The Road

Part of The Book Club

Cormac McCarthy’s The Road is bleak, but in places it does offer some brilliance.

In terms of how it is written – an unknown narrator, lack of proper punctuation- it is definitely different and mirrors the break down of society. When everyone who is left alive is struggling for survival in a brutal world, who cares about apostrophes? It was probably this and some of the truly disturbing passages that make this book worth reading.

McCarthy isn’t afraid to venture into the darkest depths of what might happen in a world where people are starving, frightened and fighting for survival. McCarthy also questions how a child can survive in this world and what happens to the family unit when the world essentially comes to an end.

However, you can’t escape the repetitiveness of it all. Yes the world is horrible and blank but it doesn’t make for an exciting book. I was reading it on the train and the guard saw it and told me I was ‘too young’ to waste time reading it because it was so bleak…

Is it worth reading? Maybe. I definitely won’t be insisting that everyone buys a copy, but it is a good read if you’re willing to take the time and appreciate it for what it is.