Most recently, I read The Road by Cormac McCarthy. This post-apocalyptic novel follows the journey of a father and son duo as they traverse the now barren landscape of what was the United States of America in hopes of finding something resembling civilization at the coast.
It is a somber novel, a very grave imagining of what our world might look like after some unnamed event claims the lives of the majority of the world's population. It is heartbreaking and sometimes shocking, but it is so worth a read.
McCarthy plops the reader right into the middle of our characters journey across the wasted land. They have few possessions, and they only have each other.
There are many things that the reader isn't told. We don't know the hows and the whys of what happened prior to the events of the book, but that matters little. The importance of the novel lies not in what happened before but what happens during the book and after. The man and his son are completely defined by and in spite of their circumstances. It is a sort of make-it-or-break-it story that underscores the best and worst of humanity.
It is an incredibly easy and relatively short read. McCarthy doesn't use a lot of punctuation, but I didn't find that to be an issue. He doesn't write lengthy sentences either, so there aren't excessive amounts of dependent clauses with which to keep up. The language is simple; it is not elevated, nor do his characters speak in a way that feels unrealistic for their situation. In short, I found his style of prose to be very accessible.
As I said earlier, this novel is somber, and at times, is downright gut-wrenching. Still, I loved every minute of it. Sad can be beautiful, and the beauty of this novel lies in the strength and persistence of humans. If you don't mind a read that at its core isn't happy but still makes humanity shine, then I highly recommend this book to you.