Book club selection (via Zach; session held 11 July 2018).
Book club seems to find its way to dystopian-future books somewhat regularly. I liked this version well enough. Spare writing style that worked well.
We don't receive a lot of explanation, but earth's population has been decimated by plague; plus it's getting much warmer/dryer. A few survivors seem to be doing fine health-wise. But life has become nasty, brutish, short - civil order entirely broken down - folks doing what they need to do, or want to do. A few survivors still have the disease.
Protagonist and his dog live with an older gent who goes about the business of survival with enthusiasm and, perhaps, coldness. Older gent is well-armed. Protagonist has a plane and does some flying around (with dog) - for enjoyment, and for perimeter control; lost his wife to the plague, has remained relatively normal, doesn't quite know how to approach the world in which he finds himself. They encounter some additional folks and the story develops.
For some reason this book brought home, in a different (and effective) way, a familiar concept - that civilization is really fragile; that the order that has taken so long and required so much effort will break down so quickly under stress. Simultaneously reading a Tom Holland book about Europe circa 1000 A.D. - Roman order had broken down, in many areas it was a free-for-all - made me think of this book.
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