I enjoyed this book more than I thought I would. I guess the prior bad reviews for the Kevin Costner movie were the cause of that. The book was divided into two parts (I read somewhere that it was originally published as a 2-part serial) with the first part being more "The Road"-ish and the second part being where most of the action and purpose of the book was. I definitely enjoyed the second part more even though there were parts that seemed a bit hokey, (possible (view spoiler)[ : supersoldiers! and "The women made me do it"!) (hide spoiler)] 
 Mostly though, it was an easy, enjoyable read with a very likable protagonist in Gordon. I see why it is always on the list of top PA books. And, even though it was written in 1985, it seemed very topical to the mess this country seems mired in now. A good cautionary tale.