A Boy and His Dog at the End of the World

I have seldom read such a good book and therefore write my first book review ever. The description of the world in which mankind is slowly dying out is absolutely credible and comprehensible. The story is exciting from the beginning and very well written. At one point I had to put the book away for a short while because the story was so close to me. I only paid 1 CHF for the e-book, but it is worth at least 25 CHF. The only small flaw: I don't always find the decisions of the main character realistic, but that's my personal opinion and the rest of the book more than makes up for it. Love it!

This is a truly fantastic adventure story, a hair-raising quest for a stolen dog. It’s set in a world after some kind of apocalypse, an eerie land- and sea-scape spanning what was once the British Isles. It’s similar to “Station Eleven”, but whereas the latter is more grown-up, “A Boy…” is rather a young-adult version, although it can be quite cruel in places. /// I loved everything about it. Particularly the main character, of course. All the meticulous pondering and weighing of various (and precarious) situations, hopes and dangers, even what “our world” right now might have been like in their view, kept me constantly on edge. Set quite some time in the future, the world seems pre-historical or at least medieval all over again. This world pulls you in and spews you out at the end, gasping. C.A. Fletcher knows all the tricks and how to play them. His way with the language is also very pleasing. Get carried away on the ride. /// It was first published in 2019. Again, the fear of deadly disease and the need for masks at some point in the story has gained some urgent timeliness. The book, which really is a long letter to someone, also pays tribute to books, to literature and many well-loved classics. Books that can last for hundreds of years, after electricity is gone, and electronic devices useless junk. Books are acquired on scavenging trips: “And that was the other thing I took from the chamber of secrets. The books. Whoever had made the den had a line of books all along one side… It took me a couple of minutes to work out what these ones all had in common, but when I did so it gave me another jolt, a kind of shock that was close to excitement, though I don’t know it should have thrilled me as it did. All the books were about imaginary futures in which your world, the Before, had broken down. They were all stories about my now, the After, written by people with no real knowledge of what is would be like.” It’s not surprising that there are plenty of references to make you smile. Talking of stories that are forgotten: maybe time to re-read Iain Banks’ “Wasp Factory” – a pretty crass classic from 40 years ago, since there are some echoes of it to be found here. /// It’s also, of course, a wonderful song of praise to the most loyal companions of mankind: dogs - and books. /// And if you can get your hands on an audio version (Hachette), it’s most beautifully read by the author himself. Enthralling.

The novel is quite suspenseful and draws the reader in rather quickly. However, the surprising turn at the end seems extremely artificial and, quite frankly, quite pointless.