The Road

Suggested Titles

Overview

At once brutal and tender, despairing and rashly hopeful, "The Road" is a fierce and haunting meditation on the tenuous divide between civilization and savagery, and the sometimes terrifying power of filial love. 6 CDs.

Selected Reviews

The Road

by Anonymous
  • Book Rating: 5/5

The Horror

by Mandi Chestler
  • Book Rating: 3/5

More...

Read All 23

Reviews (23)

The Road

Written by Anonymous on August 6th, 2008

  • Book Rating: 5/5

I found this book to be brilliantly written and the story haunted me long after I listened to the last chapter. The narrative is lyrical and superbly written, and the dialogue between the main characters is basic and reflective of the times they are living in. The Road is a testiment to love and loss and all that makes us human and inhumane.

The Horror

Written by Mandi Chestler from Lake Oswego, OR on August 5th, 2008

  • Book Rating: 3/5

The Road is creepy and grizzly, depressing and distressing. Only Cormac McCarthy's horrifyingly beautiful mastery of the English language kept me listening to this audio book. If you like having nightmares, then this is the CD for you. The ending is unfortunately disappointing, as if the author simply ran out of steam, or finally scared himself with his own dark flights of fancy.

Depression

Written by Anonymous on July 17th, 2008

  • Book Rating: 3/5

I started this book on a long drive through a desolate part of West Texas. By the time I arrived at my destination to give a motivational speech I was totally drained of every positive emotion. This book is slow and sad. If one isn't on anti-depressant medication prior to listening you will need them at the end. I suspect it is so dismal because it seems so realistic. An interesting read, but certainly not "pick me up" escapist fiction.

Papa I'm scared. I know.

Written by RK from Lewisville, TX on June 23rd, 2008

  • Book Rating: 1/5

If I cared more about this book, I might go back and count how many times the boy and the man have this exchange: Papa I'm scared. I know. How many times? Two dozen? Three? A hundred? By the time I made it to the end, I wanted to kill myself, so I couldn't understand why they didn't just put themselves out of our collective misery. In between the LAME dialogue, McCarthy throws in a few $10 words just to prove he's a "great" writer. Honestly, this drivel gets the Pulitzer? It's like Mad Max, only less interesting.

The Road

Written by the whippet on May 4th, 2008

  • Book Rating: 3/5

This is a very uncomfortable book to listen to, but I found it affected me quite a bit. I thought the reader did a good job with it. I still think about it often. If you are prone to getting depressed from stories maybe you should avoid this one.

The Road

Written by Anonymous on March 21st, 2008

  • Book Rating: 2/5

It reminded me of Grapes of Wrath. Very slow. I almost put it down several times. No beginning nor ending - it just drops you somewhere, explores and leaves you there. I had to go on line to find out where it even took place. Depressing. I suppose very well written - intimate descriptions - too much in my opinion (a paragraph about opening a can?) Read it for the style not the story.

The Road

Written by Anonymous on March 15th, 2008

  • Book Rating: 3/5

Kind of slow moving, but there were some good moments of suspense. Similar to other apocalyptic stories. But I never really understood the point of these two peoples' trek. Still it was worth the listen.

The Road

Written by Diane on February 22nd, 2008

  • Book Rating: 3/5

Cormac McCarthy is a brilliant writer and this book is indeed haunting. I cannot imagine how he was able to get into the extreme descriptions he mastered for this doomsday journey. The relationship between father and son is touching. It is, however the same love we all experience with our children, just more so. I am one to prefer a far less bleak scenario when it comes to listening to a book. It was just too devastating for me to enjoy, I pray none of us ever has to live through such a plight. I, for one am not too sure I would like to go back to that place.

The Road

Written by Diane Davis from Palm Springs, CA on January 31st, 2008

  • Book Rating: 3/5

If you are prone to depression, don't read this book! It was a very dark subject and the fact that it ended with a tiny ray of hope did not make up for the hours of misery that preceded it. I don't think I would recommend this to anyone.

The Road

Written by Anonymous from Santa Monica, CA on January 30th, 2008

  • Book Rating: 2/5

This book was so depressing to listen to. I understand that it was well written, and may be tolerable to read, but listening to it on your way to and from from work every day is not a great way to put a smile on your face. If you are depressed and want to get even more depressed about the state of mankind and the world, this is your ticket.

Selected Reviews

The Road

by Anonymous
  • Book Rating: 5/5

The Horror

by Mandi Chestler
  • Book Rating: 3/5

More...

Read All 23

Author Details

Author Details

McCarthy, Cormac

"Charles Joseph McCarthy, Jr. was born in Providence, Rhode Island in 1933. (He changed his name to Cormac, meaning son of Charles, later in life.)

His family moves to Knoxville, Tennessee in 1937 where his father works on the legal staff of the Tennessee Valley Authority.

Cormac attends the Catholic High School, enters the University of Tennessee in 1951.

He enlists in the US Air Force in 1953, serves for four years, two of them stationed in Alaska.

Returns to the University in 1957, publishes two stories in the student literary magazine, The Phoenix. He wins the Ingram-Merill Award for creative writing in 1959 and 1960. Marries Lee Holleman, has a son.

McCarthy leaves the University without graduating, moves to Chicago, works as an auto mechanic while working on his first novel.

Returns to Tennessee, divorces wife. He receives a traveling fellowship from the American Academy of Arts and Letters, takes an ocean liner to Ireland in 1965.

The Orchard Keeper is published in May of 1965, wins the Faulkner Award.

Receives a Rockefeller Foundation Grant in 1966, tours Europe, settles for a while on Ibiza, an island, works on second novel. Marries Anne DeLisle.

Returns to US in 1967, lives near Knoxville at a small pig farm.

Outer Dark is published in 1968.

Awarded a Guggenheim Fellowship in 1969, moves to a barn near Louisville, Tennessee. He renovates the entire barn himself.

Child Of God is published in 1973, a novel based upon actual events.

Separates from second wife in 1976, moves to El Paso.

Suttree is published in 1979, a work that he had been laboring over for the last twenty years.

He is awarded a MacArthur Fellowship in 1981.

Blood Meridian, Or, the Evening Redness in the West is published in 1985, based on historical occurrences around the Texas-Mexico border in the 1840's.

All The Pretty Horses is published in 1992, the first volume of The Border Trilogy. It wins the National Book Award.

The Crossing is published in 1994, the second volume of The Border Trilogy.

The third volume of The Border Trilogy, Cities of the Plain is published in 1998. "