317: Peter Heller’s THE DOG STARS - September 2026 Book Club Pick
In this September book club episode, Jen and Ashley discuss Peter Heller’s The Dog Stars (Bookshop.org | Libro.fm), a post-apocalyptic novel that both of us first read more than a decade ago and still deeply love. The film adaptation of this one just came out, so we wanted to revisit it before watching, and we also recommend it as a book-to-film pick for this year’s reading challenge.
We talk about what it was like to return to this story after so many years, the relationships that help Hig hold onto his humanity, and the surprising hope at the heart of such a bleak world. We also explore Heller’s distinctive writing style, the small rituals that give life meaning, and what the novel asks about survival, connection, and what remains when almost everything else is gone. We also share our latest reads in our Bookish Check-in, and we end with our Unabridged Favorites.
Spoilers abound, so be sure to read The Dog Stars before listening if you want to avoid them! We’d love to hear what you thought of the book and how it landed for you.
Bookish Check-in
Our September Book Club Pick
Our Pairings
Unabridged Favorites
Ashley - The Hawk on Netflix
Jen - The Other Bennet Sister (Britbox - 7-day trial)
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Full Transcript for Episode
[00:00:00] Ashley: Welcome to the Unabridged Podcast. I'm Ashley.
[00:00:05] Jen: And this is Jen.
[00:00:06] Ashley: Join us for bookish episodes and check out our website unabridgedpod.com, where you can find lots of new bookish content to grow your TBR.
[00:00:13] Jen: Sign up for our newsletter to find out more about online book discussions and upcoming events. Find us on Patreon for extra Unabridged content.
[00:00:21] Join us on Instagram and Facebook @unabridgedpod and message us there or see our website to get plugged into the Unabridged community. You want opinions about books? We've got 'em.
[00:00:35] Hi, everyone, and welcome to Unabridged. This is episode 317. It's our September 2026 book club episode focused on Peter Heller's The Dog Stars. So hopefully you listened to our last episode, which was about books we love to teach. That one did launch season 10 for us, which is hard to believe. A couple of reminders as we move into our discussion.
[00:00:58] So there is always a book club chat and a buddy read chat on Instagram each month. The book club chat, as you're listening to now, we do talk about in an episode. In the buddy read chat, we just have online discussions, and the books are always young adult novels. Well, young adult books. Sometimes we do nonfiction.
[00:01:16] I also want to remind you about our affiliate shop at bookshop.org. If you go to bookshop.org/shop/unabridgedpod, you can both support us and support an independent bookstore of your choice. All right. Well, we are going to move into our discussion with our bookish check-in. Ashley, what are you reading?
[00:01:37] Ashley: One of the things I'm reading is KateClayson'ss The Paris Match. I am listening to this one. Samantha Archuleta is a good friend of mine and does the narration, so I'm enjoying listening to Sam do the audiobook, and that's really fun. But I'm also loving this story. We are recording a little bit early, and I'm trying to cram in the last little bit of summer, even though it's not really summer anymore- summer vibes- and so this seemed like a good fit for a summer romance.
[00:02:05] So in the beginning, you have Layla, who is a physician, and she's on a plane to go to this very fraught wedding. We learn pretty quickly that the wedding is for her former sister-in-law, who is significantly younger than her and has continued to want to be very close to her, even though she is no longer married to her brother.
[00:02:28] And so she has not seen the family. They've been divorced for just, like, a year maybe, and she keeps saying that it was an amicable divorce, and yet you can tell that, like, this is a really complex situation for her. And of course, the ex is going to be there to complicate things further; he is bringing someone and has tried to ask her whether that's okay, which she felt she couldn't say no to; it wasn't okay to say no.
[00:02:54] And again, it was an amicable situation, so of course it's fine, and yet you can tell she's really stressed about that. Well, on the way over, there is a situation on the plane where somebody needs some medical attention, and there is this really grumpy guy who is involved in that part where the person needs help, and he makes quite an impression on her.
[00:03:17] She finds him very off-putting, and then lo and behold, when she gets to the hotel and starts to meet people, he is the best man of the ex-- like, but anyway, it's her former sister-in-law who's so happy to have her there.
[00:03:31] It's her fiancé's best man who's also, like, his best friend and stuff. And so I presume that things are going to evolve with Griffin, who is the very curmudgeonly guy who seems to have a big backstory, that she is both intrigued by and also, put off by, I would say. And I'm loving it so far.
