The Road
The Road is a renowned post-apocalyptic tale that depicts the bleakest possible future. A man and his young son walk toward the coast across a desolate wilderness, unsure if they will discover anything better than what they've left. It's a difficult read, but it will get anyone thinking about the paths that may lead us to such a future—and what comes next when we get there.
The imagery in this book will stay with you forever, and the stark beauty and odd hopefulness bring a particular poignance to the darkness.
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Publisher’s Description
A searing, postapocalyptic novel destined to become Cormac McCarthy’s masterpiece.
A father and his son walk alone through burned America. Nothing moves in the ravaged landscape save the ash on the wind. It is cold enough to crack stones, and when the snow falls it is gray. The sky is dark. Their destination is the coast, although they don’t know what, if anything, awaits them there. They have nothing; just a pistol to defend themselves against the lawless bands that stalk the road, the clothes they are wearing, a cart of scavenged food—and each other.
The Road is the profoundly moving story of a journey. It boldly imagines a future in which no hope remains, but in which the father and his son, “each the other’s world entire,” are sustained by love. Awesome in the totality of its vision, it is an unflinching meditation on the worst and the best that we are capable of: ultimate destructiveness, desperate tenacity, and the tenderness that keeps two people alive in the face of total devastation.