Lauren is so, so young. Not just in actual age, but in her religious fervor and the way she cannot bear to be laughed at. I kept going back and forth on if Butler was presenting Lauren as a symbol of the kind of person she thinks everyone should strive to be, or if she's gently mocking her for her faith while surrounded by Cormac McCarthy brand horrors.

This is an apocalyptic novel, a religious novel, and a road trip novel, and I wouldn't have picked it up if I had known.