The Road discussion

People,
Since finishing The Road I have been looking for anything similar.
Would anyone like to make any recommendations?
Would be appreciated! :)

Oryx and Crake and The Handmaid's Tale both do dark futures

The Border Trilogy: All the Pretty Horses, The Crossing, Cities of the Plain is cormac at his slow beautiful best

Cloud Atlas throws you into inexplicable realities

Far North Marcel Theroux. I love it !

Similar in what way though?

The Death of Grass

Ellie, I did NOT know about this one from John Christopher. I remember reading his 'Wrinkle In The Skin'many years ago but have lost track of him over the years.
I'm sure that story started my fascination with post-apoc tales....never looked back since!
Many thanks....now let me see if I can get an ecopy somewhere...

Thanks Kathel....this looks good. I'm gonna give it a shot!

Many thanks Richard!
Oryx and Crake looks very promising but not sure about The Handmaid's Tale.
For the McCarthy books I finished All the Pretty Horses & was amazed, especially as I had the book available for many years & just never bothered. The Crossing I think I may of even been near tears at some point - a very moving tale. I am now - I confess - struggling with Cities of the Plain, but I think that's my fault. I have always found that you need to be in the mood for Mr. McCarthy, but the 'effort'is worth it!

Ellie,
In answer to your question I think I am looking for anything post-apocalyptic, dark times, & a journey or an unfolding puzzle....preferably a journey.

I loved The Road. In the same vein, I'm about to read "A Canticle for Liebowitz" which seems to have a similar theme.

You might also want to look at "The Passage" by Justin Cronin, The Wool Trilogy by Hugh Howey, Stephen King's "The Stand"; Wastelands: Stories of the Apocalypse and finally "The Pesthouse" by Jim Crace.

That should keep you busy!

Thanks Steve.
Already finished The Passage & The Twelve....waiting for the third book!
Finished all the Wool books & Sand, plus The Wasteland Saga (loved that!).
I'll check out A Canticle & The Pesthouse.
Many thanks again!!

Try "Street" by Jack Cady.

It's not a post apocalyptic setting, but . . . it's difficult to explain. Cady's a writer whose power is at least equal to McCarthy's, and in this one the anger with The Way Things Are is palpable, and Cady wasn't an angry man.

I am Legend It's a vampire apocalyptic theme, but the point of the book is pretty profound.

Ellie [The Empress] wrote: "Similar in what way though?

The Death of Grass"

I second that. The Death of Grass is one of my favourite post-apoc novels. Similar in many ways to the Road.

Oh, and how did I miss it...."On The Beach" by Neville Shute. It really is a great book.

The Postman, by David Brin

You might like Dog Stars by Peter Heller. It has a post-apocalyptic setting, there's a journey that the main character must go on to solve a mystery, and, the reason I post this, I found the writing style to be extremely similar. Hope you like it!

You might want to try Earth Abides. It is a classic and it is not as brutal. An excellent read.

Brandy,
I found Legend at the airport on the way to a long haul flight some years ago. Read it all the way tot he landing some 11hrs later....could NOT put it down. I thought it was amazing & couldn't understand why the film was so bad!

Steve, Being Australian, On The Beach was read in school one year & I'm sure I must of re-read it a number of times...still a great read!

Saramago's Blindness. Man's inhumanness in survival.

Eric wrote: "The Postman, by David Brin"
Eric,
Did they make a movie based on this with Kevin Costner?....

Brandy wrote: "I am Legend It's a vampire apocalyptic theme, but the point of the book is pretty profound."

Forgot to mention this one. Very much merits the use of the word Classic!

Blindness

The Plague

Both deep questing challenging classics.

D.J. wrote: "Saramago's Blindness. Man's inhumanness in survival."

It is an excellent read. I also suggest you read Seeing by him.

Mike wrote: "You might like Dog Stars by Peter Heller. It has a post-apocalyptic setting, there's a journey that the main character must go on to solve a mystery, and, the reason I post this, I found the writi..."

Dog Stars was wonderful. It's in my top 3 post-apoc reads after The Road and The Stand!

Dies the fire by S.M. Stirling is a post disaster book with a better result.

The Postman by David Brin? is also post disaster.

