The Dog Stars

Anyone read this? I started it last night, I'm up to about page 75 or so and ready to put it down. I don't mind post-apocalyptic literature, but this is just so relentless. Everywhere you look, people love it. My sister called me raving about it, and sent me her copy. I read several glowing reviews, Amazon gives it 4.5 stars, etc.

I don't get it. I'm an easy reader, it doesn't take much to pull me in and the book doesn't have to be happy, or have a happy ending. Is it just me?

The last one I called "foul" on was The Art of Fielding; that was just a badly written, badly plotted, obvious book. This is just as obviously well written and well thought out, but I don't like it. What am I missing?

Finished it last night. the author has what is at its heart a short story, or possibly a novella, and he uses enough words to tell it so that it got published as a novel.

Quote: Mosca

Anyone read this? I started it last night, I'm up to about page 75 or so and ready to put it down.

Details? Sounds like an invasion by a binary star ;P

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I don't mind post-apocalyptic literature, but this is just so relentless.

One of Niven's best works, in colalboration with someone whose name escapes me, is Lucifer's Hammer; a story of a comet strike on Earth. Post-Apocalyptic just begins to describe it. The theme is handled very well, but the authors hold nothing back. I appreciated reading it (I won't say I enjoyed it), but I'd never wade through it again. I would recommend it to others, though, with warnings. It does have an upbeat kind of ending, though, strange as that is.

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I don't get it.

Beats me, too. I don't think I've ever read any book that was in fashion or a fad. The closest would be Tom Clancy's "The Hunt For Red October," and that was years after publication.

A virus takes down humanity, leaving few survivors.

I don't want to warn you off; reviews are over 90% positive. And the book gets better, I did stay up until 2:30 to finish it. Heck, I finished it when I wanted to stop reading, but it was a gift and I didn't want to disappoint my sister who sent it to me. I would guess that were you to read it, you'd probably like it. Sometimes it's a function of mood; I've been somewhat disagreeable in my personal life lately, and at times this book requires some meditativeness that I had to force upon myself.

PM me an address and I'll forward it to you, if you want. And again, reviews are overwhelmingly positive and well reasoned. Most negative reviews focus on the narrative style, and the narrative style didn't bother me.

Thanks!

Quote: Mosca

I would guess that were you to read it, you'd probably like it.

Maybe. Right now I'm not in the mood for post-apocalyptic stories. I guess I get enough of that watching the Steelers play :P

BTW I've never read a book just because someone gave it to me. In fact, one of my in-laws often tries to get me a book for my birthday, but she has sense enough to ask about it first. She's got a perfect record so far: 0 for 5. The last she asked about was, I think, the DaVinci Code. Prior to that she tried with Lord of the ZZZZZZZZs and something about some place called Narnia.

I can recommend a couple that I thought were pretty good:

Soon I Will Be Invincible is a real hoot. The world's most dangerous evil genius escapes from prison, and the world's super heroes have to chase him down. It is told as dueling interior monologues from Dr Impossible and Fatale, half machine/half woman. You gotta love it, with lines such as, "Once you get past a certain threshold, everyone's problems are the same: fortifying your island and hiding the heat signature from your fusion reactor." Of course, I wouldn't give it a recommendation if there wasn't more here than meets the eye; there's more here than meets the eye. The comic book story is deeper than it plots.

The Postmortal is apocalyptic vision that is surprisingly well thought out. A vaccine is developed that keeps people from dying of disease and old age; the only way a person can die is from trauma. The author then follows this to its logical conclusion. The logic in the way people act both individually and in groups is believable; this is exactly what you would think would happen, with all the vanity and all the silliness that people will come up with to maintain their illusion of themselves and or order in their lives. Sometimes the author stumbles over the prose, but that is a minor quibble. I reviewed this one on Amazon. I don't think I reviewed the other one.

Put them on your list and if you read 'em, great, if you don't great. But both are interesting and well thought out.

Quote: Mosca

The Postmortal is apocalyptic vision that is surprisingly well thought out. A vaccine is developed that keeps people from dying of disease and old age; the only way a person can die is from trauma. The author then follows this to its logical conclusion. The logic in the way people act both individually and in groups is believable; this is exactly what you would think would happen,

Actually we may differ ont hat last. I am, in fact, thinking about a similar setting in a short story (except I can even think of pretection from trauma). people are not immortal, excatly, but lifespans are indefinite. And my take on that is highly optimistic. Oh, I can foresee some problems, more or less, mostly involving family. But in my vision, a long lifespan is a really, really good thing.

Quote: Nareed

Quote: Mosca

The Postmortal is apocalyptic vision that is surprisingly well thought out. A vaccine is developed that keeps people from dying of disease and old age; the only way a person can die is from trauma. The author then follows this to its logical conclusion. The logic in the way people act both individually and in groups is believable; this is exactly what you would think would happen,

Actually we may differ ont hat last. I am, in fact, thinking about a similar setting in a short story (except I can even think of pretection from trauma). people are not immortal, excatly, but lifespans are indefinite. And my take on that is highly optimistic. Oh, I can foresee some problems, more or less, mostly involving family. But in my vision, a long lifespan is a really, really good thing.

Nareed, you have mentioned working on stories tangentially many times now, but I don't recall you explicitly talking about your writing? How long have you been writing and have you published anything to the internet (blogs/etc.)?

Quote: AcesAndEights

Nareed, you have mentioned working on stories tangentially many times now, but I don't recall you explicitly talking about your writing? How long have you been writing and have you published anything to the internet (blogs/etc.)?

I have a couple of finished stories (or I hope I still do). Mostly I'm working on a bunch, which may mean anything from "I'm thinking about this kind of story," to "I'm acually writing it." Lately I've been very creative coming up with stories with transsexual characters, but have lacked the time to work on them consistently. I've the first draft of the first chapter of a novel called "Keeping Secrets," but it's languished for a while.

If you're interested, and assuming I can find them, I could send you MS word files of two related stories "Carol" and "The Loner," and an unrelated one called "Golden." Curiuosly all three feature an artificial lifeform of sorts. You'd only need to promise not to share them or publish them. Those three were rea dand reviewed, years ago, in an online writer's group. I learned "Golden" had my most effective opening, which someone called an instant hook. It goes "My name is Golden. I am a human being."

Quote: Mosca

Finished it last night. the author has what is at its heart a short story, or possibly a novella, and he uses enough words to tell it so that it got published as a novel.

Peter Heller has only written 4 nonfiction books in the last 10 years. Quite a feat to jump to NY Times Best Selling List for fiction.

The Dog Stars (Aug 7, 2012)
4) Kook: What Surfing Taught Me About Love, Life, and Catching the Perfect Wave (Jul 13, 2010)
3) The Whale Warriors: The Battle at the Bottom of the World to Save the Planet's Largest Mammals (Oct 14, 2008)
2) Hell or High Water: Surviving Tibet's Tsangpo River (Sep 23, 2004)
1) Outside Magazine's Urban Adventure: Denver/Boulder (Sep 17, 2002)

Speaking of great apocalyptic literature, "A Canticle for Leibowitz" is now over 50 years old