The Road book club questions, by chapter
A father and his young son walk south through a burned America, pushing a shopping cart, trying to reach the coast before winter.
The questions are grouped by how far you have read. Each group asks only about what has happened by that point, so you can talk about the book before everyone has finished it. The first two groups are here. The rest are inside EpyLog and show up as you read.
The first pages
Assumes you have read the first chapter or so
- The book opens with the man waking in the dark and reaching for the boy to check he is breathing. What did that first page do to how you read the next fifty?
- The dream of the creature in the cave, on the very first page. Did you take it as a warning?
- McCarthy leaves out the apostrophes and most of the punctuation. When did you stop noticing?
- The shopping cart with the motorcycle mirror clamped to the handle. What did that one object tell you about how long they have been walking?
- The boy asks if they are going to die and the man says sometime, not now. What did you hear in that answer?
About 25% in
Assumes you are about 25% in
- The last can of Coca-Cola. The man makes the boy drink it all himself. What did you make of that small ceremony?
- The man's boyhood house. He wants to go in and the boy does not. What did that scene tell you about who is carrying whom?
- The man shows the boy how to put the pistol in his mouth if it comes to it. Could you keep reading at the same speed after that page?
- The truck on the road, and the man with the knife who grabs the boy. Did the man do the only thing he could?
- After the truck, the boy stops answering for a long while. What did that silence do to your reading?
- The boy asks if they are still the good guys, and the man says yes, and always will be. When did you first decide whether he believes it?
The rest of the book
About 50% in · About 75% in · When you have finished
15 more questions for The Road are inside EpyLog. Add the book and they show up as you read: 5 about 50% in, 5 about 75% in, 5 when you have finished. Send your friends the link and each of them sees the questions at their own chapter, and nothing past it.
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