This is a pretty old one but it made a very big impression on me at the time: Brother in the Land

Mike wrote: "You might like Dog Stars by Peter Heller. It has a post-apocalyptic setting, there's a journey that the main character must go on to solve a mystery, and, the reason I post this, I found the writi..."

Agree with Mike. Just finished The Dog Stars. It's an excellent read. 99.9x of the world has died from a flu pandemic. It's kind of Mad Max meets My Side of the Mountain.

Station Eleven! I loved it. The author said in an interview that The Road was one of her favourite books; that's why I read it. Both of them wonderful.

Long Voyage Back by Luke Rhinehart. Great book.

Thanks People!.....I have some excellent recommendations here.
Should keep me going for a while!!

Dharma Bums by Jack Kerouac is similar in its narrative but a bit more focused on the spiritual nature of a hitchhiker.

Doug wrote: "People,
Since finishing The Road I have been looking for anything similar.
Would anyone like to make any recommendations?
Would be appreciated! :)"

If you like comics, try Jeff Lemire's Sweet Tooth, Vol. 1: Out of the Deep Woods and all the six volumes. It's great stuff, well written and drawn, and it will make you cry.

Thanks m33, I'll check it out!

I can recommend a game called The Last of us. Similar feeling to the book and it too is very very good.

Thanks Andre.
I've heard of the game but didn't know there was a book....I'll check it out.

Late to the party but I HAVE to recommend Fiskadoro by Denis Johnson. This novel has more in common with The Road than any other book I've read. Johnson is a literary novelist who dipped in to post-apocalyptic fiction.

It has an equally bleak setting. It's possibly more bleak due to the vivid descriptions of the ravaged landscape and the scant details remembered by the second generation as the last of the survivors begin to die off.

The main character has an equally hopeless journey to make but this one has a way more satisfying ending. There are scenes from this book that still haunt me 10 years after reading it.

Hi Marlo.
A worthy recommendation indeed.....I'm gonna check this one out. Thanks!

Marlon wrote: "Late to the party but I HAVE to recommend Fiskadoro by Denis Johnson...."

Wow, that looks excellent. I'll have to give it a go.

Marlon, did you ever read Riddley Walker? It's not at all like The Road, in terms of story or theme, but it has "literary novelist who dipped in to post-apocalyptic fiction" and "scant details remembered by the nth generation" going for it.

That looks really interesting. I'm not sure about the broken-english dialect but I made it through Clockwork Orange, I can make it through this too. I'm going to look for it.

........& I just remembered another great post-apoc (sort of) book.....'The City & The Stars' by Arthur C.Clarke. I had re-read it last month & it is still a good story...holds up well!

Doug wrote: "Thanks Andre.
I've heard of the game but didn't know there was a book....I'll check it out."

Not a book, but one of the best computer games I've ever played!

D.J. wrote: "Saramago's Blindness. Man's inhumanness in survival."

I second this recommendation!

Kathel, I recently finished Far North......many thanks for that recommendation. The book was incredible...I really can not explain how good I thought it was!
I might look at some other of Theroux's books & see what looks promising......
Thanks again!

You'r welcome, Doug.

Doug wrote: "Ellie,
In answer to your question I think I am looking for anything post-apocalyptic, dark times, & a journey or an unfolding puzzle....preferably a journey."

Death of grass would be the book (there is a journey). It's very good but not very popular. It's a bit archaic when it comes to the female characters but otherwise brilliant.

I am legend is also another good one. It's dark and don't get mislead by the word vampires as that is not what the creatures in the book are. I listened to the audiobook narrated by Robertson Dean.

Ellie,

Thanks for that....I have Death Of Grass ready in my Kindle, & I read I Am Legend a while ago.....now THAT was an amazing story!! Pity the movie didn't do it justice....a good story ruined by Hollywood!

My novel "Flower of Fire" had some comparisons in reviews to "The Road" although it's not nearly so bleak/dark. You're welcome to take a peek at http://www.amazon.com/Flower-Fire-Lis... or it's also available in paperback. I also strongly recommend "Ridley Walker" for post-apocalyptic fiction. "Handmaid's Tale" is also excellent but not exactly post-apocalyptic.

The Way to get Here, by Gavin Pate

Charles wrote: "The Way to get Here, by Gavin Pate"

Can you provide some more information about the book as there is very little information.