I recently finished reading the book "The Road", by Cormac McCarthy. And, for good measure, I also watched the movie - partly because I think Viggo Mortensen (who plays the lead character) is a great actor.
This book is a story set in a post-apocalyptic America, and is the story of a man and his boy (who are not given names) as they try to survive a journey through the desolation on their way to the coast. Along the way they have to scrounge for food and shelter, flee from cannibals and other evil people, all the while wondering if each day is going to be their last. The book doesn't give much back story as to how/when the apocalypse happened or what happened to the wife/mother of this little family. The movie does give more of these details.
This book is bleak, depressing, and harrowing. There is one particularly gruesome scene of cannibalism in the book that was thankfully not in the movie. But in spite of this, the over-arching theme of the book is about the father's undying devotion to and love for his son. His son is his one and only focus, and every decision he makes is for the best of his son. Overall, it was a rather quick read, but I'm not sure whether to give it a "thumbs up" or "thumbs down", so I'll just give it an "eh" (said with a shrug of the shoulders).
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