[00:03:53] It's set in Paris, and all of that is really lovely. And I also think that her character is really well developed from what I've seen so far. I just love seeing her trying to navigate this really hard situation in a way that takes care of everyone else, and yet she also needs to, you know, be able to take care of herself, and it's clear that it's hard to do that.
[00:04:15] So, I am loving it. I am interested to see; there's a lot of, again, the wedding part is quite fraught also, and so a lot is evolving in that arena in the part that I'm in, and I'm curious to see what happens there. But yeah, so far so good, and I'm loving the audiobook. And again, that is Kate Clayborn's The Paris Match.
[00:04:34] Jen: I really love Clayborn's work. She is one of my auto-read romance authors because I think she always conveys that emotional content so compellingly. I really like her work.
[00:04:44] Ashley: Oh, that's awesome. This is my first one for her, so I'm glad to be discovering her book. What about you, Jen? What are you reading?
[00:04:51] Jen: I am reading Cameron Sullivan's The Red Winter, and I'm sort of gearing up here to talk about it because it is a fantasy novel, and so there is a lot of world-building. And it feels like a pretty complex narrative. But it starts with a man named Sebastian in 1785, who discovers that the beast he had conquered years earlier has returned.
[00:05:18] So he had fought the beast, which was attacking this small village, with someone named Antoine, and Antoine's son has come to him for help. His father sent him because Sebastian and Antoine had an agreement that he would, you know, make sure the beast was gone. So he is obligated to come back and help. So Sebastian is effectively immortal because he is also inhabited by this weird spirit who keeps him alive forever.
[00:05:53] And the spirit needs to eat anima, which is kind of like people's souls. So he's constantly urging Sebastian to do things that will result... It doesn't have to be people; it can be animals too, but that will essentially result in them dying so he can feed. But he also has given Sebastian the ability to...
[00:06:15] It's like casting spells. They call it the Arcane. And so because he had the Arcane abilities, he was really important in eradicating the beast, or in thinking that they had eradicated the beast. So we also find out that Sebastian and Antoine had a passionate love affair, which is complicating his feelings about returning to this village, where, you know, Antoine is now married and has children, and he has not really kept in touch with him. And then the narrative, it's fascinating because, okay, so first of all, Sebastian is telling the reader this story from, like, our contemporary day. And so he has all of these footnotes that I'm reading it on Kindle, and so I'm clicking on the footnotes, and it's talking about, you know, social media and things like that.
[00:07:02] Him looking back and comparing things in 1785 to social media. And then he's also drawing a connection between the events of 1785 and Joan of Arc, since he was there too, so you can tell. It's pretty intricate. I really love it. It's dramatic; it's funny. There's a great voice.
[00:07:24] The voice is beautifully developed, and so Sebastian is just this amazing character. His interactions with his spirit are also funny 'cause they can be contentious, but also supportive. So there are a lot of really interesting- I was gonna say interpersonal, inter-being dynamics that are great.
[00:07:45] So I'm really loving it, and I hope that explanation was somewhat coherent and portrayed just why I'm enjoying it so much. So that is Cameron Sullivan's The Red Winter.
[00:07:59] Ashley: I was like, man, that is a lot going on. But I also think I'm reading a fantasy book, which I didn't choose to talk about because, like, it's just hard to talk about them. It's hard to talk about them. It does sound really interesting, and the fact that you were saying you really love it, yeah, I'm like, oh, I should give it a try 'cause yeah, it does sound interesting.
[00:08:18] Jen: It's great, yeah, if you like fantasy, I would highly recommend it. If you don't, you probably already know that this is not for you ' cause it is very high fantasy,y I would say. We are going to move on to our main book club choice, which is Peter Heller's The Dog Stars.
[00:08:32] We did pick this because it is a perfect fit for our Unabridged Podcast Reading Challenge, which has a category about a book being adapted into a movie. And if you haven't joined the reading challenge yet, there's still time. We do 12 categories, so you could conceivably still join and finish by the end of the year.
[00:08:50] You can find information on our website unabridgedpod.com. So I'm going to start with the publisher's synopsis. "Hig, bereaved and traumatized after a global disaster, has three things to live for: his dog Jasper, his aggressive but helpful neighbor, and his Cessna airplane. He's just about surviving so long as he only takes his beloved plane for short journeys and saves his remaining fuel.
[00:09:12] But just once he picks up a message from another pilot, and eventually the temptation to find out who else is still alive becomes irresistible. So he takes off on his plane over the horizon, knowing he won't have enough fuel to get back. What follows is scarier and more life-affirming than he could have imagined, and his story, The Dog Stars, is a book unlike any you have ever read."
