[Chocaholic]

Recently finished it also. I can only remember a few books in my life that had me thinking and re-thinking about them. Certainly a depressing, hopeless story. Tugs at your heart-strings in a way that touches you deeply. Partly due to the innocence of the boy in the face of a mysteriously hopeless existence.

But, it seemed obvious that whatever apocolypse had occured, there was no vegetation left. Because the apocolypse had apparently occured some time ago (only a few souls left on Earth), and no animals, bugs, fish, etc., where did the oxygen come from to support human life? No vegetation, no oxygen....no? Maybe I missed something in 8th grade science class.

In any case, I just ordered MacCormack's trilogy off Amazon. I'm hooked on his writing. This is not fiction-trash a la David Baldocchi, Clive Cussler, etc. MacCormack is literature in it's truest sense. Impressive writing beyond my expectations.