The Road by Cormac Mccarthy (Patron-Only Early Access / Ad-Free)

Also worth mentioning - for me this book has one of the greatest closing paragraphs in all of literature. Three hundred pages of monochrome monotone monotony can be read just as a setup for those few sentences to totally eviserate you.

Absolutely love this book. If the father and son can get through everything they do, then I can get through Tuesday. The movie Threads directed by Mick Jackson always reminds me of this book. I think that one, and the film adaptation of this book, are great companion pieces. Wonderful review as usual, Cliff.

Also, follow up, not sure if it’s on your list, but you might enjoy A Canticle for Leibowitz. Post apocalypse novel made up of three novellas, each set hundreds of years apart following the complete nuclear annihilation of the modern world, centered on an abbey of monks who safeguard the technology of the past, even though they no longer know how they work, what they’re called, or why they were made. It’s a sci fi classic, and wll worth the time.

Great review. And gotta throw in my two cents to say: you really gotta read Moby-Dick asap. Between Blood Meridian and Gravity’s Rainbow, you’re ready for it. It changes you, but something not enough people tell you is that it’s also very very funny, encompassing every range of human emotion.