[00:09:31] I have to say I don't think that's a great synopsis, so I'm just gonna say that. If you've read the book, we will dive into spoilers and explain why I don't think that's a great synopsis. But yeah, we'll move on. Ashley, what are your overall impressions of The Dog Stars?
[00:09:48] Ashley: Oh, gosh. Well, it's not often that we revisit ones we have both read, but this is a situation where Jen and I have both read this, and the last time I read this was shortly after I met Jen, so we're looking at, like, 2012, 2013, which I guess is probably what... When was this
[00:10:05] Jen: Yeah, it came out in 2012, I think
[00:10:07] Ashley: It came out in 2012.
[00:10:07] Okay. So I read it shortly after it came out because that's when I met Jen, and she was like, "You would love this book," and now we're reading it in 2026. So I've had some things happen between when I last read that and now. I absolutely loved it the first time. I absolutely loved it this time.
[00:10:22] I loved this so much. I have read not all, but most of what Heller has written, and I have also enjoyed his other books. I think they are challenging. I think they force you to, like, look at hard things about humanity, and sometimes they are gritty enough that I'm like, "Ooh, gosh, this is terrible."
[00:10:39] But I have enjoyed the other ones I've read of him, but I've never loved one as much as this, I would say. And I don't know if that's just 'cause I read this one first. I don't know. But anyway, this is a book that has stayed in my heart. So the overall impression is that, even though it's a very bleak setting, it's a very hopeful book.
[00:10:56] And so overall, I think what I really love is that we have this person, Hig, who we're rooting for, even though he's kind of in a situation where there's nothing left to root for, and yet I think Heller really pulls us in and shows how meaningful that life can be. I really love it overall, and I'll talk more about why, but for sure this is one that we don't often revisit, one that I already knew I absolutely loved,-but yes, this is a favorite for me.
[00:11:26] Jen, what's your overall impression?
[00:11:28] Jen: Yeah, I really loved revisiting this. I will say, spoiler ahead, so again, if you have not read it yet, pause, read it, come back. My dog died this summer, and so parts of it were so devastating. And so it resonated differently than it did the first time I read it. That part of, always sad about dogs dying, but having been through that experience, that whole section was just heartbreaking.
[00:11:56] And I think that really emphasized for me the way Heller can write so compellingly about emotion, and that he's able to make you feel it through what he shows about Hig's behavior. So you're in Hig's head, and Hig is a very self-aware guy, so he is very reflective. But even when he's unable to articulate his feelings, we can still understand them because Heller shows us what he is doing.
[00:12:28] And I found it to be just as powerful this time around. I really love post-apocalyptic fiction, and I think this one has some great connections to other post-apocalyptic fiction that we will, I'm sure, talk about in our pairings and at other times. But I think it holds its own among the greatest post-apocalyptic fiction.
[00:12:47] And yeah, like Ashley, this made me read everything that he writes, and so he is an auto-read author for me. I think he just has this incredible balance of character and plot that makes his books both compelling and moving, and I really love that. So yeah. All right, so we're gonna sort of zoom in now on just one thing that worked for us.
[00:13:07] What do you want to focus on, Ashley?
[00:13:09] Ashley: I feel like when I was doing it overall, I was like, "Oh, I'm gonna talk about this." And now I'm like, "What was that thing?" I don't know. So many things worked for me. As Jen said, Hig is self-aware, but also is really sparse. Like, he's sparse in what he says. He's sparse in his syntax.
[00:13:21] He thinks in really fragmented thoughts in a way that I think would resonate when you have been largely alone for nine years. And I will also say I just loved it both times; the things that I and we have been through since I first read it definitely made it land differently this time.
[00:13:37] And so I have found in general, so like since I read this, you know, I'm not gonna do the whole list here, okay, but we've all been through the pandemic, and I have had
[00:13:46] children. And so, I think I have a harder time reading these kinds of books now because it does not feel as distant as it used to feel, and I think that's probably true for anyone at this point that just once we went through the pandemic,
[00:14:00] And where I live, we went through Hurricane Helene, and it was pretty rough. And I think there's just this reality that, like, was hard for me in 2012 or 2013 to imagine. I liked it, and I liked reading it, and now I'm like, "Oh." I mean, I feel more aware of how the tiniest thing can actually knock them all down, you know?
[00:14:19] Like, I mean, that sounds so bleak. But anyway, I just, honestly, I just feel that it is harder for me now to read post-apocalyptic works because I can imagine it better than I want to, basically.
