Review: The Road by Cormack McCarthy

I hadn’t heard of Cormack McCarthy’s The Road until it was assigned to the senior class as an outside reading novel. Wanting to be the most knowledgeable student teacher I could be, I went out and bought all of the books that were assigned. I was surprised at what the book entailed. While this novel was not originally intended for youth, I think it holds many lessons in which they can use throughout their life, and also is an entertaining story. It’s a post-apocalypse world where necessities are limited and the road is long. Cannibals are a regular occurrence and there is no down time. There is no warmth of sun and it is always winter. Not exactly the ideal setting for a young child. This novel is solely about the laws of survival and what a father will do for his son. There are no laws, no rules, and no repercussions of wrong doings.

This is by no means a pleasant tale, but it’s impossible to put it down. All of my students that read it absolutely fell in love. The only problem they encountered while reading was getting used to McCarthy’s writing style. There are no quotation marks and the story blends together. What could be chapters are merely asterisks marking a new scene, but I suppose that’s what makes the story such a good read. There never is a good stopping point, so you never really want to put it down.

The bond between the father and the son would bring tears to any readers’ eyes. Their relationship brings a multitude of discussion possibilities to any classroom. The fathers plan is to keep his son safe and alive, no matter what. They are constantly on the road, in search for supplies and a place to sleep. I think this metaphor for life is one that students could really wrap their brain around and relate it to their own lives. What would they do for another? What would their family do for them? To what extent could they survive in an alien world?

Every time I look at The Road on my bookshelf, I want to read it again and again. I just can’t get over how it is wonderfully written. At the end, I literally cried, both with sadness and relief. I would definitely recommend this book to a high school student, or to anyone I come to encounter.