Harrowing. I would not recommend this book if you wish to remain sane. I don’t think I will ever be quite the same. Nevil Shute’s ON THE BEACH was pretty rough to take, but this is worse. I was born in WW 2 and bombed out buildings were my playgrounds. But I never felt the horror of what had taken place in those places – it wasn’t real. I guess it was normal to a kid. When reading THE ROAD, I knew how it must have felt to be a pioneer forging westward with danger lurking behind every tree, and starvation only days away. That feeling of being alone. That desolation. THE ROAD brings it all home to you: McCarthy at his terrible best.