[00:14:33] So one of the things that really works for me is the relationships that Hig forms with other characters, including Jasper, his sweet dog, and also Bangley. And it's funny because looking back on this book, I remembered everything about Jasper very vividly. Like his name, what happened, how it happened, all of that was really vivid.
[00:14:54] I didn't remember Bangley at all, which I thought was hilarious when I started the book. I felt kind of guilty. He is such an important part of the book, and somehow his character was just, like, not present in my, you know, hold-on memory of the book. But I think I loved, loved the moment when Hig is gonna go off and be away for a long time, and Bangley so lovingly supports him in doing that, and how it is when he comes back. It's a really imminent crisis, and Bangley realizes that Jasper's not with him, like, how he can adapt his responses and behavior to accommodate Hig when they are such unbelievably different people, and when Bangley is such a...
[00:15:42] I mean, what, honestly, what you would expect of a, a person who would survive in this kind of situation. I mean, hard, tactical, not emotional, prideful. I mean, all of those things, I think we really see that, and I love how we see that with them. And of- then of course, when we get to meet Pops, who Hig refers to as Pops, and then Cima, like, when we see the ways that Hig can form these relationships after all this time, after the end of things, basically, that really is powerful to me.
[00:16:13] And I think, again, part of why I love the book, like Heller and the story is stripping down all of the things that make our world run the way that it runs, and then asking what's left. Like, what does it mean? What would humanity be? What would still be intact?
[00:16:30] And I think, again, despite how unbelievably bleak the book is, it also paints this really hopeful picture of what would be intact.
[00:16:38] Jen: Yeah, I love everything you said there. I mean, I think the attention to language and that portrayal of the disintegration of society as represented by language, I think, is really powerful. I'm gonna talk about that in my pairing as well. And yeah, I think that relationship- I mean, of course I love the relationship with Jasper and just the way he is so compassionate and makes decisions because of what he can tell Jasper's preferences are.
[00:17:06] And, you know, the way he's hearing Jasper disapproving of certain things that he does. But yeah, that relationship with Bangley is surprisingly moving 'cause for a lot of the book I didn't remember much about him either. I'm like, "This guy is on the edge of just killing him," and just saying, "Yeah, I'll just do it myself," and/or killing Jasper and eating him, or yeah, he's just on the edge of doing something horrible.
[00:17:28] And then I started realizing just how much they mean to each other and how having that other person is so essential to keeping them both going, and that was really beautiful in an unexpected way.
[00:17:42] Ashley: Well, and how Hig didn't realize any of that until after he came back and Bangley... I didn't remember again where I'd stored the book. I didn't remember Bangley at all, so I couldn't remember whether he died at the end, since I didn't remember he existed. And I was, like, frantic to find out whether he was okay.
[00:17:58] and I think we see in that moment Hig suddenly realizing how much they needed each other for survival in a way that he had not realized, though, of course, Bangley would have known all along. And so yeah, I loved all of that, likeBangley'ss ability to understand the tactical benefit of there being both of them, and his willingness to accommodate, in part for his own survival, but also because he did seem to care.
[00:18:24] Jen: Yes. gonna say it's not just, not just physical survival, but emotional survival, right? I'll jump ahead. I had written down this quotation: "Nothing is designated anymore. It weren't for Bangley, I'd forget my name." And just the way that having someone else helps him hold onto who he is, and yeah, that they need that, and that is just as important as the physical survival.
[00:18:47] Ashley: Yeah. What about you, Jen? What worked for you?
[00:18:50] Jen: So one of my favorite TV critics, Alan Sepinwall, writes about Vince Gilligan a lot. Vince Gilligan is the creator of Breaking Bad, Better Call Saul, and Pluribus. And Vince Gilligan has this great ability in all of his shows to reveal processes. Like, in Breaking Bad, there's a character named Mike Ehrmantraut, and there will be a whole episode about Mike Ehrmantraut doing something, like setting up, I don't know, a mechanism.
[00:19:16] And you would think it would be really drudgery, but it's actually completely fascinating. And I felt that so many times in this book, that there are these processes that watching Hig tend to his garden, watching him take care of his plane or get ready for takeoff, watching Hig fish, that these rituals, these processes are valuable, not just because they are things he knows how to do, but because they're almost meditative.
[00:19:47] They're centering in a way, and
[00:19:48] so there's something very human about it, about these things you know how to do, and so by doing them, that keeps you going and makes you human, and you have these things to take care of, so that even if emotionally you're not in the right place, it helps you continue.
