The Road

Despite Cormac McCarthy's reputation as an ornate stylist, The Road represents both the logical terminus and a kind of ultimate triumph of the American minimalism that became well-known in the 1980s under the banner of dirty realism. The Road is a much more compelling and demanding book than its predecessor. The new novel will not let the reader go and will invade their dreams as well. The Road is not science fiction, not an allegory, and not a critique of the way we live now, or of how we might live if we continue on our current path. It poses a simple question, more taxing for the imagination and far closer to the primary business of fiction-making: what would this world without people look like, feel like? These questions McCarthy answers magnificently with his devotion to detail.