2020-06-18
A bleak novel about a man and a boy traveling along a road through a post-apocalyptic landscape.
The planet is dying, everything is dead or burned, ash is everywhere. All plants, animals, and most people have already died. The man and boy feel exhausted, starving, cold, take shelter, scavenge. Repeat for 300 pages.
This is an atmospheric book – did I mention it’s very bleak? However, I couldn’t shake the feeling that rather than being a story this was more an exercise in writing a bleak journey. There are a couple of small encounters, but nothing much really happens and nothing is explained – everything is just about the man trying to care for the boy. They’re heading to the coast but it’s never made clear why. There’s a lack of depth that is superficially engaging but ultimately unfulfilling, as is the end.
Not so much a novel as much as an experience, and one that I didn’t really enjoy.
Rating: 2/5