Side question: how grim is the the Road? I've been meaning to pick it up because I love No Country but I've heard that the Road is just bleaker than bleak.

It's a very grim book, but it's also fundamentally about the goodness of people. The setting and the plot are bleak, but its outlook is, in a way, hopeful.

At least that's my takeaway. If someone else found it purely depressing I would understand, but I feel differently.

> how grim is the the Road?

Not all that grim, at least compared to some of his others. Grimmer than No Country for Old Men, less so than Blood Meridian or Outer Dark. There is at least one very grim scene, though, and maybe some others I'm not thinking of at the moment. Been a pretty long time since I read it.

Grimness aside, I'd rank it simpler, at the level of reading difficulty, than some of his others.

It's a good book but personally, I don't think it's among his best.

Grim. If you have a kid it might be too much. I couldn't finish it; too much.

(an I'm completely unfazed by anything else. I loved Blood Meridian for example. The Road just takes me out)

I read it when it came out in a day or two.

Then I tried to read it again a few years later but my boy was about that age and I could not put myself through what reading it was taking out of me.

Depends on your circumstances. I read it as a single male in university and loved it. Recently, I re-read it as an adult with two young sons. Absolutely devastating.

Grim enough to make you cry before sleeping (possibly a lot if you have a kid), but surprisingly not as grim as Blood Meridian. That one you really need to brace yourself for.

It is bleaker than bleak but incredibly rewarding. Unlike, say, Child of God where you are wallowing in filth, in The Road there is humanity and warmth and love it’s just the environment that is hostile.

Not that grim. As a dad it brought me to tears. It’s so good.

Very bleak, but nonetheless a must read. Wouldn't recommend reading it during a depressive episode or existential crisis though.

Bleaker than bleak is an accurate description but it actually ends on what I would consider to be a hopeful note, a moment of true kindness. Worth the read.

Grim sometimes brutal but not gratuitous

I didn't like No Country for old men. It started off great but lost me toward the middle.

The Road, however, is a classic.

It’s been a decade but from what I remember, it is very dark. It was my first McCarthy book and have been hooked since.

As grim as it gets, with rare glimpses of light.

I just finished it last week - as a father to young children, I have to admit I felt like crying by the end. It was a great book nonetheless, especially for someone who doesnt usually enjoy fiction.