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The Road tells the story of a nameless man and his son as they travel through a post-apocalyptic wasteland in search of food and shelter. Little is explained in the book, including what catastrophe transformed the earth into the shell of its former self. (The author’s residence just an hour outside Los Alamos National Laboratory suggests he may have had nuclear war on his mind, though it’s never explicitly stated.)

The book is told through the perspective of the man, who against all odds is fighting to make a good life — any kind of life — for his son. They’ve long been abandoned by the boy’s mother, who saw the man’s fight for survival as a prolonged form of suicide, and none of the interactions they have with other survivors are positive.

The love the two have for each other on the blighted earth is the most moving part of the novel, as father attempts to teach the son life lessons and instill in him both the values he wants him to have and the ruthlessness he thinks he needs to survive. The son’s desire to connect with others wars with his father’s hard-won mistrust of others, driving some of the most tense scenes in the novel.

The hardships the two experience are pushed into sharper detail in illustrated form, and Larcenet doesn’t shy away from the gruesome physicality of the novel. A scene early in the book where the two go swimming shows how emaciated the two are under their many layers of masks and rags — every rib on the child’s small frame is showing, and the man is bald underneath his cap. Other figures in the book are illustrated like they could be walking out of a Mad Max film, though the atmosphere is more ominous than madcap.

Larcenet uses color sparingly but to great effect throughout the book — a can of soda discovered by the father is the brightest thing on the page, a sparkling vestige from a forgotten world in contrast to the muted colors of the apocalypse. In other scenes, the light from the small fire the two huddle around is the only thing bringing color to the dark page.

The lack of any internal narrative makes the graphic novel even sparser than McCarthy’s book, itself a master class in hewing close to the bone. While it removes some of the best pieces of the novel — the limited dialogue is not, in large part, what won it a Pulitzer — Larcenet’s illustrations open up the world and make the paucity of the pair’s environment easier to comprehend.

The ending of the book is modified somewhat from McCarthy’s novel, and is sadly missing one of the best exchanges of dialogue: “Do you carry the fire?� However, the final conversation between father and son is still just as wrenching, and a final frame of two figures walking along the ruins of what used to be a highway before becoming obscured by swirling ash is as good as anything put to pen.

The book includes the letter Larcenet sent McCarthy asking to adapt his novel, where the illustrator says he loves The Road for the atmosphere it creates.

“I draw violence and kindness, wild animals, dirty skin, pits, and stagnant water. I enjoy the contrast between the characters and their environment, and as conceited as it may sound, I feel like I’m up to the task,� Larcenet told McCarthy.

We’ll never know now if McCarthy felt Larcenet succeeded, though the reticent author likely wouldn’t have said much about the adaptation even if he were still here. But it’s a fitting tribute to a titan of American letters, and hopefully one that will introduce The Road to a new generation of readers.Ìý