So what’s the darkest book you’ve ever read? 🤔

I kinda disagree. It's obviously a book about misery and suffering, but i felt like it was a story about love and kindness in the face of it all. The father son dynamic is often so intensely sweet and you can feel how much they love each other and how important it is to the father that the son does lose that feeling or "fire". It's a very sappy reading, especially for a cormac book, but I think its a correct one

I have to say that I think the opposite of The Road. The Road is about having hope even in the most desperate of times, as well as the battle between hope and despair. McCarthy has a habit of raising genre books into a higher level, like with authors such as Chabon, Pynchon, Lethem, or Murakami, as well as sharing their tendencies of combining genre conventions and 'literary' conventions in order to try something new, and it's something that I think that McCarthy does exceptionally well. For a book that was written on a whim, according to McCarthy, this is a masterfully crafted piece.

Want to clarify! When I mean monsters, I mean in terms of monstrous people. Not literal monsters. Though people can be literal monsters. You know what I mean!

I felt the ending of the road was hopeful and beautiful, because despite the end of everything there is the goodness of the child carrying on...even if humanity is doomed there is the light in him. It gives meaning to life even in misery. But yeah the world is fucked lol.

I would actually disagree somewhat with an aspect of your assertion. I think The Road is a bit ambiguous, but with the question "Is the struggle worth it?", I think there's two general arguments present: Ely's nihilism, and the father and son's "fire". It's dark and desperate and endless, yes, but it's the boy's goodness, the virtue they keep, the kindness and companionship they share with each other, that makes the struggle worth it. I found their relationship heartfelt, even if you know from early on the man will die. The characters and their relationship are very archetypal and heartfelt. The boy is the picture of innocence and his father is a good dad who will do anything to protect his son. Like the line at the beginning, they are each the other's world. In my opinion, that's all that can matter, so it should matter, and their struggle is meaningful even without an end goal. I don't know, I guess I just had a more optimistic view.

It's not that I didn't understand 'The Road', or that the internet has destroyed me. It's just that books like 'This Way for the Gas, Ladies and Gentlemen', 'One Day in the Life of Ivan Denisovich', 'The Forgotten Soldier', 'All Quiet on the Western Front' and 'Storm of Steel', had already given me what 'The Road' does. Sure for a literary work, it is very dark, it is harsh, it is violent, much like his other novel Blood Meridian (a better book I feel) but to me, reality always hits me a lot harder than fiction. If it is your first journey into a novel or a world that dark I am sure it is a harsh rough experience, but after a few, and ones based in reality, it isn't as effective on you.

You should now play the last of us. It has taken some inspiration from the book

Great review. Personally, i love 'The Road', I found McCarthy's writing style did an amazing job of maintaining a heightened sense of fear and anxiety for the reader throughout the story. "Tolling in the silence the minutes of the earth and the hours and the days of it and the years without cease." also for me, this line in the opening page is one of the greatest I've ever read.

In my opinion, 5 years past you reviewed it…the most important part of the ending is that the boy spent the entire book saying he wished he were dead. At the end, he’s left alone with a gun with one bullet. For three days, he doesn’t use it and on the third day, he finds a new group with kids, the first glimpse of light he’s seen since they helped the old man for a night. It shows that he learned to believe that life was worth living despite the bleakness of reality. That’s the beauty of it.

Read this book yesterday and have been trying to tell myself it has a happy ending, so I don't go fully into a depressive state!! :) I agree though, the boy's prospects are not good given what we know about this world - in particular, that this apocalypse has wiped out not only most humans, but most everything. No plants, no animals, no way to rebuild. But that very last paragraph mentions a fish, so like, maybe there is something out there? The father says the boy is lucky. Let me hang on to that :)

Hi!!! Always great seeing ur channel!! 📖😄 happy reading to u!!

