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The Road,
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Britt Badgley alamo
not at all. In fact, this book makes you want to live.
Richard Reece
There is no light, only ashen literary grayness. There is no plot, no character development, no resolution. The Road is like the unedited first draft of a high school freshman's attempt at a novel, a budding writer with some vague idea that a post-apocalyptic story would be "cool" to write, but doesn't have any idea what to do with it. A complete waste of time, unless you are studying source material on the history of sycophantic literary critics or the world's biggest literary award blunders. Toss it.
Linda
The book will make you treasure life, love life and be alive to beauty in a more profound way than you are now. The last three words of the book are "pulsed with mystery." There is loss for the world that got thrown away, but also light in a kind of miracle at the end. The book surely asks the question of why we live, why we trudge on despite our inevitable death. The man and boy live on for each other and something else that is not easily explained. I found myself thinking about a certain two-year-old in my life and hoping that one day he would be moved by great writing like this. This i one of the best books I have ever read.
Melody Kuschnereit
Some people, like myself, find beauty in raw, dark writing like this. Others do not, and that's ok. If you don't love the prose and find it too depressing from the beginning, it might be a waste of your time to keep reading. I wouldn't hold it against you to pick up a different book.
Heloise Jacobs
yes, its dark, but the human spirit is so amazing and that makes this book memorable. There is hope there.
Any way why would you want to commit suicide? Its just a book, separate your feelings and read with your mind.
Any way why would you want to commit suicide? Its just a book, separate your feelings and read with your mind.
Candi Ihnen
It is dark. I did not like it, and found it heartbreaking. There are moments of beauty and there is this great love of a father, but I found these passages even more heartbreaking since I could not see a happy ending in sight.
With that being said, my sister LOVED it. She found it full of hope and was inspired by the father's parenting in such conditions.
It may be one you have to read to get the answer. I saw no light, but my sister saw an abundance of it...and we usually agree on books.
Probably not much help. =)
With that being said, my sister LOVED it. She found it full of hope and was inspired by the father's parenting in such conditions.
It may be one you have to read to get the answer. I saw no light, but my sister saw an abundance of it...and we usually agree on books.
Probably not much help. =)
Eric Stone
It is depressing, dark and full of feelings of hopelessness....but we should not limit our emotional experiences.
WannieTheSane
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Andrew C Taylor
Just drop it. This book is dull, hollow and uninspiring. Worst book I've ver read.
Ethan Pochna
This book is atypical from the normal dystopian novel. In this book, there is no hope. Ever. Often, the book gives you fleeting senses of it for a few sentences, but quickly squashes. In this world without hope, there is actually none.
Marie
I expected something brighter in later chapters. But nothing promising or bright to the end. I think it was an interesting book. However, I wouldn't read again or strongly recommend.
Mauro Barea
"We carry the fire". It's the light you need.
Greg
Chris, this is probably the darkest book I've ever read. I'm halfway through. There are moments, so far, of beauty. Keep going!
Tom
The action in the plot is inconsequential. There is no turning point, just one horrific scene after another. You could safely skip ahead to the last 30-40 pages. Some might consider the ending hopeful. I found it contrived and Made for Hollywood.
Kattia
I found great beauty in this book, the love of the father for his son is pure beauty. The ending was actually full of hope.
Lynda Cummings
This is one of the few books I have been unable to finish because it was so depressing. I had to ask my son what happened in the end!
Bill H.
As previous answers indicate, it is dark, but readers find uplift in the human spirit and relationship between a father and son. However, it doesn't take many pages to conclude that any hopes of eventual happiness in a restored human society are dreams at best. Recommend the more "hopeful" Canticle for Leibowitz, Bradbury's The Martian Chronicles, The Handmaid's Tale, or Fahrenheit 451.
Jerry
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sombia anthony
the thing that I loved the most about this book was how real it was. It's not supposed to be a fairytale. It's essentially this road that life takes place on. I wouldn't say that its a complete dark read. I find that its inspiring, and it kind of gives hope to humanity especially since it takes place in a apocalyptic world. And I also like the fact that it's completely ambiguous. Overall great read.
