cover of the book The Road by Cormac McCarthy
Fiction

On THE ROAD Again

Vanessa Diaz

Managing Editor

Book Riot Managing Editor Vanessa Diaz is a writer and former bookseller from San Diego, CA whose Spanish is even faster than her English. When not reading or writing, she enjoys dreaming up travel itineraries and drinking entirely too much tea. She is a regular co-host on the All the Books podcast who especially loves mysteries, gothic lit, mythology/folklore, and all things witchy. Vanessa can be found on Instagram at @BuenosDiazSD or taking pictures of pretty trees in Portland, OR, where she now resides.

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The world is bleak, but the vibe is ultimately hopeful in Cormac McCarthy’s Pulitzer-winning post-apocalyptic novel The Road, which came out 20 years ago this week.

The story about a father and son struggling to survive years after an unspecified catastrophe wiped out most of humanity and left the earth covered in ashes was inspired by a moment McCarthy shared with his own son, who was just six at the time of the book’s release.

The book’s reputation and McCarthy’s own complicated personal life belie a tale that, though violent at times, is punctuated with moments of great beauty and intense tenderness.

Singular and memorable, The Road ranked #13 on the New York Times‘s list of the best books of the 21st century so far. It also led to McCarthy’s first-ever television interview when Oprah selected it for her book club in 2007.

🎧 Listen as we discuss this modern classic on Zero to Well-Read.

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