Book 19: The Dog Stars

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Book Summary:
Hig is a survivor. He survived the flu that killed everyone he knew. He has no family left and no friends...unless you count Bangly, the cynical codger with whom he cohabitates in a compound of abandoned buildings, and Jasper, his ever faithful pup. For years, Hig knows only one thing, just keep surviving, but after his pup dies of old age, he decides to go out past the point of no return in his 1956 Cessna to see if he can find the source of the random transmission he heard on his radio three years prior. Without enough fuel to return home, Hig discovers that he can have more in his life than what he originally believed.

Book Review:
Let me start by saying that I did not enjoy this book. It took me five painstaking weeks to finish this novel. Everyone kept telling me I should stop reading it, but I just couldn't bring myself to do that for a couple reasons. First, I thought maybe I'd get into it if I just kept pushing through, and second, I need to have books that I review that I legitimately do not like. That being said, I honestly like absolutely nothing about this novel. I mean, I can understand why others have liked it (it's gotten pretty decent ratings on goodreads and amazon), but it just was not for me. Okay, so let me break down all the reasons I basically wanted to shoot myself while reading this book.

First off was the writing style. This was the biggest turn off for me. There were absolutely no quotations anywhere, and just about every other statement was either a run-on or an incomplete sentence. This seriously drove me bat-crap crazy. I realize that the book was purposely written this way, and I actually understand why it was written as such. However, it made me want to gouge my eyes out.

Secondly, I did not enjoy the plot at all. It starts off after basically everyone in the world has died from some unknown flu (which we don't find any real details about until nearly the end of the novel), and then it goes to tell the story of next to nothing. I mean, stuff happens, but when it was over I felt like nothing of importance occurred. I realize that important things did actually happen: Jasper dies, Hig learns things about himself, he finds Cima and her dad, etc. I guess, though, that I didn't care about any of these characters, so none of this seemed that important to me.

Lastly, the ending. One day random planes start flying overhead, and when Hig tries to contact them they don't respond. This happens for days or weeks (I'm not really sure how long), and then the book ends. Who was in planes? Were there a lot more survivors? Were they the Arabs that were spoken of early on in the novel? I have no idea because the book just stops there without letting us know.

So, overall, I basically hated this novel. As far as family friendliness goes, this gets an F rating, as in next to every other word was an f bomb. Also, there are a couple graphic sex scenes along with a ton of violence including some cannibalism. I definitely would not recommend this book to anyone.

My Rating: 2/10 (It gets an extra point because of Jasper the dog)