The Dog Stars (Vintage Contemporaries)

Hig lives on an abandoned airstrip. He flies a 1956 Cesna, with his dog Jasper as co-pilot. His only friend and neighbor is Bangley, a tough no-nonsense survivalist. After a flu pandemic wiped out most of civilization, nine years earlier, all these two men have is each other. Protecting “One‘s

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Own“, is all they have left and this pair have created a military compound, to keep out intruders: bands of armed survivors, who roam the land in search of food and fuel.
This is a stark, haunting tale, told in spare rugged prose. Hig is a terrific first-person narrator. Thoughtful and compassionate. The setting, northern Colorado, is breath-taking, with it’s sweeping valleys and vistas. It becomes integral to the story.
Some readers have compared this to "The Road" and I see some similarities but where the McCarthy book is relentlessly bleak, the Heller novel offers glimmers of hope.
Many of us are getting burned-out on dystopian literature but do not let this one get away. It’s an absolute gem.

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Nine years have passed since a flu pandemic wiped out 99% of the population. Hig and his dog, Jasper, have somehow managed to survive, living under the stars at a small regional airport just north of Denver. Hig gardens, hunts and fishes, flies reconnaissance missions over the perimeter of their

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safe area, and helps the Mennonite families who live nearby who suffer from a blood sickness. Hig’s airport neighbor is Bangley, a well armed survivalist type who is a good counter-balance to the generally nice guy Hig. Their teamwork is one reason why they have managed to survive. Many animals and fish have been wiped out, drought and heat are the new normal, and the small remaining human population is vicious and not to be trusted. But Hig still sees the beauty of the land around him as he grieves for his wife and the life he no longer has. He is the everyman forced to live in a new, dangerous world. A faint transmission from the Grand Junction airport, heard three years previous, is a temptation he finally feels the need to follow and so he soon sets off on a flight from which he may not return.

The writing is spare and clipped. A sentence may end with "and.” but it’s rhythmic and soon feels perfect for the narration and the conditions in which Hig lives. We know what he is about to say. He doesn’t need to spell out everything. But it is also lyrical and several pages had me near tears. Where most apocalyptic fiction seems to take place in a desolate world, Hig’s world is still beautiful and recognizable – from Coke trucks to beetle killed pines, the action is not so far in the future that it feels unlikely. A delightful, horrifying, heart-breaking apocalyptic page turner!

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This is definitely a novel of two halves: the first affected yet strangely effective, the second half better paced, but obnoxiously masculine. I seem to be reading a run of apocalyptic/dystopian fiction at the moment, and I thought Peter Heller's novel about one man and his dog sounded promising,

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only to be sadly disappointed. The stop-start staccato narrative didn't bother me at all, and I even took a while to notice when Hig's voice started to even out, but all the macho hunting/shooting/woodsman blather grew a bit tedious.

The first part, in my view, is set nine years after a super-flu outbreak kills all but a few survivors. Hig and his gun-toting neighbour Bangley are two such specimens, sadly, living near a small Colorado airport. Hig and his dog Jasper fly around in circles, patrolling the perimeter and hunting for game, while Bangley picks off intruders. Hig speaks in short, erratic bursts, presumably because he's forgotten how to have normal conversations, which reaches a peak when he loses yet another link to civilisation - 'The only sight which. Tomorrow I'll. I don't know'.

The second half is a survivalist's wet dream. Guns! Killing wild animals! Sleeping under the stars! Finding the only woman within a hundred mile radius to shack up with! More guns! I think I preferred Hig when he was monosyllabic and miserable. The 'high' point is Peter Heller's poetic description of grief and loss. The shootouts and shagging under the night sky will probably appeal more to male readers.

