The Dog Stars
SOON TO BE A MAJOR MOTION PICTURE • NATIONAL BESTSELLER • From the author of The River: In this "end-of-the-world novel more like a rapturous beginning" (San Francisco Chronicle), Hig somehow survived the flu pandemic that killed everyone he knows. His gripping story is "an ode to friendship between two men...the strong bond between a human and a dog, and a reminder of what is worth living for" (Minneapolis Star-Tribune).
Hig's wife is gone, his friends are dead, and he lives in the hangar of a small abandoned airport with his dog, Jasper, and a mercurial, gun-toting misanthrope named Bangley.
But when a random transmission beams through the radio of his 1956 Cessna, the voice ignites a hope deep inside him that a better life exists outside their tightly controlled perimeter. Risking everything, he flies past his point of no return and follows its static-broken trail, only to find something that is both better and worse than anything he could ever hope for.
Hig's wife is gone, his friends are dead, and he lives in the hangar of a small abandoned airport with his dog, Jasper, and a mercurial, gun-toting misanthrope named Bangley.
But when a random transmission beams through the radio of his 1956 Cessna, the voice ignites a hope deep inside him that a better life exists outside their tightly controlled perimeter. Risking everything, he flies past his point of no return and follows its static-broken trail, only to find something that is both better and worse than anything he could ever hope for.
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Community Reviews
The pacing and story were incredible. Peter is a great novelist, can't wait to read more of his work.
I'm so torn on this book. First, I listened to the audiobook and the narrator was quite good. The storyline was quite good. The writing....oh....
If you read Cormac McCarthy, you will recognize the attempt at his writing in The Dog Stars. McCarthy has a flow, so even though the writing is fragmented and somewhat staccato, there IS a flow to McCarthy's writing and you can easily get into it. Heller has the same writing style (at least in this book - I've not read anything else by him) and I could not, for the life of me, get into his flow. Maybe it was because it was an audiobook but the fragments and pauses made it hard for me to get lost in the story.
So let's talk about the story.
We're in a bit of an apocalypse when we meet Hig, Jasper and Bangley. A flu has killed a good majority (probably high 90%) of the population and the survivors are 9 years past the major fallout. Hig and Jasper, the dog of Dog Stars, end up in a town near Denver, Colorado with Bangley, a bit of a gun nut, a bit of a damn good survivor. Bangley is really the reason the poetry-loving Hig is still alive. There are 3 books to this novel and the first introduces us to their current situation. Scouting for food, using Hig's airplane to keep a watch on the roads, killing people who attempt to break into their homes, and just surviving.
Book 2 takes us on a journey with Hig to try and find a voice on the radio that he heard while flying three years prior. This book made me angry. One, 3 years ago you heard a radio transmission and NOW you are going to try and find it. Two, you are leaving Bangley alone to defend your homes. Three, when you did find other people, Hig, you were a jackass. I was rooting for you to be shot. You seem to have forgotten how you distrusted people approaching YOUR home and how easily you and Bangley killed invaders. Then you waltz up to another home and add like a son-of-a-bitch, expecting the woman to disrobe for you the minute she saw you. Ugh.
Book 3 takes us back to Bangley and the airport outside of Denver. A good deal more happens in book three that makes you want to slap Hig again, but it wraps up the storyline fairly well.
The story was a good one. The characters were good, especially if the point was to make you want to punch Hig on a regular basis. If you can get past the fragmented writing, it's worth the read.
If you read Cormac McCarthy, you will recognize the attempt at his writing in The Dog Stars. McCarthy has a flow, so even though the writing is fragmented and somewhat staccato, there IS a flow to McCarthy's writing and you can easily get into it. Heller has the same writing style (at least in this book - I've not read anything else by him) and I could not, for the life of me, get into his flow. Maybe it was because it was an audiobook but the fragments and pauses made it hard for me to get lost in the story.
So let's talk about the story.
We're in a bit of an apocalypse when we meet Hig, Jasper and Bangley. A flu has killed a good majority (probably high 90%) of the population and the survivors are 9 years past the major fallout. Hig and Jasper, the dog of Dog Stars, end up in a town near Denver, Colorado with Bangley, a bit of a gun nut, a bit of a damn good survivor. Bangley is really the reason the poetry-loving Hig is still alive. There are 3 books to this novel and the first introduces us to their current situation. Scouting for food, using Hig's airplane to keep a watch on the roads, killing people who attempt to break into their homes, and just surviving.
Book 2 takes us on a journey with Hig to try and find a voice on the radio that he heard while flying three years prior. This book made me angry. One, 3 years ago you heard a radio transmission and NOW you are going to try and find it. Two, you are leaving Bangley alone to defend your homes. Three, when you did find other people, Hig, you were a jackass. I was rooting for you to be shot. You seem to have forgotten how you distrusted people approaching YOUR home and how easily you and Bangley killed invaders. Then you waltz up to another home and add like a son-of-a-bitch, expecting the woman to disrobe for you the minute she saw you. Ugh.
Book 3 takes us back to Bangley and the airport outside of Denver. A good deal more happens in book three that makes you want to slap Hig again, but it wraps up the storyline fairly well.
The story was a good one. The characters were good, especially if the point was to make you want to punch Hig on a regular basis. If you can get past the fragmented writing, it's worth the read.
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