A Boy and His Dog at the End of the World by C.A. Fletcher

“They may not be accurate about life after the end, but if you sort of look sideways with your mind while you read them, you find they say lots about what things were like before. They’re like answers to questions you didn’t know to ask. Though saying something like that to Dad would only make him even angrier. The past’s gone. We only have the now, he says, and the only answers that are useful are the ones that will help us survive into the future.”

-A Boy And His Dog at The End of The World

I may never emotionally recover from this book. This is one of the most gorgeously written novels I have ever read, and I had borrowed it from my library on ebook so I had dozens of passages highlighted because there were so many gut punching lines and paragraphs that I just wanted to reread over and over again. 

It feels a little timely to be reading a book about the post-apocalypse in a time when we are seeing so much dialogue on the dangers of AI. And if you were unsure of my position on AI, I think it is the most garbage thing anyone has ever invented. The environmental impacts on the planet are horrifying and how it is not more regulated is beyond me.

But back to this novel.

A Boy and His Dog at the End of the World tells the story of Griz. Griz is a young boy living on a remote island off of Scotland with his family. Most of humanity was wiped out by an event referred to as ‘The Gelding’ and little of what happened is truly known. His family is one of very few left (that they know of). They know of a few people on the Mainland that they trade with from time to time, but for the most part, they try to be self-sufficient and survive. Griz has never been too far from home. His family has already lost a loved one, his sister Joy, to a freak accident. While his mother no longer speaks, they do the best they can with each other and Griz’s dogs Jip and Jess.

One day they get a visitor. Brand seems too good to be true, and he is. He comes with the promise of trade and gives stories to Griz’s family that keeps them trusting him. But by the next morning, he is gone, having stolen some of their food, clothing but most importantly, Griz’s dog Jess.

Without any thoughts to the consequences, Griz takes Jip and goes after Brand, setting off on a journey that will take him far from home and further than he has ever been before. Griz will come face to face with more truths about humanity and its end than he ever anticipated which will ultimately change his life forever.

This story is told as Griz is writing it down to another boy that looks a bit like him in an old photograph he found. Griz wanted to keep a journal, he wanted to write to someone, so he writes to someone from before and tells his story to this boy. There is so much Griz doesn’t know and can only guess at. But seeing the remains of our world through Griz’s eyes is poetic and tragically beautiful. It’s really hard to read something like this and not be reminded of all the wonderful things we have that we take for granted every single day.

This book is like nothing I have ever read. It’s a gorgeous testament on what it means to be human before and after our time, and it is a reminder that we never truly know where humanity will end up, but there is always hope in believing we can keep living and changing the world for the good.