[00:20:06] You know, there'd be page-long descriptions of things that I know nothing about. I certainly have never flown a plane, and yet something about it is fascinating because you see his comfort with it and the way it continues to affirm who he is. And so I just thought it was such an interesting writing choice.
[00:20:21] You know, by all accounts, I should have been totally bored, and yet I wasn't because that is part of who he is and that's part of his character development. We see it with Pops. wWithCima. He talks about Cima when she is tending to people, the way she comes into herself again as a doctor.
[00:20:41] And yeah, just that ability to do the thing that you know you are good at and that you can do. It's almost like muscle memory, and yet it's so important. And so yeah, I thought that stood out to me this time. I don't remember noticing it before at all, but I thought that was really powerful.
[00:20:57] Ashley: Yeah, I love that. I felt like there were several times-, I'm gonna cheat and sneak in a quote here. But I think we see all those processes, and we also see how, by focusing on them, he is in the moment, right? I think part of what is attractive about this is that, even though everything has obviously gone as badly as possible, he also has this life that is so simple and kind of pure that I think there is a piece of it that is really resonant or attractive.
[00:21:26] and so this is from early on, but yeah, it's like talking about the garden and stuff. He says, "It caught me sometimes that this was okay. Just this. "That simple beauty was still bearable, barely, and that if I lived moment to moment, garden to stove, to the simple act of flying, I could have peace."
[00:21:44] And like, there are several times where he's like, even here, " it's like so beautiful I can barely stand it."It's so beautiful it hurts. And I think there's something about that, that, like, at the end of things, there's still this just pull to carry on. And like when Jasper dies, and he's like, what can he do, because like he really has lost everything.
[00:22:03] I mean, this is like the moment where he really has lost everything. And he thought he already had, and then he was like, "Oh no, this is what real grief feels like." And I think he realizes, like Jasper, like you said, Jen, like Jasper would want him to carry on, but it's also that over and over again, like there is this human pull to survive in a way that just is almost unbelievable.
[00:22:24] And yet we see this, like, simplicity and beauty that does keep things going somehow. And I think that's really lovely, and I think that is a part of Heller's books that, like, all of them, again, none have attracted me like this one, but all of them have this, like, connection to nature that is very interesting.
[00:22:44] And I think that really explores where humanity fits in with the natural world, which I think is really interesting.
[00:22:50] Jen: All right. Well, we are going to move on to a single quotation. Both of us have cheated already.
[00:22:57] Ashley: I just wanna read parts of the book to you all, and I'm like, if you're listening, I feel like you probably read it, so I don't need to read you the book. But, like, I just wanna quote it all day. Like, I really... That was why I wanted the physical copy. I was like, "I just love this book."
[00:23:08] Jen: I used so many book darts, and then we have a document, and we put the quotations, and I listed one, two, three, four, five. I listed six, and then I thought, "Okay, I just have to stop," even though I could keep going. So all right. But yeah, Ashley, which quotation did you choose to share?
[00:23:24] Ashley: I am gonna share, so this is when Hig has come to Cima and Popsa's place, and they are together, and he and Cima finally have sex. And so I thought it was funny to choose the quote because it's not that they're finally together; I think it's just that what I have always remembered, especially this first line, is the idea that you can go from the bottom of the bottom and think you can't go any lower. Yet, things get worse, and yet you can recover.
[00:23:52] I mean, I think it's just beautiful. So the quote is, "How you refill, lying there, something like happiness, just like water, pure and clear, pouring in. So good, you don't even welcome it. It runs through you in a bright stream, as if it's been there all along."
[00:24:08] I just think, like I said, that one line, the way you refill, I mean, I love that so much. Like, I feel like I could have a tattoo of that. Like, I just love it. I think it's this idea that despite everything, somehow we can recover, we can heal, we can carry on in a way that I just think is really beautiful.
[00:24:26] And then also this idea of, like, that it's been there all along. And I think all of that is just lovely, and I think really encapsulates why this book is so powerful to me because I think sometimes when we read something where someone is in such a dire situation and yet finds connection, finds meaning, finds hope, like, there's something just really uplifting about that
.[00:24:49] Jen: Yeah. Ah, that's such a beautiful quotation. And yeah, I love that part, that as if it has been there all along. That one reminds me of our pairing, of the pairing I'm going to pick. And yeah, just that idea that even at the heart of things, when you feel like everything is desolate, there's still something there that you can unearth that will bring you back.
