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Oprah brings the apocalypse

Oprah has just announced the latest selection for her book club, and it’s kinda weird: Cormac McCarthy’s The Road. Even at the best of times, McCarthy’s prose is rather lacking in daily-affirmation material, but The Road is especially dark. Here’s how author Denis Lehane describes the book in his Amazon.com review:

Cormac McCarthy sets his new novel, The Road, in a post-apocalyptic blight of gray skies that drizzle ash, a world in which all matter of wildlife is extinct, starvation is not only prevalent but nearly all-encompassing, and marauding bands of cannibals roam the environment with pieces of human flesh stuck between their teeth. If this sounds oppressive and dispiriting, it is.

Now here’s how Oprah describes it on her website:

Start reading Oprah’s newest book club selection! It’s the father-son journey you’ll never forget.

Isn’t this a little like describing The Shining as a sweet family comedy?