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If Cormac McCarthy's "The Road" is literature I suppose "The Dog Stars" must be considered literature as well. Both stories are set in post-apocalypse settings with an unusual style of telling the tale. There the similarity ends. The Road is so bleak and inhabits such a dark place I could not

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identify with characters trying to live in a world such as was depicted. On the other hand in "The Dog Stars" we have a story with a better heart, and a character I COULD identify with. Hig, our protagonist has lost a lot - but there is still a remnant of the world to love and live in. There are bits of fine poetry scattered through the story as well. I don't consider this a "great" book but it was a story done very well in most places that engaged me and kept me reading at a good pace. When I wasn't reading it, I was constantly thinking about it. I began this book as an audiobook at the library which I read along with at the start. I found this very valuable to quickly accept and inhabit the slow unusual rhythm of the storytelling. The second half of the book is told in an increasingly "normal" manner, which I think parallels the change and direction of the story. Recommended

by the way, I was wondering about the time the story was set in because it seemed very 'Now'. However, our main character flies a 1956 Cessna that I believe is stated several times as 80 years old. That would make the time of the story 2036.

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Most of the world's population has been wiped out by a killer 'flu. Hig lives on an airfield with his dog and a gun-crazy companion, Bangley. Hig flies an old Cessna but never further than the point of no-return - until one day when he decides to leave the airfield and Bangley to go in search of

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other survivors. This is a story that held my attention and interest. The writing style took me a little while to adjust to but it didn't detract from my enjoyment - an entertaining read.

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Hig doesn’t have very much. His wife is gone. In fact, everyone he knew before a devastating disease wiped out most of the population is gone. All that Hig has left is his dog Jasper, his gun-toting survivalist neighbor Bangley and his 1956 Cessna 182 that he uses to fly reconnaissance around

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their Colorado encampment with. While Bangley is content to survive, Hig finds it difficult to harden himself to the idea that this is all that remains in the world for him. But will the pull of the stars and a distant, garbled transmission be is undoing or his salvation?

“Is it possible to love so desperately that life is unbearable? I don’t mean unrequited, I mean being in the love. In the midst of it and desperate. Because knowing it will end, because everything does. End.”

Peter Heller’s post-apocalyptic novel The Dog Stars isn’t your standard surviving-the-end-of-the-world thriller. The story begins well after the calamity of the end of civilization – after most everything has settled into the day-to-day existence. Instead of a straight-forward survival story, The Dog Stars takes a different tack by confronting what it would be like to actually be in a survivable existence, but to battle the desire to do more than just exist.

Initially, I struggled with Heller’s style in The Dog Stars. Written in a broken stream of consciousness, omitting quotations, it creates a lurching narrative that is uncomfortable at first. However, as the first-person narrative moves forward, that voice rings so true for the character of Hig. The writing really allowed me to become Hig and feel the desperation inside of him as he tries to come to terms with both his past and his future. This isn’t a story about the end of the world as much as it is a story about one person’s psychological struggle to want to continue to survive. In the end, Heller’s lyrical style completely won me over.

Heller’s post-apocalyptic Colorado is also spot-on. It is so foreign and so familiar at the same time. It could be anyplace. Bangley is masterfully done. His own evolution both mirrors and opposes Hig’s. The tension of their relationship feels like the organic result of the tension of the environment they are trying to exist within. The way Heller reveals pieces of each character throughout the story is one of the best parts.

The Dog Stars is chocked full of emotion, but is never sappy. I draws you in and makes you feel the anxiety and desperation of living in an unthinkable existence. An obvious comparison is to Cormac McCarthy’s The Road. While their basic constructs and sparse, lyrical styles are similar, I found The Dog Stars to be more nuanced and its characters more fully realized. Honestly, I don’t think this is a book that can be completely digested with a single read. It is a story that will stick with me for a long time. The Dog Stars is an exceedingly well written work that I’m certain to read again.

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The Dog Stars is a beautiful, poetic book written with a hypnotic cadence.

In a post-apocalyptic world, Hig has taken up residence at Eyrie, a rich man's airfield at the foot of some mountains where people used to have houses next to their planes. But Hig's house is only a diversion, he sleeps in

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the open with his dog, Jasper.

After the influenza, then 'the blood', survival has descended into kill or be killed. Hig has formed an uneasy alliance with Bangley who knows about guns, perimeters and merciless killing though Hig can never be sure when he will have outlived his usefulness in the battle for survival. What he has to offer is his eyes from an ancient Cessna. With the Cessna he can secure their perimeter.

Hig cannot mourn his wife but he can mourn the last trout; the earth too has endured an unexplained sickness.

