This book did not end up being what I expected, but it ended up really affecting me. I didn’t sob like my husband expected me to, so probably just a 7/10 on the sad scale. McCarthy struggles with death/life/survival in this story in a way that keeps me questioning why the book continues. I think in the end he’s suggesting to us that survival is futile, but necessary. The post-apocalyptic world he puts us in is bleak and yet here we are - surviving through the eyes of a man and his son. And at each moment we can see why we believe both the man and son are right in their judgments of humanity. No matter what you keep going and carry the fire.

Genuinely enjoyed the read. Read if you like: post-apocalypse stories, tales of survival, moral dilemmas that aren’t really dilemmas to the characters but are to you, descriptions of eating canned food.