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[quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous]The Road is dark — a father and son wandering a near-lifeless post-apocalyptic landscape as the father is slowly dying, trying to protect his son — and if I recall there is at least one murder, more bleak than graphic.

It’s extremely bleak, though there’s a tiny spot of hope, and a bit of a reframe, near the very end.

Station Eleven is a post-apocalyptic book that’s really beautifully written, and manages to hold simultaneously both humanity’s bleakness and its aspirations.

What about a book like Curious Incident that manages to be both very well written and centers on a teenager? Too YA?

George Saunders is great — clever and a great writer and also able to empathize with humanity even as he sees its flaws. His short story collection December 10 (?) is very smart and might appeal. A Swim in the Pond in the Rain gets pitched as a writing book, but it’s actually a collection of some incredible Russian short stories with saunders analysis about why they work. The short stories are GREAT too (Master and Man! So gripping!).

And on that subject what about Dostoevsky? Crime and Punishment is a great read, and though it is about an act of murder, it is ultimately about the psychology of redemption. Brothers Karamazov wrestles with questions of humanity and goodness in a flawed world, and it’s quite funny.

Franny and Zooey wrestles with a lot of the questions in a way that resonated for me as a teen and also as an adult. It’s been a while since I read it though, so perhaps look at some reviews.

Einstein’s Dreams by Alan Lightman is an amazing little read — it’s essentially a series of thought experiments imagining different universes in which time operates differently than it does in ours. It’s beautifully written and explores not only time but also human responses to the world we are given. I love this book. [/quote]

OP here, thank you! This is really helpful![/quote]

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