the_grimm_reader 's review for:

The Dog Stars by Peter Heller

5.0

---

I picked up Peter Heller’s “The Last Ranger” at a small independent book store in Winter Park, CO. last year. At the time, I had no idea Heller was a Colorado native, but after reading the book I was in love with his writing style, as well as the subject matter. The environment is a living, textured character in his works, “The Dog Stars” being my third Heller book to date. There was something very different about the writing style in this book, and at first I found it off putting (as many other reviewers have noted). Many a reader jumped out, but I’m not the type—I knew there must be a reason Heller was writing this way—I’m glad I stayed with it and trusted the Author. Once my mind adjusted to the style choice, it all made sense and my initial hiccups with it evaporated—I was inside the mind of the protagonist, Hig, and having completed the book I am yet again impressed by Heller’s gift. This is what a real mind sounds like (or reads like), and I honestly think that it is precisely because of this choice that the emotions, situations, and characters of this tale feel so real—this is how an honest observation of the world sounds on the inside. Heller built up to the final, touching pages, adding some further mystery and unknowns that we just have to accept, just like real life, and a final paragraph and poem that made me weep and shudder—like Hig, I let my own bottled grief wash through and out of me. It is the “pale ghost” of that grief that has prompted me to encourage you to read “The Dog Stars” by giving it a 5-star rating. If you’ve loved, been loved, and if you’ve lost and lived (survived) when your dear ones have not, then perhaps this book will be for you. Personally, I would ignore the vitriolic 1-star reviews (to each their own, I suppose), pick up the book, and push into it. You do not need to travel very far before Heller’s Hig-and-Jasper sit comfortably on a quilt in the cockpit of your heart.