FIST OF FIVE: FIVE NOVELS WITH 'ROAD' IN THE TITLE ...

Mr Hager

The Road

A father and his son fight for survival in a post-apocalyptic world. This raises plenty of questions about the fragility of human values whilst also being a gripping and tense quest narrative. An excellent novel from one of the greatest modern writers, and it’s probably only his fifth-best book. Read this to see if you like him, and then go and read Blood Meridian and the whole of the Border Trilogy.

On the Road

Jack Kerouac’s seminal countercultural novel which chronicles the frantic quest of Sal Paradise and Dean Moriarty as they search for ‘IT’ outside of mainstream civilization. There are wild parties, plenty of sexual conquests and celebrations of nomadic life. Originally written as one paragraph, Kerouac spent nearly ten years toning down his novel until it was fit to be published. The original version is now available, too.

Revolutionary Road

Richard Yates’ marvellous interrogation of suburban dreams and the human capacity for self-delusion. A masterclass in narrative style, this is a clever, funny and savage little novel. Do not watch the film under any circumstances. This also features one of the great endings to a novel.
 

The Narrow Road to the Deep North

The reigning Booker Prize winner, and a beautifully written novel which spans war and peacetime. It is centred around the horrific conditions endured by those POWs forced by the Japanese to build the Burma ‘Death’ Railway from 1943 onwards, but it is more than just a war novel. This book divides opinion within the English department, so why don’t you read it and decide for yourself whether it is any good?
 

Gentlemen of the Road

Michael Chabon wrote The Amazing Adventures of Kavalier and Clay, one of the great modern American novels centred around the comic book industry. This novel follows the adventures of two nomadic swords-for-hire in the Caucausus mountains in 950AD and begins with a chapter entitled ‘On Discord Arising from the Excessive Love of a Hat’. It is clever and fun and the Sunday Telegraph describes reading it as ‘like dipping into a leather-bound chronicle full of exciting legends’.
 

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