The Road

By: Cormac McCarthy

Narrated by: Tom Stechschulte

Length: 6 hrs and 39 mins

Publisher's summary

Pulitzer Prize, Fiction, 2007

America is a barren landscape of smoldering ashes, devoid of life except for those people still struggling to scratch out some type of existence. Amidst this destruction, a father and his young son walk, always toward the coast, but with no real understanding that circumstances will improve once they arrive. Still, they persevere, and their relationship comes to represent goodness in a world of utter devastation.

Bleak but brilliant, with glimmers of hope and humor, The Road is a stunning allegory and perhaps Cormac McCarthy's finest novel to date. This remarkable departure from his previous works has been hailed by Kirkus Reviews as a "novel of horrific beauty, where death is the only truth".

McCarthy, a New York Times best-selling author, is a past recipient of the National Book Award and National Book Critics Circle Award. He is widely considered one of America's greatest writers.

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Critic reviews

"McCarthy's prose retains its ability to seduce...and there are nods to the gentler aspects of the human spirit." (The New Yorker)
"One of McCarthy's best novels, probably his most moving and perhaps his most personal...Every moment of The Road is rich with dilemmas that are as shattering as they are unspoken...McCarthy is so accomplished that the reader senses the mysterious and intuitive changes between father and son that can't be articulated, let alone dramatized...Both lyric and savage, both desperate and transcendent, although transcendence is singed around the edges...Tag McCarthy one of the four or five great American novelists of his generation." (Los Angeles Times Book Review)

Amazing narration!

Beautiful story made even more beautiful by the narrator. It came to life with every word. Highly recommend!

The [Long] Road

If I had read this book instead of listening to it, I doubt i would have finished it. Nothing really interesting happened. The characters don't grow. The relationship between the characters doesn't change. No sense of adventure. Never reveals how the world ended up like it is. It is just a story of two people walking on a road.

All that being said, this is my first McCarthy book and I do like how he writes, very poetic. Almost like listening to a song because you like how the artist sounds, not because of what they are saying.

A wonderful work of art to listen to...

I listened to the Audible version of The Road by Cormac McCarthy and am very glad I did so. To date this was the best audible experience I've had. In a work full of love and fear and poetry and apocalyptic imagery and scenery, this already perfect book was nonetheless somehow amplified by the narrator's obvious respect for the author's love of language, and his commitment to representing the father and the son faithfully and rendering their conversations truthfully and, at times, heart-rendingly. Not for a moment did this seem to be a staged or directed performance but rather a real-time capture of the emotionally charged events relayed in the original story. A truly unforgettable tale, at times elegantly beautiful and at other times starkly terrifying...a true post-apocalyptic epic that doesn't need to explain why, and only seeks to relay 'what happens after" to an Everyman and his beloved son. I have certainly found a top ten book and another favored author!

Wonderful story

Heartrending story. Didn't love the narration of the man although it didn't really detract from the story either.

A journey

Would you consider the audio edition of The Road to be better than the print version?

I felt as though I was on a journey with them both and listening to the story enabled this experience of being alongside them

Who was your favorite character and why?

The father, because he held the hope for the boy and through the long journey was able to pass this hope onto the boy

Have you listened to any of Tom Stechschulte’s other performances before? How does this one compare?

This is the first of his books and am now interested in others

If you were to make a film of this book, what would be the tag line be?

A road to hope

Any additional comments?

A suprisingly uplifting gripping story. A must listen

unfortunately i saw the movie first :(

i strongly recommend this book, but only to people who havent seen the movie. otherwise you will have a de ja vu

A dark poem.

A great and epic dark tale. The narrator truly made it come alive. Read it!

Deeply sad

Simply written and heartbreakingly profound. Sticks with you afterwards. Makes you think about what drives a man through despair so deep you can't see a way out.

Made me cry, towards the end.

A great metaphor for the struggles we all face. Onwards and upwards. great performances all round.

moving

I read the glowing reviews for The Road and thought I'd give it a shot. I am so glad I did. It is a moving story about a young boy and his father's journey during what may be the aftermath of an atomic bomb (the author never says). Warning: there is a small amount of graphic cannibalism, but it was more shocking and eye-opening than truly gross.

The characters are fantastic and the plot moves along at a good pace. Likewise, I never found myself asking "when is this going to end?" as I have in the past. I truly recommend this book.