Post apocalyptic poetic, boiling down the survivalism and delicate misconceptions of relationships into a 3rd act that actually brought a tear to my eye when the narrator realizes how his partners in the after have loved him. The style kind of affected my thinking, but makes sense for someone who may have fried in a 105 degree fever and its not invasive. ( )

I thought this was going to be more valuable, more literary, than a run-of-the-mill post-apoc. Well, it's more *L*iterary, that's for sure. But is it wiser? From what is said about Hig's r/ship with the gal he finds, definitely not good reading for feminists. Even the bits in the beginning where we meet Melissa, his dead wife, are not good for ppl who think women are ppl. See, the thing is, Hig and Bangley are both misanthropes. Bangley is more honest, and Hig is weaker & confused, just as Bangley sees him to be. At least, so far as I can tell 1/4 in and after reading lots of reviews. And what the heck, why do these two deserve to live, and everyone they kill deserves to die? I mean, the others are Not Nice, sure. But neither are these two. It's a Not Nice world, ferpeetsake.

Oh, and the language. Well, yeah. I often write like that myself. Just get the thoughts down. And, but. Then I edit. I don't assume that cutting a stream-of-consciousness page of thoughts into stereotypically Hemingwayesque bite-size bits makes for beautiful writing full of insight and hope and authenticity but rather I opine that it's a pretentious hot mess.

Still, I won't rate, cuz I didn't finish. I'll just move on to the next book and hope it's more worthy of my time.

It took a while to get used to the disjointed writing style, but once I figured that out, the story rolled by without a problem. It was a good, well written tale, hard to stomach at times (tho not as much as The Road). I enjoyed the interaction of the various characters, and the glimmer of humanity remaining after the horror of population wipeout. ( )

In this post-apocalyptic novel 10 years after 2 diseases rapidly following each other kill 99% of the population we follow the life of Hig, a pilot living on a small airport in CO with his dog and a surly survivalist. Hig is a poet who has lost all of his family. He has survived by maintaining a safe perimeter around the airfield flying surveillance and with Bangley's arsenal of weapons picking off marauders. The world and the story are violent. Three years prior Hig heard a possible transmission from the Grand Junction airport, a distance that was beyond his aircraft's flying possibility for a round trip. At a low point he decides to leave and check it out. The trip brings unexpected rewards and near tragedy. I found the story and style compelling enough to finish but not the 5 star others did. I was able to set it aside often, particularly after violent passages. I felt the ending was appropriate and hopeful. ( )

I listened to this is audiobook format.

This post-apocalyptic novel tells the story of a man 9 years into near solitary living in Colorado. His has a survival buddy and a dog and an airplane. As the story unfolds he grapples with his past losses and his growing need for something more than mere survival. It’s a beautifully written tale, rich with the love of wilderness, and captures the human need for connection exceptionally well without being cheesy. Loved the ending. I’m quickly becoming a fan of Heller and Mark Deakins (the narrator of all Heller’s novels I think). This is reminiscent of McCarthy’s The Road but less grim and more hopeful. ( )