The Road
2006 · Cormac McCarthy · 287 pages · Literary Fiction
Cormac McCarthy's 2006 novel won the Pulitzer Prize for Fiction, and it's easy to understand why even if the reading experience is closer to endurance than entertainment. A father and son walk through the ashes of the world, and McCarthy makes you feel every cold mile. The stripped-down prose, the relentless bleakness, and the quiet tenderness between the two main characters create something that stays with readers long after they finish. It's not a book everyone will enjoy. It is a book almost no one forgets.