A month or so back a generous reader sent me a book off Amazon. Specifically: here
I’ll tell you right off the bat, if you’re a fan of action-packed post-apocalyptic fiction that’s pretty much one gun battle after another with no real attention to character motivation and development….you’re not gonna like this book at all. And, admittedly, the style of writing can be very detracting with it’s first-person stream-of-consciousness style. But…if you get past that, its a good story (in my opinion). Succinctly, it’s about a guy who survives a kills-99%-of-everyone plague and is living quietly at an abandoned airport, flying his plane, fishing with his dog, and dealing with the tremendous grief and loneliness that comes from all the loss he has experienced. Eventually the opportunity arises to not be alone anymore but the risks are high..emotionally and physically. A lot of people will say this isn’t a very enjoyable read because all it talks about it feelings, loss, pain, hope, and questioning. Fair enough…but thats going to be part of living through an apocalypse as well.
It was a difficult read, what with its sometimes-disjointed style, but it was relatable in terms of the character’s sense of grief, loss, and ennui. Its an interesting take about an aspect of post-apocalypse fiction that I have seldom seen explored in this much detail.
Anyway, I’d like to thank the generous person who sent me the book and if you have any other recommendations, please share them.
And, as long as we’re on the subject of gifties… if you’ve found this blog entertaining or otherwise worthy of your time, I invite you to kick in towards it… everything received goes towards bandwidth and laying the foundation for a post-apocalyptic empire that will provide a safe refuge for morally-challenged-but-creatively-fun coeds.
And … what’s the name of that book?
I’m a cheap bastard, but there are a few blogs I don’t mind sending $$$ for their content. Can you supply a USPS address that physical payment can be sent to ? Maybe I missed it somewhere but I can do that. Your blog has excellent content – THANKS for keeping on keeping on.
I used to do the above for the Bison Blog (Jim Dakin) when it was up. I hope he is doing well.
Theres a section marked ‘Contact” – http://www.commanderzero.com/?page_id=24
Coeds…is that why you went back to school?
I’m glad you enjoyed the book. I thought your review was spot-on. The emotional impact of surviving an end-of-civilization event (especially one which took nearly all of your reasons for living) is not often explored in post-apocalyptic fiction. Not to the extent as it is in The Dog Stars, at least.
I’m reading another novel by Peter Heller now (“The River”), and the narrative style is much more standard. I interpreted the stream of consciousness writing style of The Dog Stars to be the author’s way of reflecting the addled brain of the narrator. If I recall correctly, there is a reference early in the book to the fact that the narrator suffered a prolonged high fever at the time that the illness broke out, but that he recovered. He wondered briefly if that is why he can’t maintain concentration sometimes. Anyhow, I chalked up the writing style to that fact.
I really enjoyed the character of Bangley. At first, I thought he would be written as the standard trope of gun nut survivor, but by the end of the novel there was a surprising amount of depth given to him. I also appreciated the author’s obvious care to accuracy in his description of various firearms and tactics, especially in a novel that wasn’t geared to readers of traditional high-action thrillers.
Anyhow, I’m glad you enjoyed the read, and thanks for taking the time to do what you do.
I thought Bangley was a little one-dimensional to begin with but I also thought that, like Hig, there must have been an intense backstory to explain what made him into the way he was. I was not surprised that Pops turned out to be a kindred soul along the same lines as bangley and that they got along. However, I do think that bit was a little predictable…but still nice. I think Bangley’s best purpose in the book was to provide contrast against Hig’s thoughtfulness.. pragmatic vs. empathic, enthusiastic killer vs reluctant killer, etc, etc. One touch that I found interesting because it seemed to be very out of place from Hig’s character was the jerky he made for his dog. That had a certain practical-but-macabre tone to it. But, I enjoyed the relatable dealings with loss and pain and grief. It was very engaging. Thank you again for the book.
Thanks for the review. I’d seen The Dog Stars and had wondered about it. Sounds like I’ll have to give it a read.
I just finished with Moon of the Crusted Snow: A Novel by Waubgeshig Rice. Set in a remote Indian Res in Manitoba, the outside world goes away and the small band are left fo fend for themselves. I mostly deals with Indian issues like welfare dependency, alcoholism, relearning the old ways and tribal history, and uses the apocalypse more as a vehicle to do that than directly deals with apocalyptic stuff, but I thought the author told a good, and fairly realistic, tale. I think it’s worth checking out.