Jamie
No, I wouldn’t call it that. Of course, the story takes place in a dark time, which we hope we never have to experience. But I find the connection between the Son and the Father very touching and the book not only highlights negative points, but also what people can do with negativity.
Daniel A.
Your first impression is not a false one. This is a bleak book…we’re talking end-of-the-world stuff. The dark matter of this novel clung to me for months afterwards. The story may be compelling, but some scenes are so gruesome that you might never forget them. The movie adaptation (which is remarkably faithful to the novel) was released at Christmastime some years ago and absolutely tanked at the box office…and there’s a reason for that. I’ve advised my own kids to steer clear of this title unless they come prepared to be depressed. Strangely enough, I love “The Road”…but I just may be of the twisted ilk.
Thomas
If you've read the first few pages, you might as well have read the whole book, because nothing additional happens and none of the characters are developed any further.
nia
If anything, it'll make you view life from a different viewpoint, and treasure it.
Erica
I'm calling this "the depression book." I had to read it for a class and I read it as quickly as possible because it made me sad and depressed every sitting. I do not recommend.
Edit: I found the prose hard to read, the lack of dialogue punctuation aggravating, and it seems like you could edit out half the book - there's no lack of redundancy. It's not easy on women, either. Women are reduced to breasts on a lawn or food production units in the worst possible way. I did not find this book innovative. I found it intolerable.
Edit: I found the prose hard to read, the lack of dialogue punctuation aggravating, and it seems like you could edit out half the book - there's no lack of redundancy. It's not easy on women, either. Women are reduced to breasts on a lawn or food production units in the worst possible way. I did not find this book innovative. I found it intolerable.
Eddie Levenkron
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Kasey Bandrowski
The book definitely has its dark moments but it also is focused a lot on hope. The father cares so much for his son and does everything he can to make his life a little happier. One of my favorite scenes was when he found a Coca Cola and handed it to his son to share something that used to bring him joy.
Judy Lindow
Maybe you would commit suicide. None of us can answer that question for you. It is dark all the way through. There is also beautiful lyricism, imagery, a profound relationship, delicious vocabulary, a dire prescience warning, and the irony that many of the things happening in the story (much like MaddAdams) are a reality in our world today.
Kibby Kibs
I read the first 100 pages and just could not get into it. I read for enjoyment and this book is too depressing so far.
Arno De pooter
This was a very dark book. the love between the father and son didn't make up for it...
Lucie
It's interesting and cool that you asked if there was 'light' at the end, because that's exactly what this book is about... light vs. darkness, good vs. evil.
Paul
You wouldn't and shouldn't commit suicide anyway. As for the book, it's stripped to the bone and very unsparing, but what it has to say about several themes -- survival, the fragile nature of merit, and especially parenting and the burdens children have to bear -- is too insightful to be depressing.
William Brown
The book is, in fact, mostly about "the light".
The ending is good and redeems the book, IMO.
The ending is good and redeems the book, IMO.
Gwilym Hughes
This book was hyped in the UK as the best dystopian book of the last 10-20 years. Don't be fooled.
I found this book to be full of hope and faith in something beyond mankind's stupidity and greed in ruining a perfectly formed planet for all our needs. There were beautiful moments between a knowing father and the usual teenage son in this book but, unfortunately, it tried to deal with a huge topic in a meandering, 'Holywood' sweep (I feel a lot of writers see film rights in their books and write them with that in mind).
The natural minutia of what it would really be like is not delved into sufficiently for my liking, relying instead on the 'Mad Max' syndrome, as I like to call it.
I found Robert Edric's 'Salvage' a more believable read bar none.
I found this book to be full of hope and faith in something beyond mankind's stupidity and greed in ruining a perfectly formed planet for all our needs. There were beautiful moments between a knowing father and the usual teenage son in this book but, unfortunately, it tried to deal with a huge topic in a meandering, 'Holywood' sweep (I feel a lot of writers see film rights in their books and write them with that in mind).
The natural minutia of what it would really be like is not delved into sufficiently for my liking, relying instead on the 'Mad Max' syndrome, as I like to call it.
I found Robert Edric's 'Salvage' a more believable read bar none.
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