[00:25:09] Ashley: Yeah, and I think like it's such a human experience not to be able to touch that. And I think that's why it's what I love: our ability to even hold onto that idea can carry us through really hard things, but sometimes it's hard to hold onto that idea. Okay, Jen, which one are you going to choose?
[00:25:26] Jen: I can't decide. All right, I think I'm going to go... I'm so torn. Okay, I think I'm going to go with this one. "He," talking about Bangley, "would have called it recreating, which he called with scorn anything that didn't directly involve our direct survival or killing or planning to kill, which amounted to the same thing."
[00:25:44] And I'm laughing because I do think it's funny, and I think it very much portrays Bangley's personality. But I also think it's this sort of vital conflict within the story that Bangley wants only to do the things you have to do, and that Hig, all along, is also concerned with the things that he wants to do and that give him meaning.
[00:26:07] So is it practical to keep Jasper? Maybe not, but that is incredibly meaningful to him. Does he need to go fishing? No, it's not the same thing that it used to be when he was, you know, doing this noble fly fishing for trout. Now he's got carp, which are bottom feeders, and it's not pleasant. But there's something in that experience that reminds him of who he is and of the life he may never have again, yet he can hold on to some part of it.
[00:26:33] And so I think that scornful, it's recreating, is both funny but also a really serious articulation of different philosophies for survival. That is, it just, again, is it just physical survival, or do we need to account for emotional survival too? That we need something to live for beyond just living.
[00:26:56] And so I think that's, yeah, Heller does a great job throughout the book of articulating those things in really brilliant poetic moments. So I love that.t
[00:27:05] Ashley: Yeah, and I think I find it believable that it's only because of Bangley that Hig has survived. It's only because of Pops that Cima has survived. So it is this idea also, like, sometimes it's hard for us to make space for people who are really curmudgeonly, and difficult to deal with, and hostile, and violent.
[00:27:24] And yet, in both of those pairings, it's a situation where, like, the one person Pops needs Cis ima. He needs her to be the person that he's going to care for and take care of, and that's what carries him on, I'm sure. With Bangley, he needs Hig because it gives him, it grounds him, but also, like, he, you know, as, as when Hig's away, like, there, it is a very dangerous world, and so he really can't survive on his own.
[00:27:49] And yet, in a lot of moments it's like, oh yes, they do serve a purpose, and if they weren't there, then these other characters wouldn't be there either, and this, like, remaking of the world wouldn't be happening because we would have lost the complexity of different types of people, which we need.
[00:28:06] Jen: Yeah. All right, well, we are going to do our next section, which is pairings. So each of us will recommend another book that we think is, in some way, a thoughtful pairing for this one. Which one did you pick, Ashley?
[00:28:17] Ashley: So I just wanted to mention Migrations. If you read with us last season, we read Charlotte McConaghy's Migrations in June, May, sometime recently.
[00:28:30] So it is a very different book. It's not post-apocalyptic, but there is something about the tone that, having read them just a few months apart, I thought about a lot.
[00:28:41] There's something about the damage we're doing to the Earth that I just think is really resonant in both books. And so again, of course, in The Dog Stars, it is viral. It's a virus that has killed most people, and then the blood disease. But also there is a lot of evidence of the destruction of the environment and the way that was playing out prior to everyone dying, and then once all these people have died, the way that it continues to play out, even with humans largely off the Earth.
[00:29:12] And so I just think that stayed with me. If you listen to that episode, you know, like, that one was not as resonant for me as this. And in a lot of ways I find that this one's more hopeful. But there's something about the tone that I just thought of a lot of times in this reading. So I wanted to mention that, but I'm cheating again.
[00:29:28] But that is not my pairing. The one I wanted to share as my pairing is Mindy McGinnis' Not a Drop to Drink. It's been a while since I read it, but I loved it. And what I remember is that Lynn is our protagonist; she and her brother own this property, and it is a post-apocalyptic world as well.
[00:29:49] And in this one, water is in crisis, and there's not enough water. And so, the lack of resources is a huge problem, and what they are trying to do is guard their pond, which is like their water source. And so it's a lot about the two of them finding a way in this really harsh world to protect what they need to survive.
[00:30:17] And then it asks some similar questions. I don't want to give any spoilers, but it has similar questions about, like, how long you can stay in your haven. We see Pops and Cima, as if the reason they didn't kill Hig immediately was that they foresaw they would eventually need to do something, and those questions are getting asked in Not a Drop to Drink as well, like: what does short-term survival look like?
