What do you think?
Rate this book
L'ultimo dei Winnebago
Ambientato in un'America post-disastro regredita a forme di governo decisamente dittatoriali, questo romanzo parla, prevalentemente di estinzioni. Nel futuro immaginato dall'autrice, infatti a causa di epidemie virali si stanno estinguendo molte razze di animali. Ed è proprio il racconto dell'uccisione dell'ultimo dei cani che dà lo spunto a Connie Willis per narrare una storia di una Terra in cui molte cose che abbiamo si stanno estinguendo, così come i "Winnebago", che oltre a essere un modello di camper è anche il nome di una tribù pellerossa del Minnesota.
Una storia all'apparenza semplice, narrata con la solita maestria della Willis intrisa di quotidianità, in cui però l'autrice riesce a costruirci attorno un'atmosfera e un intreccio di uomini e persone che risaltano per la loro umanità.
Una storia all'apparenza semplice, narrata con la solita maestria della Willis intrisa di quotidianità, in cui però l'autrice riesce a costruirci attorno un'atmosfera e un intreccio di uomini e persone che risaltano per la loro umanità.
123 pages, Paperback
First published January 1, 1988
2 people are currently reading
390 people want to read
About the author
Connie Willis
256 books4,680 followersConstance Elaine Trimmer Willis is an American science fiction writer. She is one of the most honored science fiction writers of the 1980s and 1990s.
She has won, among other awards, ten Hugo Awards and six Nebula Awards. Willis most recently won a Hugo Award for All Seated on the Ground (August 2008). She was the 2011 recipient of the Damon Knight Memorial Grand Master Award from the Science Fiction Writers of America (SFWA).
She lives in Greeley, Colorado with her husband Courtney Willis, a professor of physics at the University of Northern Colorado. She also has one daughter, Cordelia.
Willis is known for her accessible prose and likable characters. She has written several pieces involving time travel by history students and faculty of the future University of Oxford. These pieces include her Hugo Award-winning novels Doomsday Book and To Say Nothing of the Dog and the short story "Fire Watch," found in the short story collection of the same name.
Willis tends to the comedy of manners style of writing. Her protagonists are typically beset by single-minded people pursuing illogical agendas, such as attempting to organize a bell-ringing session in the middle of a deadly epidemic (Doomsday Book), or frustrating efforts to analyze near-death experiences by putting words in the mouths of interviewees (Passage).
She has won, among other awards, ten Hugo Awards and six Nebula Awards. Willis most recently won a Hugo Award for All Seated on the Ground (August 2008). She was the 2011 recipient of the Damon Knight Memorial Grand Master Award from the Science Fiction Writers of America (SFWA).
She lives in Greeley, Colorado with her husband Courtney Willis, a professor of physics at the University of Northern Colorado. She also has one daughter, Cordelia.
Willis is known for her accessible prose and likable characters. She has written several pieces involving time travel by history students and faculty of the future University of Oxford. These pieces include her Hugo Award-winning novels Doomsday Book and To Say Nothing of the Dog and the short story "Fire Watch," found in the short story collection of the same name.
Willis tends to the comedy of manners style of writing. Her protagonists are typically beset by single-minded people pursuing illogical agendas, such as attempting to organize a bell-ringing session in the middle of a deadly epidemic (Doomsday Book), or frustrating efforts to analyze near-death experiences by putting words in the mouths of interviewees (Passage).
Ratings & Reviews
Friends & Following
Create a free account to discover what your friends think of this book!
Community Reviews
Displaying 1 - 30 of 44 reviews
March 31, 2018
Only Connie Willis could provide such a depth of detail to what should have been the death of dogs and not only made it work but make it work wonderfully.
She started with the weird concept of the Animal Humane Society becoming a black bag operation after all dogs have been wiped out, turning the novella into one of espionage and a murder mystery and an ethical showpiece of who one ought to turn in to save one's own skin.
Deceptively simple, but fantastically complex in execution, Ms. Willis has always amazed me. The writing is fantastic, turning what ought to have been a slightly humdrum if pathos-inducing event into something both exciting and horrible.