Although the blurb says this is a book about hope, I think that it is really a book about humanity: as in being humane. Despite the horrific acts of violence that he commits, Hig somehow holds on to some of his humanity through his mourning of the trout, the elk and the forests.

When Hig's dog dies, he sets out from the airport in search of something; he dare not even give hope a name.

At this point in the novel I was concerned it would descend into something too sweet and it almost does for a few pages but then it picks itself up and delves into the complexity of what it is to be human in a gritty and satisfying way.

I loved this novel.

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Enjoyed this book immensely. In a post-apocalyptic world, despite all the grief and upending of normal assumptions, an individual must go on living. Hig, the protagonist, stands between two polarities in this book--a group of Mennonites he occasionally helps, who have kept to their high moral

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principles and are dying, and a survivalist-friend, Bangley, who trusts no one who comes within sniper range. In the middle, with his plane and his dog, Hig copes and does what he has to do. He feels like a real Everyman, and the reader is led to ask what he would do if he were in Hig's place.

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Hig is a survivor of an epidemic, living with his dog and a nearby neighbor on constant alert for danger by traveling scavengers. A pilot who still takes periodic scouting flights, he is plagued by the memory of a voice on his radio, calling to him from the Denver airport.

I loved this story! Part

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post-apocalyptic, part adventure story, this book goes beyond the average post-apocalyptic. Where usually a story of this genre would simply branch off into a good ol' horror yarn, this story explores human nature and is a more "real" look at life after the apocalypse rather than a fantastical look, albeit with a somewhat desperate and negative bent, assuming the worst of human nature. Not only a book about survival, but a story about the love between a man and his dog.

Hig comes off as a pretty honorable man-- a man with a conscience and uncomfortable with some of the things he must do. His ornery neighbor is not so conflicted. He has absolutely no problem with living in the world they now struggle to survive in. In fact, you get the impression that he may be more comfortable in this post-apocalyptic world than the cushy world of the past.

My final word: If you like the post-apocalyptic genre, and appreciate good writing, give this one a try. It is a fast read, well-written, with emotional moments. There is some brutality, but nothing explicit or excessive. Bound to be one of my favorites of the year. Very nice!

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In a world depopulated by a virulent flu, Hig lives at a small airport with his dog and a savage misanthrope named Bangly. A well thought out post-apocalypse scenario weakened by some glaring plot and character issues, "The Dog Stars" is at it's best when describing the narrator's loss and

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redemption.

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What would you do if environmental disasters and a flu pandemic destroyed your world and everyone you loved? How would you choose to live your life? What would you save from your old life, and what would you be willing to do to preserve what you have left?

Hig is a poet and ex-carpenter trying to

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make sense of his life in this post-apocalyptic world. A pilot, he spends his days in his Cessna, circling the airport where he now lives, scouting for intruders, looking for signs of further destruction or renewal in the nearby forest, and checking on a family of Mennonites, dying of the blood sickness. His only companions are his dog Jasper and a gun-crazy man named Bangley, who showed up at the airport one day and stayed on, determined to keep their parameter secure. It's been nine years, and Hig is lonely, restless, and looking for meaning in a life reduced to killing to survive. One day, three years after hearing it, Hig leaves to discover the person behind the voice he once heard coming from a radio control tower.

The novel is written in the first person with flashbacks that fill in a bit of Hig’s life before the pandemic. The poetic, stream of consciousness style of writing made it a delight to listen to. I had been meaning to read it since it came out and even own a copy of the book, but it wasn't until the audiobook fell in my lap, that I finally "read" it. I don't often listen to audio books, but now I can't imagine reading the book without Mark Deakins voice in my ear. He does a fabulous job with the voices and the pacing. This was Peter Heller’s first novel, although he is an experienced nonfiction author. His second novel, [The Painter], is out this month.

