The Road, a post-apocalyptic fiction book about survival skills written by Cormac McCarthy and published in 2006, is in Oprah Winfrey's book club. During an interview with Oprah, McCarthy answered questions about The Road that he had never been asked before, because before the interview he had never been interviewed. Oprah asked what inspired this heartbreaking book; It turns out that McCarthy wrote the book after taking a vacation with his son John. While on vacation, he imagined the world fifty years later and saw fire in the distant hills. After the book was completed, McCarthy dedicated it to his son, John. Throughout the book, McCarthy has included things he knows he and his son would do and conversations he thinks they could have had. (Cormac). Some question whether the book is worth reading for college coursework writing classes because of the number of common writing "rule deviations." After reading and doing homework to accompany The Road, I firmly believe that the novel should be required reading for more college courses such as Writing and Rhetoric II. McCarthy wrote the book in a way that forced readers out of their comfort zone; the book has an excellent storyline; so doing the homework is quite easy, and the book contains several brilliant survival tactics. McCarthy wrote the novel in a way that forces readers to step out of their comfort zone. He wrote The Road with a lack of punctuation which can make things somewhat confusing for readers. Some reviewers find that without quotation marks the book is difficult to follow. But when I read the book, I found that after the first fifty pages, I understood when the characters were talking. Finding that I had to be a little more careful didn't bother me...... middle of paper ...... to read, there are moments in front of your seat, sad and happy moments that the books on the corresponding subject I do not have. The DK manual has no storyline and is nothing more than information. Fewer students should complain about reading a novel when the alternative is reading a book filled only with information. The Road is worth reading in more than just college classes, maybe high school classes should read it; even more novel reading fans should pick up The Road again and try to grade it after fifty pages because it's not easy! Works Cited Cormac McCarthy Bombs on "The Oprah Winfrey Show." Vautour, June 6, 2012. Web. January 28, 2014. .E Notes. Np, May 2008. Web. February 2, 2014. McCarthy, Cormac. The road. New York: Vintage International, 2006. Print.