In a confessional writing style, Griz recounts the impulsive pursuit of the stranger who came into the lives of Griz’s family – which has already been touched by tragedy – betrays their trust, and absconds with their beloved dog. Set in a world which has been ravaged by an event which saw the modern world, barring a few who had natural immunity, unable to reproduce, A Boy and His Dog at the End of the World charts Griz’s journey across a depopulated world; the world which we left behind.
The isolation of travelling through a depopulated world is the overriding characteristic of the novel. The imagination which Fletcher exposes in considering how exactly the world would look if suddenly we were all unable to reproduce, is masterful. So much has been thought through, such as the different ways in which people responded to the ‘baby bust’ apocalypse, and the amount of intellectual legwork done to really consider this what the world through which Griz travels looks like, is truly impressive.
The descriptions of the old world being slowly eaten and retaken by nature, are so beautifully evocative and vivid, that they drew an immediate parallel in my mind to the detail and haunting beauty portrayed in something like The Last of Us (see here for why you should play if it you haven’t).
Fletcher tenderly observes facets of life which we take for granted: the miracle of recorded music, or how it feels to be surrounded by people, making for visually lush reading. It’s safe to say that the writing is very reflective; we are in Griz’s head, after all. I do realise that isn’t for everyone; I’ll admit, it didn’t make for light reading, given the concentration it requires to be able to envisage what is being described, and as I read, a sense of melancholy would inevitably descend upon me and linger. But that isn’t a comment against the book, but merely a comment about the type of book this is.
I read a review which criticised the book for the fact that Griz’s writing was far too sophisticated and reflective for a fourteen-year-old (I think – I’m reasonably certain that age is mentioned, but I can’t find particular reference to it, regardless, Griz is only an adolescent). However, Griz is thoughtful, deeply introspective and reflective, and a voracious reader. That, taken in combination with the fact that a post-apocalyptic world requires people to grow up fast in order to survive, left me feeling that it was plausible enough for a younger narrator to have a sophisticated and thoughtful voice.
This melancholy reflectiveness, taken with the grammatical decision to eschew quotation marks in keeping with the form of a stream of consciousness journal confession, brought to mind two books: the Life of Pi, and All the Pretty Horses. Normally I’m not the world’s biggest fan of post-grammar writing (no quotation marks), but the manner in which it is used gels perfectly with the style of the book, which makes us the reader, the imagined audience to whom Griz is pouring out the heartbreak of a saga across the remains of our society, perfectly immersed in the mood of the book.
In terms of actual action of the book itself – the manner in which the plot plays out, I felt this was a truly unusual storyline. I genuinely had no idea where the story would end, or even what would happen next. Even as we are given foreshadowed warnings about the manner in which the story unfolds (for example the comment that it is the unexpected book which saves Griz’s life), I still could not have anticipated what eventuated. I did guess one of the twists, and was so busy being impressed with myself about it that I completely missed many of the others. The one thing I will say regarding the twists is hold in your mind when reading something Griz says towards the book’s conclusion: when a liar says they will tell you the whole truth, listen carefully for the shape of what they don’t say.
A Boy and his Dog at the End of the World is a hard novel to review without giving too much away, or overexplaining it. The delight in it lies in the experience of the reading, of the beautifully constructed sentences, of the lingering sense of sadness at the world which was lost, at the heart which nestles in the centre of the story: the relationship between a person and their dog. It is a beautiful book, and I loved it so much that even though I was given an e-arc, I think I will have to purchase a physical copy for myself when it comes out this month, because I would really love to re-read it (and force my friends and family to read it, too).
A Boy and his Dog at the End of the World is available from April 23rd 2019 at Amazon, Book Depository, and other good book retailers.
Have you read A Boy and his Dog at the End of the World? Or will you be checking it out? Tell us in the comments below!
Synopsis | Goodreads
When a beloved family dog is stolen, her owner sets out on a life-changing journey through the ruins of our world to bring her back in this fiercely compelling tale of survival, courage, and hope. Perfect for readers of Station Eleven and The Girl With All the Gifts.
My name’s Griz. My childhood wasn’t like yours. I’ve never had friends, and in my whole life I’ve not met enough people to play a game of football.
My parents told me how crowded the world used to be, but we were never lonely on our remote island. We had each other, and our dogs.
Then the thief came.
There may be no law left except what you make of it. But if you steal my dog, you can at least expect me to come after you.
Because if we aren’t loyal to the things we love, what’s the point?
This 1969 Science Fiction Novella by Harlan Ellison is a look into the life of Vic and his telepathic dog Blood as they wander a post-apocalyptic United States after World War IV, scavenging for food and looking for sex. When Vic discovers Quilla, a beautiful young woman who appears to have come from one of the last refuges of civilization, he is instantly smitten with lust and assaults her at gunpoint. Before he can do the deed, they have to defend themselves from a band of rogues - they escape and a nascent romance develops.
After much testing of mattress springs, she persuades him to come back to her home and to leave Blood behind. There, he is told that their underground society has stagnated, and their fertility rate has dropped, so they need healthy sperm donors. Despite his initial enthusiasm, Vic takes exception to their methods and escapes with Quilla's help.
The original story was so successful, it won the 1970 Hugo Award, became a 1975 film starring Don Johnson, and was continued with short stories and a graphic novel; Vic and Blood: The Continuing Adventures of a Boy and His Dog. Just before the author's passing in 2018, he published the complete adventures of Vic and Blood in the Fix Up Novel Blood's a Rover.