She started with the weird concept of the Animal Humane Society becoming a black bag operation after all dogs have been wiped out, turning the novella into one of espionage and a murder mystery and an ethical showpiece of who one ought to turn in to save one's own skin.
Deceptively simple, but fantastically complex in execution, Ms. Willis has always amazed me. The writing is fantastic, turning what ought to have been a slightly humdrum if pathos-inducing event into something both exciting and horrible.
April 1, 2018
Wow! This is a short story but one that definitely packs a punch - and then, when you're lying on the floor, also kicks you for good measure.
The story takes place in an alternate US where dogs have gone extinct. This led to laws protecting animals getting ridiculously tight. There is almost a witch hunt whenever an animal dies, in fact.
Right at the beginning, the MC finds a jackal dead on the road. He didn't run it over, but somebody did, so when he calls it in, an investigation by the Society (authorities) is launched, dragging the past of the MC and a few other people into the light.
The protagonist is a photographer, a dying breed as he himself calls his profession, which oddly reflects the state of this world. He's sent to take pictures of one of the last Winnebagos, too, when he encounters the dead jackal so that is as much a recurring theme as rememberance and guilt and blame.
At first, I have to admit, I was a bit confused by the story. It's understandable enough that in this dystopian world, where people don't have much water even and many animals are gone forever, things are bleak and people don't really trust one another. But what could that have to do with the titular vehicle?! Well, a lot, as it turns out - and the author has a great way of letting the story unfold line by line, ever diminishing the confusion while simultaneously increasing the dread one feels. It was like a picture, blurry because unfocused at first, but then you zoom in until you can see clearly. Which is, of course, a brilliant way to reveal the plot, especially considering the MCs profession.
This was my first story by Connie Willis and I must say that she's truly a craftswoman. Not only in puzzling the reader, then taking them for a ride and shocking them at the end, but also by drowning you in hopelessness and pointlessness.
The story takes place in an alternate US where dogs have gone extinct. This led to laws protecting animals getting ridiculously tight. There is almost a witch hunt whenever an animal dies, in fact.
Right at the beginning, the MC finds a jackal dead on the road. He didn't run it over, but somebody did, so when he calls it in, an investigation by the Society (authorities) is launched, dragging the past of the MC and a few other people into the light.
The protagonist is a photographer, a dying breed as he himself calls his profession, which oddly reflects the state of this world. He's sent to take pictures of one of the last Winnebagos, too, when he encounters the dead jackal so that is as much a recurring theme as rememberance and guilt and blame.
At first, I have to admit, I was a bit confused by the story. It's understandable enough that in this dystopian world, where people don't have much water even and many animals are gone forever, things are bleak and people don't really trust one another. But what could that have to do with the titular vehicle?! Well, a lot, as it turns out - and the author has a great way of letting the story unfold line by line, ever diminishing the confusion while simultaneously increasing the dread one feels. It was like a picture, blurry because unfocused at first, but then you zoom in until you can see clearly. Which is, of course, a brilliant way to reveal the plot, especially considering the MCs profession.
This was my first story by Connie Willis and I must say that she's truly a craftswoman. Not only in puzzling the reader, then taking them for a ride and shocking them at the end, but also by drowning you in hopelessness and pointlessness.
December 19, 2025
کانی ویلیس همیشه سه قدم جلوتر از نویسندههای شعاردهنده و یه قدم جلوتر از خواننده ست.
اینجا هم باز به روال همیشگیش به جنبه افراطی یه فعل مثبت میپردازه: زیادهروی در حقوق حیوانات و زیادهخواهی در طرفداری از حقوق حیوانات.
هشداری که ویلیس سالها قبل و توی این داستان بهمون داده همین کثافتکاریهایی هست که PETA علیه انسانها داره انجام میده.
اینجا هم باز به روال همیشگیش به جنبه افراطی یه فعل مثبت میپردازه: زیادهروی در حقوق حیوانات و زیادهخواهی در طرفداری از حقوق حیوانات.
هشداری که ویلیس سالها قبل و توی این داستان بهمون داده همین کثافتکاریهایی هست که PETA علیه انسانها داره انجام میده.
