Cormack McCarthy’s book The Road came out in 2006, gaining the Pulitzer Prize for fiction in the following year. It has gained renewed interest with the release of the Film starring Viggo Mortensen (from the Lord of the Rings) and Charlize Theron. The story takes place in post apocalyptic America. A father and his 11 year-old son walk the road just trying to survive. All around them is chaos and anarchy. Bandits roam the countryside looking for food. It’s a dark and violent time.

Neither the book nor the film are for the faint-hearted. The story is
deeply disturbing; shocking in parts. But McCarthy brings a profound
and compelling honesty to this important subject. There is honesty
about the human heart. Honesty about our good bits and the parts we’d
rather keep hidden. Honesty about the depths we sometimes sink to, as
well as the heights to which we may soar.

Ultimately there is a nagging question of whether even our best has any meaning if there is no God in which to situate and root our individual and collective stories.

Perhaps surprisingly, it offers a positive vision made all the more conspicuous by the backdrop of horror in which it is placed.

Read my article on the book here or listen to a podcast discussion I had with Greg Clarke.