The Dog Stars

 

The Dog Stars by Peter Heller
My rating: 4 of 5 stars

A novel set in the period after the cataclysmic event that ushers in the dystopia but before society has time to establish a new order. It reads a lot like a western--with machine guns and airplanes. Two men team up to withstand the looters and marauders. Bangley asserts that everyone is out to kill you and acts accordingly, almost seeming to like the hunt and kill. Hig wants to give people the benefit of the doubt. Almost always Bangley is right, but Hig is a romantic and seeks connection. Luckily, Heller lets Hig score a few points. It is the study in how to balance the practicalities of staying alive while still trying to believe in good, love, and compassion.  It is an interesting book with well developed characters and the plot meanders in ways that aren't predictable. Enjoyable.

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Meaning that in fishing I had always all my life brought the best of myself.  My attention and carefulness, my willingness to risk, and my love.  Patience.

life was inside death, virulent and insistent as a strain of flu.

Whatever is left of whatever they distill is more concentrated in there complete and dangerous freedom.

Grief is an element.  It has its own cycle like the carbon cycle, the nitrogen.  It never diminishes not ever.  It passes in and out of everything.

Amazing how not having to kill someone frees up a relationship generally.