One of the aspects as to how this book was written that captured me and added so much to it was that there were no chapters. No cliffhangers, no stopping points besides paragraphs, it was just a long road that ends in a fork in the road, taking the boy to a new path that we can only imagine would be just as grim as where he came from. I first read that book the year it came out, I still have it, have not reread it, but I remember the entire book and ending as being bleak and shadowed in constant fear and despair. Wasn't there something towards the end when his father was dying that he told his boy to keep the fire alive within him? That is the most hopeful thing in the book, that maybe because of the boy's determination, and because he now knows what to look out for and how to protect himself, he then becomes the Gunslinger, goes to the Dark Tower, and fights the man in black in order to reclaim the world.

Have you watched the movie adaptation of the book, if so what’s your opinion on it? Great review btw.

Absolutely ended on a hopeful note. The story was a heartfelt exploration of a father's love for his son. The backdrop was the bleak stuff lol

So after reading Cormac McCarthy do you consider reading some wild western books a lá Lonesome Dove or Blood Meridian? To take a break from fantasy Ive read Lonesome Dove and immediately fell in love.

How many books do u read a month? And how do u find time to get all that reading in?

I just realized I wasn’t subscribed to you! I’ve followed your channel a while, and well I’m glad I noticed bevausethat changed real quick

I've always been waiting for a fantasy author who writes like McCarthy. I have a feeling I will be waiting forever.

You should now play 'The last of us' which was also inspired by the road.

Made me feel so cold. Loved it!

I think the ending did symbolize hope. From just the short encounter with the new man he seems more “equipped” to take on the road compared to Dad. Yeah the boy will continue on the road living the same way but there’s more people in his new family. There is strength in numbers. Also towards the end it seemed to me the boy was starting to “grow a pair” knowing his dad was sick. The boy will mature and be able to handle himself having learned from two men good at surviving.

After hearing your take on the end, i still think the ending hint at hope, cause for i feel that in the books world even having the opportunity to keep struggling is good enough. In this world the boy would have die in 90% of possible outcomes after the father die. The surrogate family is (compared to pretty much else) a good event. I do have reserves in recommend this book to most people not because its grim depressing depictions but because how it is writen

This is some pretty good insight, good job

The basement scene.... never forget the basement scene...

You should read 120 Days of Sodom if you want to experience the most intense novel ever written.

The movie adaptation of this is probably the best post apocalyptic scenario I ever seen. I only watch this once but it stuck on my mind until to this day.

Intelligent points well made. On my TBR now 😵

I literally just finished reading discworld when I started the road and that was a serious tonal shift

Honestly? 1984 by Orwell.

Best review of this book I’ve seen.

I think the book could have had a much more depressing ending. The father teaches the boy how to kill himself with the gun if the boy is ever captured, leaving the ending to come down to the father's influence on his son about what has happened to the world, vs the boy's own tendency to want to trust and help those they encounter. If the father's influence had won out, I think it would have ended with the boy killing himself the way he was instructed by his father, instead of being taken in by others. However, the message at the end implies to me, that whatever happened to the world in this story, will never be corrected, or set to right.

I had to read the road in my junior year English class. In my opinion, the road was an onslaught of misery and the ending was practically open ended but McCarthy made sure you knew what was going to happen after this nuclear winter and it is awful. McCarthy also does fantastic examinations on parts of the human condition, and what would happen to a moral compass once a tragedy or world ending events happen, and how humans can be like every other animal when the need to survive hits. Definitely the darkest book I've read and it was fantastic.

I don't understand why most people say this book is disturbing, for how dark it is, I mean, novels based on the second WW2 are truly disturbing because you know that indeed that happened. And if you are more into fiction, take, for instance, the historical fiction book All The Light We Cannot See, is way more disturbing, on how it narrates the starvation or the rapes.

The only book that they made us read in High School and I absolutely loved!!!!

I read the book, is good but it depress me, I recomend read it and then read or see something happy and light.

Just finished reading it a few minutes ago, had to see what Daniel had to say.

Have you heard of "the last of us". Video game inspired by the road. Favorite game but I'm not a gamer. Story is incredible, maybe even better than the amazing novel it was inspired by.

The Road is about doing what is right, even when you will receive nothing but pain and misery in life for doing so. If all you have is a materialistic, hedonistic view of life, then of course The Road would come across as nothing but despair. If you have a moralistic, religious, or ascetic view of life, it comes across as the opposite.