[00:30:39] How can you make that work? What kind of person do you have to be to be able to survive? And then also what's next? And I think those questions are really similar in the two stories. This one is young adult, and so, like, I feel like it's different in that way. But I do feel like there's a lot of similarities that would complement this reading.
[00:31:00] And again, that's Mindy McGinnis' Not a Drop to Drink.
[00:31:03] Jen: Yeah, I think that's such a great pairing. Yeah, the parallels are really interesting, and I think the tone there is, too. I think there's something about McGinnis that she is writing for a young adult audience. Still, she can capture that mix of hopelessness and hopefulness, or the conflict between the two that is so powerful in much post-apocalyptic fiction.
[00:31:24] Ashley: And gritty. I feel like both authors are just gritty. Like, they have gritty characters who are resilient, sometimes hard, and sometimes unlikable. And yet you're, like, rooting for them. Yeah.
[00:31:39] Jen: Yeah.
[00:31:40] Ashley: What about you, Jen? What's your pairing?
[00:31:42] Jen: I'm picking one that I know both Ashley and I love, and that is Cormac McCarthy's The Road. I've read that one. I taught that to the whole class for a long time, so I've read it, I don't know, 10 times, maybe more. And every time I read it, I just fall in love with it all over again. And what it does so well, and what I think matches with Heller's novel, is that it also talks about the power of having someone else that you care about to help pull you through the desolation of a landscape or of a post-apocalyptic world.
[00:32:19] And so in The Road, it's a father and son. They're both unnamed throughout the book, and you're looking at the world through the father's perspective for most of the time. And his son was born at the moment of the apocalypse, right around that time. And so having him to live for is what kept him going.
[00:32:38] And so you see the ways he's always trying to gauge whether it is selfish to keep going and to, you know, to try to continue living, but also that he can't bear to think of a world with his son in it, and that he sees such hope for his son that things could maybe come back despite all evidence to the contrary.
[00:33:00] I think both authors really use their writing to represent the dissolution of society, and so both have this really spare style. It's different, but both have this spare style and this fragmentation that feels really symbolic while also being incredibly effective. And both, despite the tragedy, have these moments of tenderness that are just all the more moving because of the contrast.
[00:33:27] And so, yeah, there are places in The Road, like there's one scene where the father gives the son a Coke, and it's the first soda he's ever had and probably the last. And just that simple moment is... There's just this light shining from the book. It's really beautiful. So that is my pairing: Cormac McCarthy's The Road, one of my favorite books ever.
[00:33:47] I love it so much.
[00:33:49] Ashley: Yes, Jen and I share that. And with The Road, I think we also have the father and then Hig, who remember before. And I think with The Road, what you really see is the contrast between the father, who has kind of these hauntings of a world that no longer exists, and the son, who did not know that world.
[00:34:11] And it's so interesting to see their different perspectives because the son is not chasing the past that doesn't exist. Not that the father is, because exactly what Jen says, like, I think in a lot of ways he is constantly questioning what the point is in carrying on, and yet also knows that he must, like, that is just what he must do, is carry on.
[00:34:31] And yet he is remembering and having to kind of reckon with that. And I think we see that with Hig a lot, too. And we see it with Cima. I mean, I think we really see when they're trying to have a relationship, how everything they carry, of course, gets in the way at times of the relationship that they're trying to have in this, like, present moment.
[00:34:55] Jen: Time to read that one again too.
[00:34:57] Ashley: I know. That was another one, though, that, like, I had read it several times before I had children, and then I feel like I was still relatively early postpartum when I read it the last time, and I was like, "Never again. I'm never gonna read this book again." I can't believe I have students read this.
[00:35:12] and which is... I wouldn't feel that way today, but I did. It's funny because I think in the US we act like postpartum is like a week, you know, and then like suddenly you're just gonna be back to normal. And now I'm like, oh, it actually is like kind of years that you're definitely far more heightened as far as, like, emotional response and stuff.
[00:35:29] But yeah, I remember being like, oh my goodness, this is... Whoa, this is bleak. But like Jen said, I do think it's really hopeful, and it's such a beautiful book. And again, I mean, that question of, like, when everything is gone, what is left? Like what really matters, I think, is really the question both of the authors are asking in such an interesting way.
[00:35:48] Jen: All right. Well, we're going to close out this discussion with bookish hearts. How many bookish hearts for you, Ashley?
[00:35:55] Ashley: Definitely five. It's a favorite for me
[00:35:57] Jen: Same. All right. Well, we'll end our episode with our Unabridged favorites, where each of us recommends or highlights something that is bringing us joy at the moment. What is your favorite for this month, Ashley?
