Book Review: The Road

The Road by Cormac McCarthy

Rating: 5/5

Before beginning the book, I had read a couple of reviews at Goodreads and one of them with the lowest-star rating claimed that the reason why the book is not good enough is that: it’s repetitive. I think it is a factually correct review but absolutely incorrect in terms of judging it by its repetitive-ness. Now that I have finished the book, I can safely say that the reason which makes this book so gripping is its emphasis on the repetitiveness of the day to day events. Not once did I feel bored or felt an urge to skip any portion just because the event seemed repetitive. The repetitiveness makes it more powerful because it asserts how when you are running away from death, every moment counts, however mundane and desperate it is. The father and son camp, ignite the fire to stay warm, put on a blanket or two on cold days or tarp over their head when it rains, they eat canned food when they have the stock, search house after empty house for something useful to survive and just simply walk for miles and miles. These things are repeated several times. But these are the things that keep them alive and ultimately get them where they needed to. You can feel their despair, you can feel the cold when it snows or rains, you can feel how thirsty or hungry they get without food for so many days, how without shelter they are so exposed to the cruel world around them, you can easily sense the darkness enveloping the characters so many times and this is how the book keeps its grip on you till the ending.

Nah, the reason why I loved this book is definitely its repetitiveness. With so many people around us losing hope towards life, this book is a great reminder that we should struggle hard and strive to survive, to run away from death, and run towards life and a promise of better tomorrow.