I've never read that book but I did see the movie and from what you are saying it sounds like it was pretty close to the original. is this the story where you can tell when people are cannibals because they start to shake or is that a different one? Some of these post catastrophe stories sort of blend in my mind. I don't like to use the word apocalypse because to me thats just Greek for Revelation. That's what you get for having a religious childhood. Anyway this reminds me just from the title really of a book by your disliked author Stephen King, I think it's called The Long Walk or something and it's pretty damn bleak. It's the least Stephen King-ish novel I've read from him and I've read almost all of them. Supposedly he wrote it even before Carrie but didn't publish it until he started putting out extra dark stuff under his pen name Richard Bachman. Anyway just thought I would mention it.

Who else at least at first thought the cannibals found him in the end

I interpreted the book differently than you did. While it is certainly dark I thought the theme was the enduring bond between a father and his son. No matter how awful the world got the bond between the the man and the boy never failed. Even at the end the man tells the boy to talk to him always even after he’s gone. To me this signified a father letting go of his son, he’d taught him everything he could and it was time to let him go on his own, always remembering the lessons his father had taught him. I know it’s odd but the book has a sense of hope and sweetness to me. Through the worst of humanity there will always be a little light.

I feel this book is a must read, because it shows the monsterous side of humanity with no redemption and yet the father and boy are the hope of the world. McCarthy is a great story teller of all things hopeless i.e. Blood Meridian and No Country for Old Men. In the vein of how you rate things I give it a "abandon all hope, ye who enter here out of ten"

I hated The Road. Your channel got me started reading the wheel of time series. I have avoided all spoilers so far. I am about half way into the eye of the world and I just love the characters so far.

What an optimistic review wow.

haven't read this yet am intimidated by it but maybe I';; check it out now. The darkest book I've ever read is A Little Life by Hana Yanakara

If you want to enjoy another post apoc story but with marginally more hope, but still horrific stuff going on The Book of the Unnamed Midwife is my favorite example!

me at the start of the book: huh, this is a pretty grim world, but i think itll all be okay. me after finishing the book: lands in wheelchair *I HAVE CRIPPLING DEPRESSION!*

the darkest book i read was a web novel call Worm i though it was about superheros boy was i wrong in a world where anything can go bad will go bad. There you are introduced to some of the worst human possible like a gang of murder hobos called slaughterhouse 9 where every superhero has trauma because you only get powers if you have one hell of terrible day like joker. But still a great book

ok i've only watched the movie and here is my two cents: 1- EVEN if the boy survives, canned goods will only last so long. So he'll either die or become the same cannibals that terrifyied him 2- the family at the end gave me SUCH bad vibes, like, I honestly think they'll kill him and the other kids or worse

I thought you hated too much darkness, and that's why you didn't appreciate GoT.

For me, the take away from this book is to Carry the Fire. This isn’t necessarily positive, but it is such a testament to the human spirit. We carry the fire, regardless of the situation, and we give it to the next generation. This seems hopeful, but I don’t actually think it is. It’s almost nihilistic, because it speaks to our evolutionary impulse to keep going no matter how terrible things are, and nothing we do really matters as long as we keep going. Who knows. Side note: I like dark stuff, and this is the only book that has ever given me a nightmare.

The Road is one of the best books I've ever read. I loved it. The message of no hope is just awesome. We are indeed living in a world where each one of us is totally alone and watching a slow decay into death. So yeah, where is the hope? The Road is true, shows the reality of human despair, and portrays the love between a father and son, but shows ultimately, that even that will decay. I find it comforting that an author can so beautifully express all that. Which is the positive thing to end on. That even though we are all alone and facing this despair - each of us is going through that.

Good review but I feel you skipped to the end too quickly to the end without giving spoilers. You stated a spoiler free section of they video already and then gave no further plot points. I would like you opinion breaking down the story and giving us those plot points in your review.

Okay.

