The Road, by Cormac McCarthy, is a story of a journey through a world where no hope remains. It’s set in a postapocalyptic world, but is by no means science fiction or at all unbelievable. I have to say, it’s honestly the most believable future I’ve ever read. This is my first book by Cormac McCarthy, and as the blurb on the inside of the jacket says, he literally pulls me through the story unable to put it down, as if by reading I’m keeping the characters alive.

If I had a complaint for this novel, it would be that in the end, I almost felt cheated. Almost. The book was so good, but has none of the classic climax and surreal action I come to expect in fiction. But, in its realism, it is so true to the characters and world, that everything feels impossibly vulnerable–nothing more than a candle in a wind storm, refusing to be snuffed out by nothing more than some indomitable will and obstinate refusal to accept the truth of the situation. It is also a poignant story of a father and son’s love and how that keeps them going, day after day, in spite of a world that will stop at nothing to see them give up.

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