Title: The Road
Author: Cormac McCarthy
Publisher: Vintage Books, a division of Random House
Copyright: 2006
Review Score: 5.00 
Summary:
The road is a wholly believable science fiction story about a young boy and his father who take a walking journey together. This, however, is not just another light-hearted walk in the park. Rather, the walk is the duo's only chance for survival. Father and son have to get out of the devastated, cold, northern environment that used to be home and try to find a warmer, more life-supporting place to live. With the help of an old, torn-up oil company map that they piece together whenever it's needed, the boy and his father are able to find their way south on what's left of the U.S. road system - hence the name of the book.
"They passed through the city at noon...The city was mostly burned. No sign of life. Cars in the street caked with ash, everything covered with ash and dust. Fossil tracks in the dried sludge. A corpse in the driveway dried to leather..." We never know for sure what caused the dust and ash, which makes it impossible for earth life to grow or to see the sun or moon. We only know that a catastrophic event occurred several years ago, just before the young boy was born. This story chronicles the conversations and events that take place while father and son walk the road and search for food, clothing, shelter and safety.
Message of Love:
Love is recognized by harmlessness to self and others
Score: 5.00
The Road was selected for spiritual review because it explores the concept of googness. In the ash-covered, dark world crated by Cormac McCarthy, goodness is not mandated through laws or social conventions because there are no laws or social conventions. There is no such thing as government, and the environment is so harsh, so inhospitable, and so hopeless it seems unlikely that goodness could manifest at all. Yet it does. McCarthy brilliantly demonstrates to us is that goodness does not depend on any condition and can be experienced in a world that is imperfect to an extreme.
Father and son continually refer to themselves as the good guys. Here's a typical conversation:
"Are we still the good guys? He said. [son]
"Yes. We're still the good guys." [father]
"And we always will be?" [son]
"Yes. We always will be." [father]
"Okay." [son]
But how exactly do the father and son recognize themselves as good? When every other measure is stripped away, it becomes clear and easy to see that goodness or love is determined by harmlessness to self and others. Father and son "know" they are good because they do not engage in the killing of other humans for sport or for food. Even more, through the father's continual reassurances to his son that they're okay, McCarthy shows that harmlessness or love is also a relentless dedication to the undoing of fear at every level.
Inspiration:
Score: 5.00
The boy and his father share many conversations with us. None are as profound as the talk they have when the father is on his deathbed:
"I want to be with you." [son]
"You can't." [father]
"Please." [son]
"You can't. You have to carry the fire." [father]
"I don't know how to." [son]
"Yes you do." [father]
"Is it real? The fire?" [son]
"Yes it is." [father]
"Where is it? I don't know where it is." [son]
"Yes you do. It's inside you. It was always there. I can see it." [father]
The Road reminds us that goodness is our birthright. It's there inside us, waiting to be rediscovered. Like the boy, we are inspired to carry the fire and to look within for nourishment.
Practicality/Relevance:
Score: 5.00
Most of us turn the experience of love into a complicated, rigid, predictable cliche'. We think that love has to conform to certain particular circumstances with certain special people. We think that certain special words and actions have to be experessed and that certain special outcomes need to be achieved. And if those expected things don't happen? Well, we say it's not love. Yet, through the boy and his father, we discover something wonderful. All these roles and expectations are unnecessary. All that's needed to experience love is a willingness to become harmless and to see the goodness that is our truth.
Organization/Readability:
Score: 5.00
This book grabs your attention from the very first page and holds it to the last sentence. It's an easy, enjoyable and uplifting read for men, women, teenagers and older children.