Interesting review! However... apart from knowing what the book is about, the only thing I ever really heard about it was a VERY NEGATIVE written review. I mean, obviously, I can't judge which is the "correct" review, since I haven't even read the book, but would you be interested in reading it? It's the top review on Goodreads here: www.goodreads.com/review/show/19226230?book_show_action=true&from_review_page=1

NOOOOO! I worked on a detailed comment and then YT was on autoplay and when I went back, it was gone. ARGH! Recap: I can't believe it's been 9 years since I read this book. I don't even remember the details. (I think my mind blocked things out. I don't remember the basement scene.) All I know is it nearly ended me. I felt mentally and physically exhausted even while reading. I felt like I was walking with them. I thought of giving up a few times, but I had to know what happened to these people. I figured the ending would be even darker, so I was trying to mentally prepare by thinking, what's the most horrific thing that could happen? I figured father or son cannibalizing each other. So compared to that, it ended up way more hopeful than I thought it would be.

"A perfect excercise of the obliteration of hope." Yes. Indeed. Did not get why it was so popular.

Sounds like "The Road" is the Ishamael of dystopian fiction.

So how come you bring up the horror of the basement seen but don’t mention the part where they see a pregnant woman in a group and later find their camp with the baby roasting Over the fire with them not around? Did you only watch the movie? That part is only in the book and is definitely worse than the basement part.

neil patrick harris .

I just do not in any way agree with your interpretation of the ending. The talk of the "fire", finding other "good" folk to go with him... I literally cannot see that as a dip from the lowest low when it's objectively a step up, even if we're at the bottom. I cannot fathom it as a negative ending.

I did not like The Road at all. I do not understand why people like it so much. It is boring, in the sense that nothing "out of the ordinary" happens. It is set in a post apocalyptic world, and everything that happens is very post apocalyptic.

Old vid! :)

The first few sentences of this book are all you need to read to know the terrible writing you're going to have to endure to get through it, never mind the glaring plot holes throughout.

I wonder how, though, the Road's "No pulled punches" method works where many other "Dark" writers just seem to be developing a gore fest? Is it the deep, emotionally scarred characters you just sympathize with so much? Many writers go "Oh, I won't hold back," and use that as an excuse to just. Fill their stories with graphic imagery that serves no other purpose than to disgust and make the reader feel like there's no light at all in this world. Maybe the Road works because it keeps telling the reader there is hope. That through family there is a chance. And through every attempt to blow the flame out, it's still there, sputtering along stubbornly even though there's no point left for it to still be lit. Also, McCarthy is just a good writer too, which lets that work. There's a difference between people trying to establish the kind of message you describe and who tell themselves that fiction is "Just too happy" and they need to be the one to make it "Realistic" through the most disturbing means necessary.

I was honestly just relieved the child wasn’t left alone in the world after his father died

Oh gosh, when you said ~ “if this is to dark for your taste that’s okay, and you can be happy with game of thrones level of darkness” - this makes me think wow how dark is this book!?

One of McCarthy's weaker novels.

Sounds like walking dead season 1

They are headed South because they need to be able to survive the winter. They find a bunker stocked with everything they could possibly need, and keep warm in the process. And they leave because it’s not safe? No one has stumbled on this place for seven years. The Road itself is terribly dangerous. When you meet anyone, there is a good chance that they will try to kill and eat you. So the relative safety is, at best, a wash. Moreover, the father is getting sick. They could hold up for the winter, letting him get healthy and strong again. Just this one incident shows how this book fails on its own terms. On top of that, the writing is pretentious. It’s kind to say that it’s a non-traditional story arc. Rather, the story is utterly flat. It has no arc at all. The characters are one dimensional and lack depth. The dialogue is repetitive, ridiculous, and pointless. The world-building is completely lazy, and the world itself is totally implausible. Compare this ash covered world to Mistborn, and tell me that this is the one that is well thought at. It’s absurd; praising it simply takes laziness and elevates it to a virtue. On top of all that, the symbolism is way too heavy handed. (For example, we have a father, a son and they carry the “fire” or the Holy Spirit. The greatest horror occurs when they descend into an underworld, etc....)

Horrible review