The Trope Codifier for the Post-Apocalyptic Dog. No relation to the 1946 short film of the same name.
This story (including adaptations and sequels) contains examples of the following tropes:
- After the End: The story is set in 2024, after two world wars. World War III was a conventional war, while IV was a massive nuclear exchange that lasted five days and more or less destroyed civilization, aside from isolated enclaves. Survivors, at least the ones we're shown, consist of the scavening roverpacks and solos on the surface, and the borderline cultish stepford smilers in the Down Under.
- Asshole Victim: The ending would be much more tragic if Quilla June hadn't been, in the author's words, "meaner than a Drano milkshake". She throws her parents away without a second thought and mows down her neighbors in way that even disturbs Vic.
- Black Comedy: "Well, I'd certainly say she had marvelous judgment, Albert, if not particularly good taste."
"In the 1980s, politicians finally discovered the solution to urban blight." Cue nuclear explosion.
- A Boy and His X: Natch. This dog goes really above and beyond the norm, being sentient and telepathic, and helping his master find food and women.
- Bros Before Hoes: When Blood is dying from thirst and starvation, Quilla tries to convince Vic to abandon him. Instead Vic kills and cooks Quilla for Blood's lunch; it doesn't get any more bros before hoes than that.
- Crapsack World: The world above ground is a wasteland populated by sex-hungry barbarians, Vic included; "Down Under" is a Dystopian, creepy, oligarchical pastiche of The Deep South where everyone is in whiteface.
- Deadpan Snarker: Blood loves to get his little digs in at Vic and his constant need for sex.
- Death Seeker: Vic becomes one in further stories, implied to be out of guilt for killing Quilla.
- Desert Punk: Burned Out Earth style.
- Eat the Dog: The Twist Ending inverts this magnificently. As Vic and Quilla escape with nothing but the clothes on their back, they find Blood has been waiting outside the entrance to the bunker for Vic for days without food. Quilla wants them to keep running and leave Blood. Blood needs something to eat. What does Vic do to resolve the crisis? He kills Quilla and feeds her to Blood.
- Embarassing Nickname: Blood often refers to Vic as "Albert", which Vic hates.
- Even Evil Has Standards: Movie theaters are neutral ground, and any fighting is harshly dealt with, as movies are too precious and rare to risk losing. Vic is even angry when he recalls how another theater was burned down due to a big fight breaking out, and several film reels were lost, since there's no way to replace them.
- Femme Fatale: Quilla. Wants to be in charge and openly admits she was using Vic.
- A Friend in Need: Blood can't hunt for himself (although he fights fine and can scent track like radar), a side effect of his gaining the ability to speak somehow.
- Grey-and-Gray Morality: Is a wasteland dweller, whose only thought at the start is getting to rape a woman before some other ones finish with her and shoot her, more or less sympathetic than an oppressive Eagleland society that offhandedly kills people for a bad attitude? You decide.
- Hidden Elf Village: The Down Under sees itself as this, but it's actually a subversion; according to Vic's monologue in the theater, the Down Under is already well known amongst the surface survivors, and none of them show any particular interest in finding it, aside from being a fresh source of women.
- I'm a Humanitarian: The underground society has shades of this, with the unspoken implication that "the farm" is both their disposal of dissidents and a source of food.
- Intellectual Animal: Blood is far smarter and more educated than Vic, teaching him history, keeping him out of trouble and planning tactics in a classic Brains and Brawn pairing.
- Mars Needs Women: The underground society requires healthy sperm from surface dwellers to impregnate their women. Vic thinks he's found his dream job. It subverts this by forcibly extracting it.
- Mecha-Mooks: Implied. "Go and get another Michael from the warehouse."
- New Wave Science Fiction: Based on a New Wave story by one of the most prominent New Wave writers, the story was a typical rejection/subversion of classic "golden age" SF tropes.
- The Nose Knows: Like all dogs, Blood has an excellent sense of smell. Unlike our dogs, he can count foes, pinpoint their direction and distance to the nearest metre and point this out to his partner Vic.
- Our Zombies Are Different: "Screamers", glow-in-the-dark, wailing zombies who only need to touch you to make you one of them.
- Post-Apocalyptic Dog: Blood, who's one of the main characters, but it's shown in the early part of the story that dogs are common companions for the survivors, especially the wandering Solos like Vic.
- The Promised Land: The main characters are searching for a place called Over The Hill.
- Scavenger World: Everyone who lives on the surface survives either by hunting mutated wildlife or by scavenging pre-war canned goods and equipment from the ruins.
- Smart Animal, Average Human: In the film, as well as the original novella, Vic, a semi-literate teenage scavenger living After the End is aided by his super-intelligent dog, Blood, who is telepathic and well-read.
- Stepford Smiler: An entire underground town of them, due to their use of clown makeup. Michael also has this effect, implied to be a malfunction of this particular Michael unit.
- Take That!: The final version of Blood's a Rover positions Donald Trump's presidency as the last before the apocalypse.
- Undying Loyalty: To the degree that Vic chooses his dog over procreation with a cute girl.
- Uplifted Animal: Blood is the descendant of a pair of dogs produced through two separate breeding experiments in the days prior to World War 3, one of which involved injecting the dogs with cerebral fluid taken from dolphins. The result was a breed of highly intelligent dogs with psychic abilities, Blood being the end result of that genetic line.