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The Road (Pulitzer Prize Winner)

Pulitzer Prize

The Road (Pulitzer Prize Winner)

Cormac McCarthy

A father and son cross a burned-out America after an unnamed catastrophe, surviving on love, trust, and sheer will.

apocalypsefather and sonsurvival

Work Information

A father and son cross a burned-out America after an unnamed catastrophe, surviving on love, trust, and sheer will.

In spare, relentless prose, the book follows the faint light of love and ethics that survives in a collapsed world.

Book Information

Publisher
Knopf
Published
2006-09-26
Pages
256 pages
Language
英語
Size
24.28 x 15.29 x 2.95 cm
ISBN-13
9780307265432
ISBN-10
0307265439
Price
6108 JPY
Category
洋書/Literature & Fiction/Genre Fiction/Coming of Age

WINNER OF THE PULITZER PRIZE • NATIONAL BESTSELLER • A searing, post-apocalyptic novel about a father and son’s fight to survive that “only adds to McCarthy’s stature as a living master. It’s gripping, frightening and, ultimately, beautiful” (San Francisco Chronicle). One of The New York Times’s 100 Best Books of the 21st Century • A Kirkus Reviews Best Fiction Book of the Century A father and his son walk alone through burned America. Nothing moves in the ravaged landscape save the ash on the wind. It is cold enough to crack stones, and when the snow falls it is gray. The sky is dark. Their destination is the coast, although they don’t know what, if anything, awaits them there. They have nothing; just a pistol to defend themselves against the lawless bands that stalk the road, the clothes they are wearing, a cart of scavenged food—and each other. The Road is the profoundly moving story of a journey. It boldly imagines a future in which no hope remains, but in which the father and his son, “each the other’s world entire,” are sustained by love. Awesome in the totality of its vision, it is an unflinching meditation on the worst and the best that we are capable of: ultimate destructiveness, desperate tenacity, and the tenderness that keeps two people alive in the face of total devastation.

The novels of the American writer, Cormac McCarthy, have received a number of literary awards, including the Pulitzer Prize, the National Book Award, and the National Book Critics Circle Award. His works adapted to film include All the Pretty Horses, The Road, and No Country for Old Men― the latter film receiving four Academy Awards, including the award for Best Picture .

Reviews

  • 名作

    はっきりは書かれていないが、核戦争後?の全てが灰に覆われた世界。男と小さな少年が南を目指して生き延びる(サバイバル)旅をする。 文章が素敵(詩的?)。ストーリテリングも巧み。最後も感動的。

  • 読ませる力を持った作品

    ピューリッツァー賞をもらった作品だからと、中味をよく調べもせず数年前に買い込んで、ようやく今開けてみてびっくり。焦土と化した世界の中で、飢と寒さあまり略奪はおろか人を襲って食べようとする者たちを必死に避けながら歩き続ける父と子の話だった。あまりにも暗くてすぐに投げ出しそうになったのだが、文章になんとも言えない力があって最後まで読み続けさせられた。結局、希望があるのかないのか、私には分からない終わり方だったが、現在の国際社会への警告なのだろう。忘れられない作品であることは確かだ。

  • A Must Read!

    I was hesitant to buy this book at first but, something in me tells me that it is worth it. And it sure was. Some may call it hopeless based on how the world seems to be post-apocalypse. But I completely disagree, the love of the father and son to each other and the hope that burns within their heart and the faith that they will have a better tomorrow, that for me is the very definition of hope. An unforgettable story, I must say.

  • A very contemporary novel

    In this Pulitzer Prize-winning novel, a father and his son travel on foot on the road southwards in America, which "was stripped and plundered years ago". They look for leftover food in ruined houses, while sometimes coming upon dead human corpses and encountering living humans every now and then. I have been reading, being curious about where their travel will reach and what McCarthy means to convey from this novel. My attention also has been drawn to his omissions of apostrophes for abbreviated words in negative sentences, such as "I dont know", "He couldnt take his eyes off", "We cant stay", "But there wont be any cars or trucks on them", "You mustnt say that", "What if he doesnt have a papa?, and "Tomorrow wasnt getting ready for them". Though I'm assured that these omissions are deeply connected with what the author means to convey, I wonder what the connection is. Will the father and son run into something negative without cessation? Will the negative end await them? This is a very contemporary novel, for it has made me recall hazards caused by Russian-Ukraine war and global warming. However, this novel is not altogether pessimistic.

