Our club read 'The Road' and 'Station Eleven' back to back

We did Cormac McCarthy's book first, then the Emily St. John Mandel one. The big fight was about which bleak future felt more real. Half the group said 'The Road' was too heavy, just misery. The other half, me included, thought 'Station Eleven' had more hope, so it hit harder. Anyone else have a book club split over two similar books?

3 comments

3 Comments

river1821mo ago

That split happens all the time with my friends, not just books. We'll watch two movies about the same tough topic, and some need that sliver of hope to let the message in. Others think the pure bleak version is more honest. It's like whether you need a little sugar to help the medicine go down.

masona621mo agoMost Upvoted

Used to think the pure bleak version was always better, but @river182 is right about needing that sliver of hope sometimes. A totally dark story can just make people shut down and miss the point. Now I see both ways can be honest, depending on who's watching.

fisher.diana8d ago

Oh, the 'little sugar to help the medicine go down' line really stuck with me. That's exactly how it felt in my book club when we read 'The Handmaid's Tale' and then 'The Power' right after. Half of us were exhausted by the end of the Atwood book, and the other half thought the hope at the end of 'The Power' was too easy. We ended up agreeing both were honest in their own way, just different audiences.