Parable of the Sower

Grim. Felt somewhere between The Stand and The Road. Just a kind of post-apocalyptic story that I guess doesn't really work for me. I wonder if it felt more science fiction-y and less really just-a-few-years-in-the-future when it was written. The religious element also just didn't work for me. Not sure whether I will read the sequel at some point, but definitely passing on it for now.