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I picked this up in a charity shop because it was shortlisted for the Clarke Award last year. And I’ll admit I’m somewhat puzzled it was shortlisted. A flu pandemic in the US kills off 99% of the population, and the remainder inevitably turn to survivalism, rape, murder and so on. As they do in

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post-apocalyptic fiction. The narrator, however, has it quite good – he lives at a small airfield, and has a small Cessna plane which he often flies, scouting out the area he shares with his gun-nut neighbour (they’re the only two people who live there). The narrator also suffered in the past from meningitis, and as a result the prose is written in a sort of lightly-fractured English, with many fragmentary declarative sentences. This serves no purpose in the story, it’s just an excuse for the prose style. And the gun-nut is basically a rip-off of Sobchak, John Goodman’s character, in The Big Lebowski. The first half of The Dog Stars comprises a series of incidents showing how nasty everyone is – and how few women remain. Then the narrator hears a radio message from some distance away, and decides to fly there to learn who broadcast it. En route, he stumbles across a blind box canyon, in which lives a man and his daughter. The narrator falls for the daughter. It takes something special to make a post-apocalypse novel notable and there’s nothing special in The Dog Stars.

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A serious veer off My Path to Read Happier Books. I have loved reading apocalyptic books since I was a teen, so how could I skip this one, a book that's gotten a lot of great press?

Since nobody really warned me, I'll let you in on a few things. It's dark, dark, dark. It's big B Bleak. There are a

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few humans left alive on earth. Most of the ones left alive are constantly thinking about how to stab or shoot or trap the many, many threats out there in this new world. Shooting and fighting on every page.

Great writing, of course, and lots of truth, but a major downer.

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THIS IS A REVIEW OF THE AUDIOBOOK VERSION

I would not have thought that there was such a thing as a literary dystopia, but Peter Heller has managed to write one. At times lovely and poetic, at other times crude and violent, The Dog Stars is one of the most realistic and lovely postapocalyptic tales

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I've read. (It reminded me a bit of Laura Kasischke's In A Perfect World and, as Ti and Alyce both said, a lighter and gentler version of Cormac McCarthy's The Road.) The writing is often lyrical and gorgeous. The passages on grief and loss were some of the best I've ever read. In addition, the descriptions of outdoor pursuits like fishing and hunting made me think of Norman McLean's writing in A River Runs Through It. Yet for all the lovely parts, there are equal measures of stream-of-consciousness fragments that take some getting used to. There are also moments of brute violence that contrast sharply with the more lyrical parts. It is an interesting book, and I enjoyed it once I got used to its odd rhythms and pace.

As in many dystopias, The Dog Stars takes place in a world where almost the entire human (and animal) population has been wiped out by a virulent flu. Our narrator, Hig (an outdoorsman, pilot and poet), is eking out a living at a small airfield in Colorado with only his dog Jasper for company. His closest neighbor and ally is Bangley, a taciturn weapons expert who lets his guns do the talking for him. Together, Hig and Bangley have carved out a life and routine for themselves. Hig patrols their "territory" from the air in his 1950s Cessna, while Bangley provides firepower and tactics for dealing with the less than friendly strangers who sometimes visit their lonely outpost. This is a world where you shoot first and ask questions later--an approach that doesn't naturally fit Hig and his lack of commitment to Bangley's methods often get him into trouble. With Bangley being such a closed down person, Hig's best friend and constant companion is Jasper, with whom Hig talks to as if he was a person. After life-changing events shake up Hig's world, he decides to leave the relative safety of the airfield and go past his "point of no return" to chase after a long-ago radio transmission he heard years earlier.

The things I liked most about this book was how grounded and realistic it felt. Heller really seems to have considered what might work and not work given the situation he created for his characters (how long gas would last, what kind of food would be available). It felt like Hig and Bangley were the type of people who could survive in such a world. In addition, I liked how Hig and Bangley form a kind of symbiotic relationship that becomes richer and deeper over the course of the book. But what makes the book work most of all is Hig's voice--his confusion, ambivalence, practicality, optimism and poeticism made him a deeply likable character. You want things to turn out for him. Although it takes awhile to get into his head and the rhythms of his thoughts, you'll like what you find there. If you're looking for a dystopia written for grown-ups, this would be an excellent choice.

