The Road — Cormac McCarthy (2006)

Cormac McCarthy's The Road — a father and son crossing a post-apocalyptic America toward the sea — is the most emotionally overwhelming American novel of the 21st century. Written as McCarthy's 74-year-old self watched his young son sleep and wondered what the world would be like after he was gone, it strips the novel to its most elemental elements: love, survival, and the maintenance of hope in absolute darkness. Pulitzer Prize winner, 2007.