From the Bookshelf of Apocalypse Whenever…

The Road

Cormac McCarthy

Start date: June 20, 2017

Finish date: June 30, 2017

Discussion: AW BOOK CLUB (spoilers)

Discussion leader: Gertie

Why we're reading this: Discussion with spoilers begins July 1st: https://www.goodreads.com/topic/show/...…more
[close] Discussion with spoilers begins July 1st: https://www.goodreads.com/topic/show/...

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AW BOOK CLUB (spoilers)

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last updated Sep 18, 2025 08:37AM

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What Members Thought

Jul 20, 2008 Terri rated it liked it

Shelves: apocalyptic-dystopian-fiction

This review has been hidden because it contains spoilers. To view it, click here.

6 likes · Like · see review

May 06, 2009 Rebecca Short, LMFT rated it really liked it · review of another edition

Shelves: personal-library, apocalyptic

This was an amazing read - one I wasn't sure I would actually begin much less enjoy. I have a thing about book covers and this cover truly didn't appeal to me but knowing this is a Pulitzer Prize winner and knowing I am on an apocalyptic reading kick right now I wanted to at least give it an honest try. I'm very glad I did.

The writing style is a bit offputing at first because there are no quotation marks, no traditional way to structure the speakers visually. However, you so quickly become immer ...more

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Dec 26, 2008 Kaye rated it it was amazing

Shelves: audiobooks, sci-fi, apocalypse_dystopia, award_winners

The Road is a post-apocalyptic novel in which a father and son travel through ash-covered devastation, hiding from cannibals and scavenging for food. Despite absolutely no reason to go on living (in my view, anyway), they trudge on. One thing I really loved about this book is that McCarthy respects his readers, and assumes we are intelligent. When a great scene of horror crops up on the horizon (and there are a couple that are particularly horrific), he doesn't waste time on overexplaining it to ...more

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Sep 24, 2007 Mia rated it it was amazing

Shelves: apocalypse

“Because we’re the good guys.
Yes.
And we’re carrying the fire.
And we’re carrying the fire. Yes.”

“Goodness will find the little boy. It always has. It
will again.”

*
And this is why we go to stories.

I read this book in two gasps, finding it exquisite
and live and almost unbearable.
It reads much more like a vision set down than any
manner of parable, ur-story or plot.

I just cried and cried at the end (which was awkward,
as I had to do this with my head resting on an
airplane’s tray table, flying north at ...more

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Jun 24, 2009 T0 rated it it was ok · review of another edition

Shelves: leisure, on-my-bookshelf

I guess a Pulitzer price rises expectations, and sadly this book did not live up to them. Too much grudging details about the barren land are force fed to the reader over and over again, ad nauseam. The main characters are nameless, and pretty much without history too, so it's difficult to actually give a damn what happens to them in the hopeless future they live in. ...more

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Jul 24, 2007 Lucy rated it it was amazing

Shelves: adult, post-apocalyptic

This is literally the most depressing book I have ever read. It's extraordinarily difficult to get into, and extraordinarily difficult to get your head out of.

Unquestionably worth reading, but if you're depressed, hold off on this one. ...more

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Aug 20, 2008 Robert rated it it was amazing

I have not disliked a cormac McCarthy book. The Road continues the trend. Avoid the spoilers if you can. When you think you know what must happen next you will be wrong. A short book: get used or paperback. I loved it.

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