Cover of The Road

The Road

Cormac McCarthy, 2006

American novelist, 1933–2023. Won the National Book Award for Fiction in 1992 and the Pulitzer Prize for Fiction in 2007.

The Road is a 2006 novel by Cormac McCarthy. It won the Pulitzer Prize for Fiction in 2007.

All-Time Canon
  • Prize Winner

In science fiction

On 8 of the 13 lists it was eligible for.

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At a glance

Author
Cormac McCarthy
First published
2006
Length
336 pages (UK paperback)
Awards
Genre
Science fiction, Post-apocalyptic, Adventure

Is The Road worth reading?

8 of the 13 best-of lists it could have made include it, among them the Pulitzer Prize for Fiction and The 100 best books of the 21st century (The Guardian).

ListPlaceOriginal
100 Books to Read in a Lifetime (Amazon.co.uk, 2014)ListedSee the list
100 novels that shaped our world (BBC Arts, 2019)ListedSee the list
Oprah's Book Club picks (Oprah's Book Club, 1996-)ListedSee the list
Pulitzer Prize for Fiction (winners and finalists) (Columbia University, 2007)WinnerSee the list
Readers' top 100 novels (The Guardian, 2026)No. 80See the list
The 100 best books of the 21st century (The Guardian, 2019)No. 17See the list
The 100 best books of the 21st century (The New York Times, 2024)No. 13See the list
The 100 best novels of all time (The Guardian, 2026)No. 100See the list

Best edition of The Road

The edition we link to is the Picador paperback (2022), 336 pages.

Publisher
Picador (paperback, 2022)
Pages
336
ISBN
9781035003792

How critics, prizes and readers rate The Road

Critics and readers rate it about equally: it earned 63% on critics' lists and 60% on readers' and booksellers' lists, against 33% on prize lists.

Critics
63%
Prizes
33%
Readers and booksellers
60%

Share of the available points it earned on each kind of list it was eligible for. How the scores work

Books like The Road

If you liked The Road, try Blood Meridian, Never Let Me Go or The Handmaid's Tale.

Lists used on this page