Why people recommend it
The Road by Cormac McCarthy is a bleak, post-apocalyptic novel that follows a father and his young son walking through a ruined, ash-covered America while trying to survive starvation, despair, and roaming scavengers. On The Ezra Klein Show, Ben Dominic recommended revisiting the wider works of the author following his passing, noting that while many readers are intimately familiar with this particular dystopian masterpiece, his other writings deserve equal attention. Gilbert Cruz hosted several episodes on The Book Review dedicated to the novel, including a discussion where Ryan Holiday selected it as one of the definitive books of the 21st century and recalled flying through its pages during the early pandemic. Cruz also contrasted the literary dystopian style of the novel with later young adult phenomena like The Hunger Games. Furthermore, Annie Jacobsen discussed the book on Conversations with Tyler, noting that critics accurately observed how the harrowing novel heavily influenced her own writing about nuclear war scenarios. Across these podcast episodes, commentators emphasize the enduring power of McCarthy's stark prose, which captures both the terrifying fragility of human civilization and the unbreakable bond between a parent and child.
Who recommended it
- Gilbert Cruz Discussed
- Ryan Holiday Discussed
- Dwight Garner Discussed
- Annie Jacobsen Discussed
- Dean Koontz Discussed
- Gabrielle Zevin Discussed
- Alexandra Alter Discussed
- Lawrence Wright Discussed
- Steven Bartlett Discussed
- Ben Dominic Recommended
- Troy Baker Discussed
- Sebastian Junger Discussed
- Duncan Trussell Discussed
Gilbert Cruz — 7 mentions
Discussed
“So today, we're going to dig in on one of those books, number 13 on the list, The Road by Cormac McCarthy.”
Discussed
“If we're going to talk about The Road, I think it would be useful to quickly recap it here for anyone who hasn't had a chance to read it yet or hasn't read it in a while.”
Discussed
“The Road was the only novel you picked when we asked you to pick 10 books from the 21st century.”
Discussed
“Because 2 years before The Hunger Games, um in 2006, um Cormac McCarthy's The Road came out”
Discussed
“you've said that the director Ridley Scott asked you a question after reading cormack McCarthy's the road and that that was your inspiration”
Book club
“and he was on Oprah because she picked the road for Oprah's Book Club he was uncomfortable because he hated to do press the number of”
Discussed
“like KC McCarthy is the road which is about a father and sun on the road they're in a burned out postnuclear War America and they're trying to survive and they're cannibals and it's just Grim”
Ryan Holiday — 3 mentions
Discussed
“...but I did decide to pick up The Road, and I remember zipping through it.”
Discussed
“Have you read uh have you read Cormac McCarthy's The Road?”
Discussed
“yeah i i haven't read that book but i'm a huge uh admirer of of cormac mccarthy and uh i'm not sure the road was his best book”
Dwight Garner — 2 mentions
Discussed
“the road is similar the road is quite a slim novel as many listeners will know sort of a post-apocalyptic story of father and his young son”
Discussed
“and of course there are really disgusting moments for example in the road where these characters are keeping human beings alive in a basement so they can slowly consume their flesh”
Annie Jacobsen — 1 mention
Discussed
“and someone asked me or rather stated that my book nuclear war a scenario was clearly influenced by John Hershey's Hiroshima and Cormick McCarthy's the road and I thought what absolutely both of those books I have read more than once each of those books”
Dean Koontz — 1 mention
Discussed
“Then he moved to things like No Country for Old Men and The Road which is stripped down and just the opposite of everything in his first career.”
Gabrielle Zevin — 1 mention
Discussed
“so I'm thinking of something like the last of us which feels quite a bit like the road or the passage by Justin Cronin games call on literature all the time”
Alexandra Alter — 1 mention
Discussed
“it's been 16 years since he published the road which became a huge bestseller one of pullit ser and devastated me and millions of others readers”
Lawrence Wright — 1 mention
Discussed
“it started a decade ago when ridley scott had me write a script he wanted he had read the cormac mccarthy novel the road which is this post-apocalyptic story father and son”
Steven Bartlett — 1 mention
Discussed
“what do you think about that keeping commitments to ourselves in uh in the road the Cormac McCarthy novel”
Ben Dominic — 1 mention
Recommended
“lots of people are familiar with the road but people are not generally familiar I think with some of his other works”
Troy Baker — 1 mention
Discussed
“um believe it or not I didn't cry in the road um the book or the movie we don't talk about the movie we'll talk about the book”
Sebastian Junger — 1 mention
Discussed
“uh maybe people have brought this up to you but i i i stupidly reread uh cormac mccarthy's the road at the beginning of the pandemic”
Duncan Trussell — 1 mention
Discussed
“have you seen um the road or red the road dude that's the uh Hugo vgo Morgan I watched that up until the point when he was teaching his son to shoot himself in the mouth and I was like check please I think the author of that book was Cormac McCarthy”
Mentioned on the show without a named speaker — 2
Recommended
“lots of people are familiar with the road but people are not generally familiar I think with some of his other works and it's great to go back and read them after the author's passing”
Discussed
“i heard the books too crazy dark man like that's that's one of the things like it's like it's a taste that stays with you a little too long”
Also mentioned in the same episodes
Other mentions (6: passing, ad reads, own books)
Passing
“Ryan Holiday, thank you so much for joining The Book Review to talk about Cormac McCarthy's The Road, one of the New York Times' 100 Best Books of the 21st century.”
Passing
“and the road, which is also uh directed by John Hillote.”
Passing
“even cormic McCarthy's the road”
Passing
“then he goes into sort of the last part of his career which is No Country for Old Men the road”
Passing
“the day after tomorrow Zombieland The Walking Dead the road children of men the Last of Us the same story again and again somewhere between wish fulfillment and trauma”
Passing
“if you've seen the road that's a pretty dark take on what happens but yeah I'm a little more optimistic Lee”