The Way

A Novel

De: Cary Groner

Narrado por: Byron Wagner

Blending Zen and the Art of Motorcycle Maintenance with Cormac McCarthy’s The Road, this is the story of a battle-scarred survivor on a desperate, postapocalyptic road trip.

In Cary Groner’s vision of the near future, the world has been ravaged by a lethal virus and only the young have survived. Cities and infrastructures have been destroyed, countries no longer exist as they once did, and the natural world has taken over the landscape in surprising ways, with herds of camels roaming the desert and crocodiles glowing in the rivers, the result of some CRISPR experiment gone awry.

Against this treacherous backdrop, Will, a former caretaker of a Buddhist monastery in Colorado, receives a mysterious directive: to bring a potential cure to a scientist in California—though he doesn’t know if California still exists. And so Will sets out, haunted by dreams of the woman he once loved. Danger lurks everywhere. A hitman is on his tail. And the only way he’ll make it is with the help of a clever raven, an opinionated cat, and a tough teenage girl who’s grown used to being on her own.

Both a thrilling adventure and, ultimately, a love story, Zen and the Art of Apocalypse is an imaginative and inventive novel whose wisdom will stay with listeners long after they finish listening.

©2024 Cary Groner (P)2024 Spiegel & Grau by Spotify Audiobooks

Easy listen

This dystopian tale was kind of a clever micro story about hope and humanity amid the larger story of failure and the chaos of loss. The characters are interesting as is the plot, which takes the main characters across long distances with plenty of conflict both inner and outer. Easy listen.

Disappointing post-apocalyptic/Bhuddist novel

The author drains and drama and suspense from the book by telegraphing loud and often that everything will work out for the protagonist.

Every character they meet is more serene and generous than anyone you’ve ever met. Every difficult fix has a one in a million twist of events that make everything work out.

The big reveal becomes very obvious chapters before the end of the book making the author’s attempt to create tension feel formulaic and left me thinking “Just get to the inevitable”.

I almost DNF’d this in the *last chapter* as it felt like the author had given up. Not recommended.