May 4, 2010
3.5 stars. The story takes place in a near future dystopia in which a plague has killed all the dogs. Following the disaster, the Humane Society (called simply "the Society") has been given broad powers within the government. The story's main character is a photojournalist named David McCombe who is haunted by his inability to "capture" the personality of the dogs he photographs and of the memory of his own dog of whom he has no pictures.
Winner: Hugo Award for Best Novella (1989)
Winner: Nebula Award for Best Novella (1988)
Winner: Hugo Award for Best Novella (1989)
Winner: Nebula Award for Best Novella (1988)
April 1, 2018
I didn't enjoy this as much as I usually enjoy Willis's books. I just didn't manage to get into the whole canine story. I might have liked this better had I read the book since I didn't like the narrator’s voice at all in this audio version.
August 23, 2016
A dystopian short story set in a future where all of the dogs have died due to a mutant parvo virus (with digs at puppy mills included in the reasons) and where the Humane Society has been given extreme, overwhelming, creepy power in the government to go after anyone who might be involved in the death of any animal, even a wild animal hit and killed on the freeway. Since the Humane Society of the United States today does not run animal shelters like many people believe and instead is more of a lawyer and lobbyist only group, with many critics and less than stellar charity ratings, I could see this coming to pass in a extreme future world!
January 13, 2023
https://fromtheheartofeurope.eu/schrodingers-kitten-by-george-alec-effinger-the-last-of-the-winnebagos-by-connie-willis-and-the-art-illustrating-both-stories/
“The Last of the Winnebagos” sucks. The single biggest negative is that the protagonist is still mourning the death, years ago, of his dog, whose name was Aberfan.
Aberfan.
What possessed Connie Willis to use this name? And what possessed Gardner Dozois to let her? Would anyone find it acceptable to call a pet, even a fictional one, “Sandy Hook“? Or “Chernobyl“? Or do dead Welsh children just not count? Actually, maybe don’t answer that last question.
This is a consistent problem with Willis’ writing (see also: “Fire Watch“, Blackout here and here, All Clear). She is so relentless about maintaining a single emotional tone of loss and mourning that she does not care enough about the significance or accuracy of the details. Seemingly, neither did Hugo or Nebula voters in those years.
Having been thrown out of the narrative, I began to question other parts of it. The unseen villain of the story is a sinister quasi-government force called the Humane Society, which has massive powers of intervention to protect animals, in the aftermath of a plague that killed all dogs. There are very valid questions to be asked about the use of coercive force by the American state, but this premise a) trivialises that issue and b) panders to lazy libertarianism. If only the problem were simply that the state was protecting animals, rather than the entrenched power structures of capitalism and patriarchy.
The core emotional dynamic of the story is that the elderly couple who are driving the eponymous vehicle, the last of the Winnebagos, are concerned that they may lose the right to drive it because they have accidentally killed a wild animal. We are also told that they are in their late eighties. Sorry, people in their late eighties should not be driving, full stop.
The protagonist’s own deep regret is that he has no photographs of his dog, Aberfan. A professional photographer, who never took a single photograph of his best friend? I mean, I remember that in the Before Times, when we did not have cameras on our cellphones (indeed, we did not have cellphones), we didn’t habitually take quite as many photos of friends and family and household as we do now. But none at all?
I was uneasy about a couple of other aspects as well – the protagonist’s unrealistic relationship with his (woman) boss, his nonchalant ease of access to other people’s private data – but never mind. The characterisation and descriptions are fine, but once you have been thrown out of the narrative by the above rather major reservations, the tragic tone of the story starts to seem manipulative rather than convincing.
“The Last of the Winnebagos” sucks. The single biggest negative is that the protagonist is still mourning the death, years ago, of his dog, whose name was Aberfan.
Aberfan.
What possessed Connie Willis to use this name? And what possessed Gardner Dozois to let her? Would anyone find it acceptable to call a pet, even a fictional one, “Sandy Hook“? Or “Chernobyl“? Or do dead Welsh children just not count? Actually, maybe don’t answer that last question.
