Cormac McCarthy’s The Road introduces a barren world in the aftermath of an unknown cataclysmic event. All that remain are a few survivors who roam the bleak landscape in search of warmth and food. The book follows an unnamed father and son as they make their way across the devastation. The father, certain he is dying, fears leaving his son alone in this new world where people have slowly turned into savage cannibals. He and the boy plod on nonetheless. As the The New York Times wrote in a 2006 review, “The imagery is brutal — even by Cormac McCarthy’s high standards for despair.” At once beautiful and heartbreaking, the bond between father and son (they are “each the other’s world entire”) makes even the most gut-wrenching scenes worth the journey.