  • あまり展開がない

    映画化もされた有名な作品だそうだが、私にはイマイチだった。 あまり展開がなく同じような描写が延々と続くので、途中から飽きてしまった。 しかし、示唆に満ちているとも思う。 小説に何を求めるかによって評価が変わると思う。

  • An SF

    A father and a boy headed south in the midst of the disaster. Some events happened to them in the road. The story is not easy to understand, but you can imagine a lot of things from the plot.

  • とても印象付けられる作品。でも、最後は宗教文化の違いがあるのかも。

    最近の英国タイムズ紙で「Best Book of the Decade」に選ばれた作品。英語でpost- apocalypseと表現される終末的な世界と、そこをぼろぼろの姿であてどなく旅する父と息子の姿が描かれている。とても印象付けられる作品だ。 イギリスのAmazonの評価などをみると、物凄い絶賛を受けている。でも、自分には、そこまで言う気にはなれない。いや、自分にはその価値を十分に噛みしめるだけの精神的素地がないのかとも思う。確かに、あらゆる生命感を失い、希望も夢もなくした荒涼たる終末的な世界の記述は圧倒的だ。そこを生きる親子の愛も身につまされて切ない。短文、体言止めを活用する文体、物凄く短い会話形式なども効果的である。 ただ、最後のところは自分は作者と宗教観、宗教文化を共有していないからなのか。作品の中で「神」への言及が多い。自分にはそこのところをきちんと読み取れなかった。

  • かみしめるように読む

    ディストピアです。 (おそらく)核戦争後の荒れ果てた大地を、ひたすら南に向かって旅する親子の話。 何が起こってこの状況になっているのか、南に行けば何があるのか、などは一切書かれていません。 ただ、精神的にも肉体的にもぎりぎりに追い詰められた過酷な状況で、とにかく親子が旅を続けている状況が 淡々と描かれているだけです。酷な内容とその淡白で静かな描かれ方の対比が、返って強烈なインパクトを残します。 ラストはじんわりこみ上げるものがありました。 色々考えさせられる、そして読み終わった後は誰かに話したくなる、そういう意味で良い作品だと思いまっした。

  • In een vernietigende zwarte kou doolt een vader naar het zuiden met als enige motivatie zijn zoon. We volgen dit tweetal in een post-apocalyptische wereld van as en onmenselijkheid door zo helder beschreven vernietiging dat de adem stokt. Er is geen hoop, maar de lezer denkt het te kunnen vinden.

  • جميل

  • Amazing book. People say it's incredibly depressing and a window into what desperation turns people into, but to me, despite having to stop a couple of times as realizations hit me like trucks, it felt a lot more like a amazing story of what a father will do for his child, how his innocence and sweetness keep him going. I would recommend it in spite of how depressing it can get. Thanks to it I was also able to get into McCarthy's literary style, which is also very much appreciated.

  • Brilliant read, loved it. Fast, free delivery from Amazon

  • Scritto in ma ieri quasi asettica, in alcune parti ripetitivo, quasi a suggerire il nuovo corso delle vicende umane dopo una misteriosa catastrofe che resta percepibile solo attraverso le tracce che lascia. Ci sono due visioni quasi contrastanti. Un padre che lotta per la sopravvivenza e un figlio che prima accetta qualsiasi nefandezza come qualcosa di indiscusso, e poi, crescendo, inizia a sviluppare una sua personale coscienza. E' un grido forte all'umanità, alla riconquista di valori perduti. Storia che lascia tantissime emozioni e che merita di essere letta tutta di un fiato.

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