The Road (2006), Cormac McCarthy's most recent novel, describes the bleak journey of a father and son across a post-apocalyptic American landscape. He was visiting El Paso, Texas, with one of his sons, John Francis McCarthy, in 2003 when the initial idea for The Road was born: McCarthy envisioned how the city would look in the future. McCarthy dedicated this novel to John.
The novel has met with great critical success, including a Pulitzer Prize and the James Tait Black Memorial Prize. Many critics and scholars herald The Road as one of McCarthy's best works--if not his masterpiece. Extensive praise for The Road can be found on his publisher's (Random House's) webpage for the novel. Oprah Winfrey selected The Road for her Book Club in April 2007, which led to McCarthy's first televised interview on her program later that year.
McCarthy's literary repertoire includes revisions of various genres, including the crime thriller (No Country for Old Men) and the Western (the Border Trilogy). Some readers entertain an ongoing debate regarding whether The Road should be classified as fiction, science fiction, or even horror, given McCarthy's brutal prose and unflinchingly vivid vision of what could be considered a hell on earth. Nonetheless, most agree that The Road is a deeply moving, if also deeply disturbing, work of unparalleled literary genius that transcends any discussion of genre.
