Post-apocalyptic United States, cannibals, and a startling lack of quotation marks – it may sound a lot like a zombie apocalypse movie, but these things can actually all be found in Cormac McCarthy’s award-winning novel, The Road.
When he woke in the woods in the dark and the cold of the night he’d reach out to touch the child sleeping beside him.
The cover of “The Road” – or should I say The Road
The Book
The Road is set in a post-apocalyptic United States after an undisclosed extinction event wiped out the majority of life on Earth. It follows a father and son, who are never named (another of McCarthy’s unique writing quirks) as they travel South to try to avoid the harsh Northern winters. The father is clearly very sick, but continues to rally for his son. He spends a lot of time clarifying that they are the good guys amongst all the other crazy people still lingering in the world. We think this is all fun and games and morality fluff on top, until the characters actually start meeting other people. Anyone interested in cannibalism and baby farms? Yeah, I wasn’t either.
Another interesting nuance is their gun – a revolver with only two bullets. McCarthy avoid one of my least favorite plot holes – the never-ending ammo supply in the apocalypse. Instead of using the gun to kill literal cannibals, the father tells his son that the bullets are for them to shoot themselves in case they are about to get captured by said cannibals. It is also revealed that the boy’s mother killed herself shortly after his birth.
Their journey continues, and they face adversity at every turn. Barring spoilers, the book closes just like the rest of McCarthy’s greatest hits – with an ambiguous, what-the-frack-just-happened ending. I have my own (very passionate) thoughts on what I think happened after the book – please discuss with me once you’ve read!
Another fantastic part? A MOVIE ADAPTATION STARRING VIGGO MORTENSON. In my mind, he will always be Aragorn, son of Arathorn and the lost heir of Gondor, but he did a pretty good job as the father in this movie.
Viggo Mortenson stars in “The Road”(2009)
The Road has all the hallmarks of a quintessential McCarthy novel – the no-named characters, questionable punctuation, the open ending, and zero shyness around violence. My favorite McCarthy book is Blood Meridian, but that tackles different issues than The Road. A particular thing that strikes me about this novel is the stark realness of the women in the apocalypse. Sadly, harsh conditions bring out the worst of humanity, and a lot of times this means women are treated extremely badly. The Road is no exception – even though the main characters are not women, it is very clear that women received the short end of the stick (think of the baby farm…how does a group of men start a baby farm?). It’s horrible and terrifying and true – something that is important in books.
I first read The Road in 9th grade (Cormac McCarthy hails from Rhode Island, and my English teacher made it her personal mission to make sure we would never forget it), but recently reread it. I was in a little apocalypse rabbit hole due to the premier of HBO’s The Last of Us, based on the hit zombie apocalypse video game (I could talk about this for hours). The game, and now the show, does a fantastic job of showcasing the best and worst of humanity when they are pushed to their breaking point – something that is also displayed in The Road.
Side by side shots of “The Last of Us” show (top) and game (bottom) at the Massachusetts State House
The Road gets four our of five stars from Books & Bops – it had a thrilling storyline, fleshed-out characters, and raised moral questions even through the clunky grammar.
The Bop
The Road’s bop is “Wayfaring Stranger” by Johnny Cash. The song is a folk song, having many different versions that have been recorded and sung. Johnny Cash’s is my favorite – A) because it’s Johnny Cash; B) because of the haunting overture behind his voice. The song details the journey of a sad individual, dreaming of going to a better place. It is accurate to the journey of the man as he struggles day after day to take care of his son.
To wrap it up, read The Road (unless you’re squeamish). You’ll learn how to read with no quotation marks and be left screaming from…rage? Sadness? Confusion? Find out!
In the deep glens where they lived all things were older than man and they hummed of mystery.
Hey Sam!
As you can imagine, I was very intrigued by this post because it’s post-apocalyptic! I am seriously adding this book to my list. I’d like to see how it adds up to others in the genre like the 5th wave (which also has a movie adaptation) and another series I read a while ago and can’t seem to remember the name of. From your description, it seems to me that The Road falls into the sub-category of realistic dystopia (as compared to the Hunger Games, Maze Runner, Divergent, etc.) I don’t have HBO Max so we’ll see if I ever get to watch The Rest of Us, but again, I’m really interested in this book (and the playlist too) and will be sure to read. Great job!
Sam,
I really enjoyed reading this post. The Road sounds like such an unusual novel, in a good way. I’m not sure if I would read this book; I am a little squeamish reading about things like cannibalism and suicide. However, I would like to watch the movie adaptation. I feel like I would be less squeamish about that. Once again, I enjoyed going through this book’s Spotify playlist. It brings a musical element into a literary piece.