Exactly how steamy is this story?
PG-13
There are no sex scenes in this book. The steamiest moment in the book comes when The Man has a sexy dream, but it has the tinge of capital-d Death in it, so it's really not all that sexy (25.1). Most of the sex alluded to in the book is violent. For example, The Woman says early on in the novel:
No, I'm speaking the truth. Sooner or later they [the "bad guys"] will catch us and they will kill us. They will rape me. They'll rape him [The Boy]. They are going to rape us and kill us (93.12).
Just as other basic appetites have been exaggerated and warped in the novel, sex seems part of the novel's cruel, abusive landscape. In some of the caravans, The Man sees sex slaves chained together and trailing behind the main cohort (141.4). It's brutal stuff. That said, The Man does remember his wife fondly. At times, his memories even border on the romantic (200.1, 303.1). Honestly, though, there's not much romance in this book. We advise you to look elsewhere for that.