This is a consistent problem with Willis’ writing (see also: “Fire Watch“, Blackout here and here, All Clear). She is so relentless about maintaining a single emotional tone of loss and mourning that she does not care enough about the significance or accuracy of the details. Seemingly, neither did Hugo or Nebula voters in those years.
Having been thrown out of the narrative, I began to question other parts of it. The unseen villain of the story is a sinister quasi-government force called the Humane Society, which has massive powers of intervention to protect animals, in the aftermath of a plague that killed all dogs. There are very valid questions to be asked about the use of coercive force by the American state, but this premise a) trivialises that issue and b) panders to lazy libertarianism. If only the problem were simply that the state was protecting animals, rather than the entrenched power structures of capitalism and patriarchy.
The core emotional dynamic of the story is that the elderly couple who are driving the eponymous vehicle, the last of the Winnebagos, are concerned that they may lose the right to drive it because they have accidentally killed a wild animal. We are also told that they are in their late eighties. Sorry, people in their late eighties should not be driving, full stop.
The protagonist’s own deep regret is that he has no photographs of his dog, Aberfan. A professional photographer, who never took a single photograph of his best friend? I mean, I remember that in the Before Times, when we did not have cameras on our cellphones (indeed, we did not have cellphones), we didn’t habitually take quite as many photos of friends and family and household as we do now. But none at all?
I was uneasy about a couple of other aspects as well – the protagonist’s unrealistic relationship with his (woman) boss, his nonchalant ease of access to other people’s private data – but never mind. The characterisation and descriptions are fine, but once you have been thrown out of the narrative by the above rather major reservations, the tragic tone of the story starts to seem manipulative rather than convincing.
November 29, 2021
The dogs never came through. I took dozens of pictures, there at the end, and they might as well have been calendar shoots. Nothing of the real dog at all. I decided it was the lack of muscles in their faces—they could not smile, in spite of what their owners claimed. It is the muscles in the face that make people leap across the years in pictures. The expressions on dogs’ faces were what breeding had fastened on them—the gloomy bloodhound, the alert collie, the rakish mutt—and anything else was wishful thinking on the part of the doting master, who would also swear that a color-blind Chihuahua with a brain pan the size of a Mexican jumping bean could tell when the light changed.
Connie Willis’s Hugo and Nebula winning The Last of the Winnebagos is a clear glimpse of a world where biological disasters have eradicated dogs and organizations like PETA have assumed authority and developed Gestapo-esque tactics, investigating instances of roadkill like Law & Order detectives investigate murder. Initially, the story is difficult to follow, shifting between times and settings rapidly. In the end, all the disparate elements come together and, as we close the covers, we reflect on its warnings: We don’t want a world where guilt or necessity negate freedom and free-will, and no world without dogs is a world worth having.
Connie Willis’s Hugo and Nebula winning The Last of the Winnebagos is a clear glimpse of a world where biological disasters have eradicated dogs and organizations like PETA have assumed authority and developed Gestapo-esque tactics, investigating instances of roadkill like Law & Order detectives investigate murder. Initially, the story is difficult to follow, shifting between times and settings rapidly. In the end, all the disparate elements come together and, as we close the covers, we reflect on its warnings: We don’t want a world where guilt or necessity negate freedom and free-will, and no world without dogs is a world worth having.
December 4, 2023
I almost always enjoy Connie Willis so unsurprisingly this novella was a treat.
December 22, 2019
award winning novella
near future dystopia
a plague has killed all the dogs.
"the Society" granted extraordinary police powers
a photojournalist reports a dead jackal on the highway
Society’s investigation.
Winner: Hugo Award for Best Novella
Winner: Nebula Award for Best Novella
near future dystopia
a plague has killed all the dogs.
"the Society" granted extraordinary police powers
a photojournalist reports a dead jackal on the highway
Society’s investigation.
