"The Road" is one of the most disturbing novels I have read in several years.
If you thought what you saw in "An Inconvenient Truth" and a dozen other documentaries or disaster movies was scary, this will shake you up like no other.
All those were global facts and trends thrown at you-this story is about global ecological catastrophe up close and personal.
No running from it, no "we can still save this planet" hope, nothing, because there’s only an open road covered with ash and a sky that’s indistinguishable from the earth.
It’s a story of one man, his son, and the ravaged Earth. It’s a story of the human race at its scariest. The author offers us a picture of how we might end up on a ecologically ravaged planet. And what might ultimately save us, save our human spirit.
Imagine living by the hour, by the minute, walking through ash, nothing but ash, hiding from mobs that roam the land with only one objective: find other humans to kill and eat. Imagine not knowing if you are the only ones alive, worse, actually knowing that you are not the only ones alive and that you may be dead meat anytime. Think about this.
The man and his six year old son, unnamed, are heading for the coast of the United States as they flee the ravaged land and ravenous mobs. The man has persuaded the son that getting out through the sea is their only hope of survival. Actually, the son is only coming along because, well, at that age, all sons trust their fathers. Even those who can see that their fathers are themselves unsure.
In one terrifying incident, father and son stumble into a biggish bunch of people imprisoned under a house by a quartet of men & women. Later, the son asks his dad, “We are the good ones, aren’t we? Because we won’t eat people, will we? Ever?”. The man replies “No, we won’t”, but you know he is not sure.
In another incident, another man finds them hiding under a ridge and attacks the child. The father kills the man, flees with his son, and then returns to find nothing but bones where the dead man lay. Hiding again, the protagonist ponders if killing his son with his own hands might be a more dignified end for both.
It doesn’t get scarier than this. Read it to the end if you dare to. I haven’t had the courage yet to finish it.