[Book Review] The Road by Cormac McCarthy - disturbing yet beautiful

I picked up Cormac McCarthy’s The Road, the only reason being it had a tag "winner of Pulitzer Prize for fiction". It turned out to be a book that made me oblivious of everything that’s happening around me and had me completely hooked for about 5 hours.  

The story is set in the  post-apocalyptic world which is burned to ashes and most of the cities and towns are empty. Very few humans survive the apocalyptic event which has destroyed most life forms and natural resources. A father and his son set out on a journey towards the south hoping for better weather conditions and improve their chances of survival. The book is about their journey, spanning several months, on the road.

The journey of the father and his son is captured in a detailed albeit disturbing and haunting manner. They encounter life threatening situations, merciless weather, cannibalistic humans, moments of total despair and brief glimpses of hope. The run into empty barns, deserted cities, abandoned supermarkets scrounging for food and try to stay alive in their journey to the south.

McCarthy’s sets the mood brilliantly. Just within a few pages, you can visualize yourself in a post-apocalyptic world that you probably would not have seen in any movie or read in any other book. The mood is somber and gloomy throughout the book. The characters are unnamed and so are the cities. There isn't any reference to time or place where is this happening either. Everything is left to reader's imagination. The structure of the book is also unique - no chapters & no quotes for dialogues. The prose is beautiful. There will be lines of text which I didn't get in the first reading and I re-read to get the lyrical beauty.

The book raises some interesting questions about how we see humanity. We are made to debate to ourselves over the fairness of the father’s actions and the view the child has on them. In my opinion, this is the part of the book that makes you go “wow”. The father tries hard to keep both of them alive under any circumstances while the child’s innocent views keep questioning “at what cost?”.  

This is one fascinating book that will leave you dumbfounded, exhausted and slightly disturbed. Read it! It’s brilliant!