Plot is a 7, but the syntax elevates to a 7.5 for me

Reads like a great American pastoral, up there with Steinbeck in terms of painting the American landscape, though McCarthy's is tarnished. He spends a whole lot more effort, describing imagery rather than the feelings, emotions or ideas of the characters, and while I think that that is certainly a stylistic choice, it's not my favorite.

Initially I didn't like the timeline of events, but I think the early bounty is actually better than describing starvation first.

The sentence structure and diction are apocryphal, lending a feverish prophetic mirage over the top of the "not too distant future" setting. At first, it's a bit jarring how the man affects a biblical train of though, but it starts to make sense (like I can see how I would start to see myself as an old testament character if I were in his shoes), and really bolsters some of the more harrowing scenes like the "anointing" of his son.

Additionally, the removed/impersonal narration makes scenes like the mother's statement that she and theb oy will be raped and killed much more matter of fact and less paranoid. Her argument makes just as much sense as the man's.

There's also some really cool prosaic devices like "The snow fell, nor did it cease to fall." I don't know what this is called, but the device where the predicate seems to be answering a question in the negative is very fitting and appears throughout the book. The environment itself is hostile and says "no, I will not cease to fall."

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