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A review by justinlife
The Dog Stars by Peter Heller
challenging
dark
emotional
sad
slow-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? No
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated
2.0
I'm gonna chalk my dislike of this book on a variety of factors- the time of year, not enjoying the his take on the speculative fiction genre, and the style. Something about it didn't work for me. I think I'm tired of men writing speculative fiction in a way that shows the worst of the human spirit. Heller's The Dog Stars falls into it for me.
In this novel we follow Hig, a survivor of a plague that wiped out most of America (potentially the world) nine years ago. He's living in a private airport/rundown community with Bangley, a gun enthusiast. They've been holding their own for the past nine years, fighting people off and staying alive in this space. It seems that Hig is trying to hold to whatever kind of humanity the reader might know while Bangley has less worry about the others out there and just wants to survive.
Something happens that pushes Hig to do something different, and he goes off on a little adventure. In this world that Heller has created, a lot of animals have already died. The planet is getting warmer. Whoever is left is either like Hig and Bangley and we assume staying in one place or marauders who are taking what they can and surviving by killing others.
The outlook that Heller leans in to is that if you have compassion or are caring, even nine years later, it will be a weakness and you will die. Caring about others is a risk that will most likely cost you your life. He sticks to this bleakness throughout the book, for the most part. No spoilers here. Hig, having compassion is mocked by the other men in the book, who seem to fit the typical gun enthusiast stereotype. Very "get off my lawn". To me, it felt like it was setting up this dichotomy of two types of men- the rigid, classic, american man, denying emotions, loving guns, killing people and the more emotionally aware, poetry loving, gardening kind of guy. Heller makes it to where the second couldn't survive without the first.
This was just exhausting to read. I have a hard time understanding why someone would want to envision a world like this. I will give him that he makes you believe that it could be like this. I don't believe that, but in this fiction, the reader does. Like you have the opportunities to show a range of feelings and emotions and this is what we get? Ok, I guess. Not to be that british slang for cigarette, but I felt this would be perfect for straight dudes. I can see a lot of them liking it and seeing themselves in it. I see how the loneliness and survival in the story might resonate with them and how by having that classic American male image being so dominant, it might make them feel validated in their own emotional neglect.
If you read it, I would recommend the audiobook though. The structure of the novel was hard to get into and I kept wanting to skip around. The audiobook made more sense to me.
This book did make a good book club discussion book and I think there's a lot to chew on that people might like. I think this just happened to be the wrong time of year and the wrong mood for me to read it.
In this novel we follow Hig, a survivor of a plague that wiped out most of America (potentially the world) nine years ago. He's living in a private airport/rundown community with Bangley, a gun enthusiast. They've been holding their own for the past nine years, fighting people off and staying alive in this space. It seems that Hig is trying to hold to whatever kind of humanity the reader might know while Bangley has less worry about the others out there and just wants to survive.
Something happens that pushes Hig to do something different, and he goes off on a little adventure. In this world that Heller has created, a lot of animals have already died. The planet is getting warmer. Whoever is left is either like Hig and Bangley and we assume staying in one place or marauders who are taking what they can and surviving by killing others.
The outlook that Heller leans in to is that if you have compassion or are caring, even nine years later, it will be a weakness and you will die. Caring about others is a risk that will most likely cost you your life. He sticks to this bleakness throughout the book, for the most part. No spoilers here. Hig, having compassion is mocked by the other men in the book, who seem to fit the typical gun enthusiast stereotype. Very "get off my lawn". To me, it felt like it was setting up this dichotomy of two types of men- the rigid, classic, american man, denying emotions, loving guns, killing people and the more emotionally aware, poetry loving, gardening kind of guy. Heller makes it to where the second couldn't survive without the first.
This was just exhausting to read. I have a hard time understanding why someone would want to envision a world like this. I will give him that he makes you believe that it could be like this. I don't believe that, but in this fiction, the reader does. Like you have the opportunities to show a range of feelings and emotions and this is what we get? Ok, I guess. Not to be that british slang for cigarette, but I felt this would be perfect for straight dudes. I can see a lot of them liking it and seeing themselves in it. I see how the loneliness and survival in the story might resonate with them and how by having that classic American male image being so dominant, it might make them feel validated in their own emotional neglect.
If you read it, I would recommend the audiobook though. The structure of the novel was hard to get into and I kept wanting to skip around. The audiobook made more sense to me.
This book did make a good book club discussion book and I think there's a lot to chew on that people might like. I think this just happened to be the wrong time of year and the wrong mood for me to read it.