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)

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.

Incredible story about redemption after apocolypse

This book was recommended to me multiple times and I brushed it off because it is not really my genre. Finally I had to tell my Mother, Fine! I will read the doggone book! I cannot imagine why I waited so long. This was a great story, Wonderful Narration of a beautifully written novel.

Great read, I enjoyed it immensly

Just enough aviation to keep it interesting for me, I liked the characters....especially the dog......

Slow-paced, poetic post-apocalypse novel

Any additional comments?

Good, literate post-apocalypse book. It's got its share of violent, tense scenes, plus heartbreak, but it's told in a calm, weary way. If you want lots of action, you won't like it. If you prefer thoughtful, poetic books, you probably will. I liked it. But I've read so many post-apocalypse books that this one doesn't really stand out.

Lost and Found in Post Apocalypse America

Much more than On the Beach or a Boy and His Dog or other better-known post-apocalypse fiction, The Dog Stars offers a realistic vision of life after ~ the life we live and the life we feel.

This is a story of life leavened by sadism, by courage, by terror, by loss, by hatred, by madness and, ultimately, by the many types of love. A remarkable debut novel ~ watch for more from Peter Heller!