INITIAL THOUGHTS: A very different kind of read for me. Post apocalyptic novel where a boy and his son struggle to survive. With a very unique writing style, initially I had difficulties following conversations. The author uses no quotation marks and never references who said what. Many times I had to back track to figure out who said what. Also, no apostrophes are used for contractions, either. A lot of times the writing almost felt more like poetry. Characters were not named, just a man and his son (called the man and the boy). One might think this made the writing impersonal, but it didn't. I think it just made it raw. So many unfathomable things happened during this story, sometime it felt surreal. The man was very intuitive, inventive and resourceful. He was a survivor, but at times I felt he was a little harsh with the boy. It didn't make me like him any less, because when he was short and sort of mean to the little one, he'd always apologize later. The only thing I wished is that he could have instilled a little bit more hope into the little one. The boy was hands down my favorite character. I loved his generosity and altruism to others. He was just so sweet and caring, one who couldn't stand to see others suffering. If a new world if ever reborn, having kids like him in it would make the world a much better place. The ending to this story wasn't predictable. I totally thought I knew what would happen, but I was wrong. I felt the author did a great job of wrapping up a hopeless and depressing read. I would recommend this to advanced readers, and those readers who don't feel bogged down by depressing and hopeless stories.