The Dog Stars

by Peter Heller
4 our of 5 stars

I did really love this book, but dang, it was at times SO ANNOYING to read. I see other reviewers commented on this, so I don’t think I’m being unreasonable in expecting authors to please STOP with the “artistic” lack of grammar and, hey, let’s just not even bother with quotation marks. I mean, WTF. Is this a trend now? No punctuation? Never letting your readers know when someone is actually talking vs. thinking to themselves? I think you can still be true to your character and impart mood and angst and whatever other emotional setting that’s needed without driving your readers completely bat-shit crazy. If you want to be all creative and exercise your poetic license, write a fucking poem. Preferably a short one, because shit like this? Really, really annoying:

For the dog he said. Angry. Because I didn't do my job. To him.
But.

Honestly. WTH.

That said, there were other sentences, paragraphs, and whole chapters that were absolutely beautiful. Which is a nice juxtaposition to what was happening in the story: namely, a super flu has wiped out most of the population, so it’s every person for him/herself. That would be bleak if it weren’t for the fact that Hig and his ex-military-NRA-freak-on-overdrive neighbor are living in Colorado on what you have to admit is a pretty sweet homestead, all things considered. So again, great contrast and character study, not to mention gorgeous scenery in an ominous setting. It’s like there’s a veeeerrrry subtle undertone in a minor key running through this whole story, so you really feel the underpinnings of loss and despair even while you’re also thinking, “Honestly now, this doesn’t sound half bad!”

One thing that bothered me is the assumption that the majority of humans left have turned into marauding sociopaths, and society has gone all Lord of the Flies. Yes, people can suck, and we see evidence of soulless asshats acting on their base instincts every day, but I dunno; I’d like to think that even in the face of such adversity, the instinct of most people might be to come together. Form alliances. Or at least not kill and eat each other immediately without, you know, a little conversation first.

So despite my criticisms, I still highly recommend this book. It’s a great escape, contains some beautiful imagery and survivalist adventure while still being a thought-provoking study of love, loss, hopelessness and hope, and also flying. The flying parts are great!