The Road | Cormac McCarthy | Review

The Road | Cormac McCarthy | Review

• Wednesday, 6 November 2013

“People were always getting ready for tomorrow. I didn't believe in that. Tomorrow wasn't getting ready for them. It didn't even know they were there.” - Cormac McCarthy , The Road


The Road is a story about a boy and his father and their journey heading for the coast through a burned and abandoned country where the few surviving people have started to turn on each other...

I have to start this review with admitting that I watched the movie before I even knew the book existed (shame on me!). And I also have to tell you that I think it's an excellent movie...Now when I have those things off my chest, let's move on to the actual book review...

Some people might think that this story is slow and that the language is a bit sparse. But I think that the story is honest and heartbreaking and that the language is beautiful. The You guess it right, this is a pretty sad story set in a really depressing world. But it's also a beautiful story about the relationship between a father and his son. I know what you're thinking. It sounds like Niina is describing a 5 star book. And yes, you're almost right. But not quite. I did really think that this was an amazing book and a really interesting and enjoyable reading experience but I personally had two small issues that I have to share with you;

1. I wish I didn't watch the movie before I read the book! I know that this is my own fault but the movie is actually really accurate if you compare it with the book and I missed the excitement of not knowing what would happen next. I know that this has nothing to do with the quality of the book but it did really affect my reading experience.

2. I read too many post apocalyptic novels written for young adults so I'm used to a different pacing. I told you before that I appreciated McCarthy's writing style and the beautiful language. But some parts of the books were just a little bit too slow for me.

That being said, The Road is an excellent novel and I recommend you to give it a try (if you haven't seen the movie read the book first! Then watch the movie because it's also really good!) The only thing missing for me to give it 5 stars is that feeling that keeps you up all night just to read one more page because that didn't quite happen for me. I give The Road 4,5/5 stars.

This post was written by regular reviewer Niina, get to know her here.