About the Narration: Narrator Mark Deakins had quite a challenge as sentences were often choppy and fragmented. There were also times when I was a bit confused about whether something was a conversation or just Hig thinking. But Deakins did an excellent job and created a voice for Hig that felt authentic. His voices for the other characters (particularly Bangley and Pops) were terrific, and it was easy to tell when they were talking. Although this might be a book where reading it in print might be easier than listening on audio, it was a worthy listen.

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SPOILER ALERT. Best book of this type I've read in a long time. The whole book, including dialogue and action, comes from inside his head, and is delivered in pieces that move the story along. It took awhile to get used to this kind of storytelling, and frankly there were times I wished he'd just

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get on with it. His dog dying is the turning point of his story, it unbalances him and sets him on the path that leads to everything else that happens, which has nothing to do with logic or common sense, and everything to do with need--from that point on it just gets better and better, and I was sorry to have it end. Like all good endings, it's really a beginning, and I wish Hig the best. One last word of warning--every heart in this book is a grieving one, and yours may be too by the time it's done. Liked it so much I tracked down a signed first edition.

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Memorable though sometimes formulaic per the genre (a lot of "securing the perimeter" and other bouts of boredom in flight). Hig's oscillation between a pragmatic survivor, a hopeless romantic, and a seasoned pilot yields a broad spectrum of literary potential, but also a less credible narrator.

Rating: 3.5* of five

The Publisher Says: A riveting, powerful novel about a pilot living in a world filled with loss—and what he is willing to risk to rediscover, against all odds, connection, love, and grace.

Hig survived the flu that killed everyone he knows. His wife is gone, his friends are

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dead, he lives in the hangar of a small abandoned airport with his dog, his only neighbor a gun-toting misanthrope. In his 1956 Cessna, Hig flies the perimeter of the airfield or sneaks off to the mountains to fish and to pretend that things are the way they used to be. But when a random transmission somehow beams through his radio, the voice ignites a hope deep inside him that a better life—something like his old life—exists beyond the airport. Risking everything, he flies past his point of no return—not enough fuel to get him home—following the trail of the static-broken voice on the radio. But what he encounters and what he must face—in the people he meets, and in himself—is both better and worse than anything he could have hoped for.

Narrated by a man who is part warrior and part dreamer, a hunter with a great shot and a heart that refuses to harden, The Dog Stars is both savagely funny and achingly sad, a breathtaking story about what it means to be human.

My Review: I've tried and I've tried to think of a nice way to say that I don't like Iowa Writer's Workshop stuff because it's always Very Writerly. I was, as you see, unsuccessful. It's always full of good lines, it's always got charming or beautiful or moving imagery and characters with flaws and sometimes even dialogue with some zest.

But it's always Very Writerly. Thick and heavy and nutritious like spelt or brown rice. Sulphur molasses in gluten-free muffins. Serious and Good For You.

I hate that. Sorry, Mr. Heller, but that's you all over.

I like dystopias and post-apocalyptic stories, since I am the least chirpily optimistic person walking on Planet Earth. I want them to make sense, however, and not be rehashes of zombie munch-fests. This one makes sense. The pandemic that collapses the population? Totally buy that. The evil/vile behavior of the humans afterwards? Totally buy that. (Actually, from what I see, we haven't waited for an apocalypse to behave like scum to each other. But I digress.) The source of the dog Jasper's jerky treats? Brilliant, and also very frugal.

I like the story, too, up to the point where Hig, our pilot main character, flies off and Finds Himself. I know, I know, all characters must go through stuff and change as a result of it to make a novel really interesting. But the fact that Hig goes off'n gits him a woman is a little over the top. It's artificial feeling, like something inside Heller (or an editor outside Heller) said "there's no hope! give the poor bastard hope!"

It was, in my humble opinion, a wrong turn. The story up to then was an interesting, stream-of-consciousness exploration of an average joe who, inexplicably, survived the Apocalypse and kept on moving, breathing, numb from loss and scared, but real. And then, suddenly, he gets A Message and has to move move move to find the source! And he finds him a gal! Who knows, maybe that little impotence problem will clear up, they'll have a family....

That's not the same book I started reading, and I don't much like that book.

