocalyptic story about a father and son as well as love, sacrifice, and survival. The story takes place after a vague apocalypse, which left the earth cold and barren. There are vast forests, but the trees are long dead or burned down. The rivers still run, but are devoid of fish or anything else living. The survivors are few and far between, and they survive off a mixture of scavenged packaged food and occasionally cannibalism. And like all McCarthy stories, there is horrific violence and suffering.
The father and young son are journeying to the coast, hoping to find a better life in warmer weather. Every parent wants the best for their child. They want to watch them grow and develop, to watch them become an adult who goes off into the world and to live their own life. However the world is dead, and as food becomes more scarce the clock slowly ticks, day by day, down toward the extinction of humanity. There isn’t a safe haven that they can reach nor is there isn’t any hope of bringing life back to the earth. Eventually there will come a day when their supplies will run out, and they won’t be able to scavenge any more. The conclusion is foregone, and the path ahead will largely be painful, and will end painfully. But what other choice does a father have? He has a responsibility to the son, and the son to him. Their unconditional love transcends the harsh world that they are forced to live in. So they carry on.
As always, McCarthy shines in the prose. Stylistically this book uses simple language and short descriptive sentences which have a rhythmic, poetic quality to them. The world is dead meaning there is little to describe in the outside world, and most of the story takes place in the hearts and minds of the father and son. It’s truly a beautiful but heartbreaking story, and McCarthy just keeps driving the knife deeper as the story advances. I’m not a father, but this is one I’ll come back to when I am. Highly recommend, definitely worth the 4/5 rating.
--Luke Melander
