Book Review: The Dog Stars (Peter Heller 2012)

There was a long period of time when I would describe this as my “favorite” book. It’s not about sobriety or addiction. It’s set after a devastating biological apocalypse and is the story of a man and his dog trying to find their way, when literally everything that undergirded their life is gone. Of course, there’s also fly-fishing and careful reconnaissance and defense of a sturdy perimeter.

I’m drawn to post-apocalyptic literature, not so much because I love the macabre and the fantastical, but I think because the search for meaning to fill a void resonates very deeply with me. This isn’t a story of sobriety, but it is a story of recovery. It’s the story of how someone who has endured terrible losses, living among the bleakest and darkest of times, can find a sliver of hope. And with a little careful tending of that frail hope and enormous expenditures of courage, it can blossom into love. It turns out love has the power to transform even the bleakest and most forlorn situations.

Spoiler alert: The dog does die in this book. This is my principal objection to dog-based movies and books, the dog always dies. I think it’s unnecessary, but that’s just me.

This is a book about loss and grief and love and light. The title, a reminder that dogs and even their star, are there to stay with us, even on the darkest nights.