But in good conscience, I can't tell you it's a bad book. It's a pretty good book that could've been a really, really good book. It takes the subverbal vocalizations of its main character and puts them front-and-center, makes the style the point, makes the point the pleasure of reading. I just have this one little problem with the whole enterprise: It feels to me like it's been overthought, overwrought, and overworked. All down to that workshoppy aesthetic, and that happyendingitis that comes from thinking about the audience and not the story.

Well, so. Three and a half stars for the good, good phrases Mr. Heller has made and the promise of that first half. It will do.

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Great read. Interesting choice of narrative voice. And a dog. Best dog ever.

I'm a sucker for post-apolcalytpic adventures. Based on thebook's theme and the rave reviews it received, I was confident that I would love The Dog Stars. I was wrong. With apologies to the book's fans, I found it to be incredibly tedious in all but a few sections. It wasn't Heller's unique writing

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style that spoiled the experience for me. Unlike some reviewers, I actually liked his somewhat "staccato" narration. The problem, in my humble estimation, is that he overdid it in so many spots. I'm all for authors using vivid details to paint memorable mental pictures. But by the time I was done reading some of the passages, I forgot what the picture was supposed to be! I do agree that Heller's characters (especially the protganist) did spring to life. But when the tale ended, I found myself basically saying "Glad that's over."

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So that description tells you absolutely nothing about this book. I went into it knowing next to nothing about the book except that most of the people who'd read it says it's very good. The main character, Hig, is one of few survivors of a flu pandemic that has killed most humans. This is the story

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of Hig's survival. Bangley is his partner in survival. It's a very unique writing style that takes a bit to get in to but once I did, it ended up being an absolutely beautiful book. I loved it and could not put the book down. I've seen a number of comparisons to The Road and it is kind of the same type of story; however, The Dog Stars does not have that same dark, dire urgency as the road. The world doesn't seem quit as grim. I recommend everyone give this book a try. I think you'll like it.

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It takes a bit to get used to Peter Heller's unique writing style in this debut novel. But soon you get into its rhythm, which suits Hig, the main character, a man who has survived a pandemic with only one taciturn and cranky old man to talk to, occasionally. Well, him and shouting across a field

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to a Mennonite group living a short plane's ride from the airport Hig has made his home. They are sick, carrying the blood disease that many of the sparse survivors of the flu contracted, which is why he must keep his distance. He maintains his 1956 Cessna, using it to patrol his area, watching for bandits and thieves trying to ambush him and the old man, Bangley, who knows how to use a gun to protect them both. For nine years they get by, surviving day to day. Hig keeps his sanity by talking to his dog, Jasper. When Jasper dies of old age, Hig, pounded with grief, decides to fly farther than ever before to see what might be left. He'd heard a voice on the plane's radio a few years back, and he figures it's time to look into it. What he finds changes his life.

This is very much a dystopian future, one that is not all that difficult to imagine coming true. But for every dark moment, there is a a bright beam of hope, renewal, recovery, and a possible future for the planet. Heller has an impressive standing as a non-fiction writer, and he's brought that insightful eye and layered creativity to join the fiction community in a very impressive and memorable way. Everybody is talking about this book already--read it and you will understand why.

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Written in a very staccato, broken narration. It started quite slowly but I grew to like it. It was a good page turner. A flu kills off most of the world and those left stake their ground. Many who survive are the gun toting Navy Seal type and then there’s Hig with his dog Jasper, who dies pretty

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soon and is the impetus for Hig to go out in his plane searching for others. 9/17

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Nine years after an apocalypse, Hig lives at an airport near the front range of Colorado. He survived the flu, his wife died. His mysterious neighbor, Bangley, is a weapons expert. Bangley does not hesitate to kill and helps protect them from plundering bands. Hig contributes to the unlikely

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partnership by flying a vintage plane, a 1956 Cessna 182, on daily sorties to monitor and search the countryside. He also hunts, fishes and raises a garden for food. Hig's constant companion is a dog, Jasper. When Jasper dies in his sleep, the impact of the loss triggers a dangerous trip by Hig. Hig's quest for something more in life is a 'can't put it down' read. (lj)

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I absolutely loved this book. It's one of the ones where you don't want it to end and you feel like the people are real. Peter Heller is an awesome author. Can't wait for him to write another novel.