[00:36:08] Ashley: Oh, I just wanna go back to The Road and say, we just talked about books we love to teach, but definitely both of us have loved teaching that one. So if you're looking for... And I loved it with AP Lit specifically because, while it is a really rich text, it is very approachable for readers whose reading level is not as high as some of the other readers'.
[00:36:27] And so I love the way that it can hold all the complexity of a lot of other texts that we would read in AP Lit, but it is much more readable than, like, I taught Shakespeare's Hamlet. It is much more readable. And so I love that, and I think it's just one that if you're looking for something that's a good fit in the classroom and haven't tried it, like, it is definitely one that I love because everyone in a class like that absolutely can comfortably read it. Yet, they can talk about it in a really deep way, which is great.
[00:36:57] Jen: Absolutely
[00:36:58] Ashley: It's a good confidence builder in the reading department. okay. So that was unrelated. Just wanted to tack that on. For an Unabridged favorite, I often struggle, but right now I have one I'm loving: The Hawk on Netflix. This is Will Ferrell, and I love it. It's Lonnie Hawkins. It's this character who is, like, a washed-up, very famous golfer who has been away, had a kind of, you know, disastrous last season, and then has been away for a long time, and now he's coming back.
[00:37:28] And his son, Lance, is also in the PGA tournament and is a golfer. And basically, Lonnie Hawkins had completely gone into oblivion, and he comes back and is, like, clawing his way back up, seemingly in part because he is such an... He's so egotistical that he can't stand the thought that his son might do as well as him or be better than him.
[00:37:50] And so he's kind of going out of his way to, like, wreck things for his son, who he says he loves, but he's very misguided in a lot of ways. And I think, like, what I love, and I think Will Ferrell is really good at this, is that he is kind of a wretched character. Like, he does terrible things, and he's mean, and he is selfish, and he doesn't think about anyone else, and yet he's endearing, and you cheer for him, and you want things to work out for him.
[00:38:15] And I just am like, that is hard to do. Like, there's something about crafting those characters and then portraying them in a way that, like, draws the viewer in to where we're like, we really root for him. Like, I like that. I'm interested in that. I'm here for that. And it's also hilarious. And so again, that's The Hawk.
[00:38:31] Jen, have you seen it?
[00:38:32] Jen: I have not.
[00:38:34] Ashley: Okay. It's really good. You'll have to tell me what you think. It's one season. I think there might be 10 episodes. What about you? What's your Unabridged favorite this month?
[00:38:41] Jen: Mine's also a show. So I watched The Other Bennett Sister, which is based on a novel I have not read. And I watched this through BritBox. I did get a seven-day trial, and it is very watchable within that time. So it is a 10-episode show, about half-hour episodes, and it focuses on Mary Bennett from Pride and Prejudice.
[00:39:00] So, you know, the protagonist of Pride and Prejudice is Elizabeth. There's an older sister, Jane, then Mary is smack dab in the middle. There are two younger sisters, Kitty and Lydia. And Mary, in most portrayals, retellings, or adaptations of Pride and Prejudice, is just really annoying and self-righteous and doesn't fit in. This whole show is from her perspective, and it is just perfection.
[00:39:27] I loved it so much. Mary is awkward, and her mother pretty much despises her because they have five daughters, so someone else will inherit their house. She's desperate to get them married, and she doesn't think she'll ever be able to get Mary. And so it is one of the less... empathetic portrayals of Mrs. Bennett that I've ever seen. She's really horrible. But yeah, she says mean things to Mary because Mary needs glasses, likes to read, and isn't as charming as her other sisters or, you know, a socialite. And yet, oh, she's so delightful.
[00:40:04] I just ... oh. There are moments of secondhand embarrassment that are a little tough to take, but it is just fabulous. And it does move past the end of Pride and Prejudice, so that's the first few episodes, and then it does move past that. So you do see things that happen after the narrative. But yeah, I'm definitely going to read the book, and I absolutely recommend the show.
[00:40:27] It's wonderful
[00:40:29] Ashley: Nice. That sounds really
[00:40:30] Jen: Yeah, it was great
[00:40:32] Ashley: Nice, little tip with the seven-day trial.
[00:40:34] Jen: Yeah. All right, everyone. Well, thank you so much for listening. We would love to know what you thought of The Dog Stars by Peter Heller, and we are excited that you have rejoined us for season 10. Thanks again for listening.
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