The Road

When I went to put this book to my reading list I saw all the one and two star reviews and started to wonder if this book is actually as good as advertised. Well... it's not. I would even like to give it one star but I stopped myself and thought about it. Because if I gave this one star, what would 50 Shades deserve then? This isn't as bad. So two stars it is even though Goodreads' description of two stars doesn't fit it. It wasn't “ok”.

The story about a man and his son. No names, no details. They wander through a grey post-apocalyptic wasteland trying to survive and get to the shore where they hope to find some community. It's a long road though. 300 pages long. Luckily, the font is really big and in terms of normal books it would be 150 pages. But even that felt too long.

The book is weird in that it's not a typical story with opening, middle and end. It's the same thing over and over again. No character development, just some minor events of little consequence that help them survive and fill the pages. It's a mirror to the world where nothing lives and sky is always grey. It's written in a way where it could be 1000 pages long and it wouldn't change a damn thing about the characters. Thank god it's not because I wouldn't have finished it then.

One of my major issues is the boy. Even though he was completely raised in the post-apocalyptic world by his father he still acts like a spoiled brat who was thrown into this scenario after years of comfortable family life. That's atrocious writing. That's not how someone who only experienced dark world like would behave. A kid like that wouldn't question morality. “Are we the good guys? Are we the good guys?” Oh, shut up! Look at the instances where kids in real world were rid of their childhoods. That's not how they act! I guess his behaviour should've brought up compassion in the reader and we should pitty him in such situation. But I felt the exact opposite. This is about survival and that dumb kid only annoyed me by his pleads.

Other thing that I found annoying is the way the dialogues are written. No quotation marks which can be annoying as hell. But that is topped by the actual dialogues of which one third comprises of repeating what the previous person had said. Sometimes in different order of words or with added “yes” or “no” at the beginning. A kindergartener can write better.

Is it on purpose? No doubt. But it's incredibly stupid. Just as the whole book. There is something beneath the surface but the surface itself is so poorly crafted I barely bothered to think about the deeper stuff. That's not a sign of a great book or a great author. It's exact opposite and it's beyond me why McCarthy gets the praise he does.

If you want to know more just save time and watch the movie. I watched it 5+ years ago and barely remember it but the impression it left was definitely better than this book. I think it's very faithful to it so you won't miss much anyway.