The Road- The End

So I finished my book the road and I have to say it is the most depressing book you can find. The ending was kind of perplexing and if you dont want me to ruin it quit reading NOW so the father of the boy dies of a lung infection or something of the sort but the boy is picked up by a group of "good guys" but the last paragraph is confusing. It seems to contradict itself in saying that the world is over and that the world may continue yet, I have read over it at least a dozen times and still do not understand exactly what it means. I did really enjoy the book but it did have some incredibly repetitive conversations. Often times when the man does something that the boy doesn't deem the right thing to do the man asks the boy if hes talking, then the boy says yes he is talking and the man tells him he isn't and then the boy tells him he just did and then they quit talking. This reoccurs every time a major event in the book happens and I dont feel like it is necessary for it to be repeated on the level that it is. The book does a good job of impressing upon the reader that after this generation of people dies out there will never be anything alive on the Earth again and it truly is the end. But the last paragraph suggests a more bright future for the world that contradicts the whole book.
So now I need to chose what to read next, the call of the wild which is one of my favorite books of all time, or the power of one which I've heard is great from my whole family and I might read.