The Dog Stars

By: Peter Heller

Narrated by: Mark Deakins

Length: 10 hrs and 41 mins

Publisher's summary

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 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.

©2012 Peter Heller (P)2012 Random House Audio

Critic reviews

"Richly evocative yet streamlined journal entries propel the high-stakes plot while simultaneously illuminating Hig's nuanced states of mind as isolation and constant vigilance exact their toll, along with his sorrow for the dying world.... Heller's surprising and irresistible blend of suspense, romance, social insight, and humor creates a cunning form of cognitive dissonance neatly pegged by Hig as an apocalyptic parody of Norman Rockwell...a novel, that is, of spiky pleasure and signal resonance." ( Booklist)

"In the tradition of postapocalyptic literary fiction such as Cormac McCarthy's The Road and Jim Crace's The Pesthouse, this hypervisceral first novel by adventure writer Heller ( Kook) takes place nine years after a superflu has killed off much of mankind.... With its evocative descriptions of hunting, fishing, and flying, this novel, perhaps the world's most poetic survival guide, reads as if Billy Collins had novelized one of George Romero's zombie flicks. From start to finish, Heller carries the reader aloft on graceful prose, intense action, and deeply felt emotion." ( Publishers Weekly)

"Leave it to Peter Heller to imagine a post-apocalyptic world that contains as much loveliness as it does devastation. His likable hero, Hig, flies around what was once Colorado in his 1956 Cessna, chasing all the same things we chase in these pre-annihilation days: love, friendship, the solace of the natural world, the chance to perform some small kindness, and a good dog for a co-pilot. The Dog Stars is a wholly compelling and deeply engaging debut." (Pam Houston, author of Contents May Have Shifted)

The Reviews do not do this book justice

I chose to listen to the Dog Stars after Audible suggested it on its preferred list.

The narration is difficult at first. The narrator speaks in a manner like Keanu Reeves; halting, abrupt, at times monotonous, but over the course of the book the poetic imagery associates itself with this voice and you begin to think of Hig as a character who is halting and monotonous in his manner.

This is a book that will appeal to the fly fisherman, the hunter, the pilot and certainly the student of poetic and limited prose. The author chooses his words well and they paint a very vivid visual image.

It is not a happy book. It is a story that takes place in a post apocalyptic America and one whose end leaves some uncertainty, but it is a book that very much causes one to consider the now. The characters are wrestling with the desire to preserve the beautiful and the civilized in the midst of a world that demands calculated savagery and violence.

I would encourage any listener to hear it through to the end. It touched me as a person who loves the english language, flying and the noble in life. It is a book for those who appreciate the solid friendship and certainly for those of us who count among those friends the ones with four legs and wagging tails.

I would recommend this book for anyone who meets the criteria above and certainly for those who just want to hear a unique perspective on a common theme.

Sweet Whispers

If I had more time tonight, I would finish this book because “The Dog Stars” is excellent. I have about 90 minutes to go, but I fear that I will lose my thoughts tomorrow as I finish this book. The pandemic story about the flu that pretty much wiped out civilization is too close to home. A pilot that lost his wife, friends, and pretty much life that what used to be, decided to fly his plane until the fuel gauge goes empty to see what happens, and finds new life past the horizon.

I am not going to spoil the story, but I am going to talk about this remarkable author. Peter Heller wrote his book as poetry. Reading this book is poetic as its best. He captures the pandemic as sweet whispers in your ears, where you see lights through the darkest time as the main character finds new life. The narration in the third person is like a structure of a poem. The book has stanzas and consistency. Each written word has a purpose and it’s not fragmented at all.

My headphones just died and I am continuing on listening through my computer speakers. If time wasn’t limited this evening, the last hour wouldn’t be a problem, but my bed is calling me. I can’t wait to get up to finish what I started in the morning.

A new fave in my favorite genre

My favorite genre being post apocalyptic survival stories in the sub category of 'Without Zombies'. (Although there are a couple with zombies that I like.) For me 'The Dog Stars' fits nicely alongside copies of 'Alas Babylon' and 'On The Beach' but sets itself apart from those two classics with some heart pounding action and laugh out loud humor. This book should be on your list of Post-Apoc must reads. And the narrator simply nailed delivering the authors unique cadence of the main characters internal dialog point of view.

Got a little draggy at times...

this book was recommended to me by some Colorado friends. it was okay and i was able to finish, but I've read much better post-apocalyptic stories.

Very slow

This book was very slow and boring. It got mildly interesting when he met some new people. I really disliked the short choppy thoughts without pronouns which were used frequently. I thought the reader did a very good job with it though. He was the only reason I made it past the first few chapters.

A Fresh Post-apocalypse Tale

What did you love best about The Dog Stars?

Just the right blend of internal and external strife. A well balanced story. It's not a genre that I'm particularly into but I'd highly recommend this.

Who was your favorite character and why?

Big Hig! The main character of the story. He's a character who is easy to relate to. He is a good aligned character in a world gone bad.

Which character – as performed by Mark Deakins – was your favorite?

Bangley. Narrator does a great job with this performance.

Who was the most memorable character of The Dog Stars and why?

Bangley has a sense of mystery and secrecy about him. It's the nature of his character. He is full of surprises. Love him or hate him, you'll go back and forth.

Fascinating!

Not usually crazy about apocalyptic stories, but this one is beautiful . So I have listened twice I think and I don’t do that often.

Post apocalyptic prose...

Peter Heller has crafted an incredible chimera wherein he has woven lovely, complex and deeply personal prose into the great novel of post apocalyptic fiction.

He, writing an inner monologue for the protagonist, wonders in contemplating such a life, "How we work to gentle our losses into paler ghosts". I would challenge others who cherish the post apocalyptic genre to find such thoughtful and beautiful prose as I would truly love to read more of it.

Not a bad way to pass some time

There’s no excitement in this book, no real violence (just a little discussed), and it’s not even remotely fast-paced given that the number of characters in the book can be counted on one hand. The introspection is interesting, but certainly not momentous.

Mesmerizing

Both story and production are well done. Very insightful for a book written pre-Covid. Characters seem very normal and not always heroic.