The Road
A man and his boy are walking alone on a deserted road with all their belongings in a shopping cart or in their back packs. They are carrying enough food for a few days and several blankets to keep them warm at night. At night, they hide off the road where it’s safe to build a fire.
The man and boy often pass through abandoned towns, search through abandoned homes, or sleep in abandoned cars. They see more dead people than live people, and the live people they occasionally see are always a threat and must be avoided or killed.
Cormac McCarthy never directly tells what has destroyed the country and most of its people. But the man and boy notice that everything is covered with ashes along the road or in empty towns they visit, as though there had been a gigantic fire years ago. There is no longer electricity or lights, and they are lucky if they find edible food and water. The only other threat they face is the father’s continuous cough.
The dialogue between the man and his boy is always brief but effective. They live day by day, hoping in time to reach the coast. The man and boy seldom mention the death of the mother, though the boy often asks questions about death in general. He always wants to befriend the few homeless people they encounter, but his father lives more in fear and distrust of others, in a much different world, where there is "more punishment than crime."
Stories about walking on long roads usually have a built-in suspense, and Cormac McCarthy takes full advantage of this in The Road. It was published in 2006.