The Road

Title: The Road
Author: Cormac McCarthy
Published: 2006
Genre: Post-apocalypse
Pages: 287


The Road spent ages on my Kindle, and then I almost half-accidentally started to read it while sitting in the subway. I remember hearing about the movie and wanting to see it, but only after I'd read the book. And then came other books, and other books, and other books. But now! Here we are. All read. I was hooked after the first few pages, even though it has to be one of the darkest, most hopeless books I've ever read.

The Road is the story of a father and his young son traveling towards south, away from winter's grasp, in a world all but destroyed by some unnamed cataclysm. There's hardly any food, little shelter, and the few people left have turned to cannibalism. It's not safe to trust anyone. The world is covered by ash. And onward they walk, trying to make the food last, trying to get to warmer climates. Death is all around, and the road isn't safe,but neither is staying still.

Damn, that was bleak. But brilliant. Now to find the movie.


He walked out into the gray light and stood and he saw for a brief moment the absolute truth of the world. The cold relentless circling of an intestate earth. Darkness implacable. The blind dogs of the sun in their running. The crushing black vacuum of the universe. And somewhere two hunted animals trembling like ground-foxes in their cover. Borrowed time and borrowed world and borrowed eyes with which to sorrow it.