I feel like reading/listening to sad, hopeless books, in the style of The Road by Cormac McCarthy, any recommendations? Happy endings are optional.
Please, no young adult novels, nothing wrong with them, but I can’t seem to connect with the teenage hero protagonists
by ApollyonTheCruel
12 Comments
Handmaid’s tale and 1984 are two classics in this genre.
Some Will Not Die by Algis Budrys
The Death of Grass by John Christopher
1984 by George Orwell
Brave New World by Aldous Huxley
We by Yevgeny Zamyatin
*A Canticle for Leibowitz* by Walter M. Miller is my top recommendation in the post-apocalyptic genre. It’s an unusual example in that the story begins 5 or 6 centuries *after* the nuclear holocaust.
A lot of people like *Alas, Babylon* by Pat Frank. You might become one of them. (I didn’t.)
I haven’t read *On the Beach* by Nevil Shute, but it’s well-regarded and fits in the post-apocalyptic genre.
Deadman Walking was pretty good. Post-apocalyptic western.
The Dog Stars
The Stand
Swan Song by Robert McCammon.
The Book of the Unnamed Midwife by Meg Elison is so good, I’m so disappointed it isn’t more widely read
*Earth Abides* by George R. Stewart is another classic of the sub-genre as is *Oryx and Crake* by Margaret Atwood. Both highly recommended.
{{Metro 2033 by Dmitry Glukhovsky}}
{{One Second After by William R. Forstchen}}
{{Wool by Hugh Howey}}
Anything by Jeff vandermeer
The Forge of God – Greg Bear – Alien based
[https://www.goodreads.com/en/book/show/64732](https://www.goodreads.com/en/book/show/64732)
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Lucifer’s Hammer – Larry Niven, Jerry Pournelle – asteroid strike
https://www.goodreads.com/en/book/show/218467
The Book of Koli (trilogy)