Winner: Hugo Award for Best Novella
Winner: Nebula Award for Best Novella
November 7, 2018
I had no idea this was a novella when I started it. What Connie Willis does in the short 70 pages of this story is astonishing. On the surface this story is about a photographer in a dystopian future of water shortages, where all domestic dogs went extinct some years back, who finds a dead jackal on the side of a highway, calls it in, and gets harassed by (wait for it) the Humane Society: in this future, the "Society" has absolute power to enforce laws relating to killing animals, even accidentally.
But Willis uses this framework to explore fascism, the impact of technology on jobs, climate change, humans' strange relationship with dogs, and, maybe most importantly, redemption and forgiveness. It's no wonder it won the Hugo award. An astonishing feat and an amazing (quick) read.
But Willis uses this framework to explore fascism, the impact of technology on jobs, climate change, humans' strange relationship with dogs, and, maybe most importantly, redemption and forgiveness. It's no wonder it won the Hugo award. An astonishing feat and an amazing (quick) read.
April 3, 2021
this world and the set up of this is so odd (the Humane Society becoming a fascist dictatorship oversight group in America for instance) and the obsession with dogs (though actually i could see ppl running off the rails and infringing human rights over dogs tbph which is the scary part) but as an example of mastercraft this is pretty amazing. Piglias' theory of the short story form being a product of the "secret story" is clearly woven throughout this as a man struggles with the memory of his dead dog in a post apoc near future dystopia where all dogs have died.
read for Women Write Classic SFF readathon 2021, first read done!
read for Women Write Classic SFF readathon 2021, first read done!
December 21, 2019
I love Connie Willis, and this is no exception. The Hugo and Nebula award winner in 88 and 89 respectively, this novella really snuck up on me. After a New Parvo has wiped out all the dogs, a photojournalist becomes entangled in a conflict with the New Humane Society which has become an uncontrolled and power police force in its own right over a dead jackal. But really, it's about memories an forgiveness and projection. I see why this won.
January 26, 2020
I liked the concept of this one, but just re-proved that novellas aren't generally my jam. Read this (didn't listen), but the only entry for the novella as a standalone comes as an Audiobook. I read it as a part of The Best of Connie Willis.
Completed for the Book Riot Read Harder 2020 Challenge Read a sci-fi/fantasy novella (under 120 pages)
Completed for the Book Riot Read Harder 2020 Challenge Read a sci-fi/fantasy novella (under 120 pages)
August 10, 2020
This is one of my favorite novellas of all time. I read it many years ago and used to copy and share it with students in classes. I adore it. Now that I am a dog Dad, I love it even more as it is heart-wrenching and breaking in how it depicts a pandemic that kills off all the world's dogs.
I give this story my highest recommendation!
I give this story my highest recommendation!
April 3, 2022
This is a classic Science Fiction story, designed by a master, to bring you face to face with your own insignificance in the Universe.
I remember how young I was when I first read this and not really understanding the impact of the context. As I look back now, it is with fondness and quite a bit of sentimentality for days gone by.
I remember how young I was when I first read this and not really understanding the impact of the context. As I look back now, it is with fondness and quite a bit of sentimentality for days gone by.
September 18, 2020
Audiobook. Novella. Using Z-library to access novellas and short stories, and thus rediscovering Connie Willis. I never read this one. It's a bit odd and uneven, but worth the short read. I don't really see it as an award-winner.
May 25, 2017
This story was included in an anthology, I don't remember which. When I find it again, I will include it here so anyone looking for it will have an easier go.
It's a good story.
It's a good story.
December 9, 2020
Devastating. Brilliantly woven.
July 27, 2021
A multi-layered, thought-provoking story but very sad, especially if you are a dog lover
library-to-read
November 11, 2021The best of Connie Willis : award-winning stories
August 29, 2022
Twist!!
Also, oddly prescient.
Also, oddly prescient.
July 2, 2023
Nice short story by one of my favorite authors.
November 30, 2023
not one for short stories but!!! love
August 13, 2025
Finally - something by the totally famous, mega award-winning Connie Willis that I loved!
December 19, 2025
B- wasn’t attached to this one.
December 16, 2021
Such a sad idea but well written.
February 4, 2012
After a virus has killed all of the dogs on Earth, the Humane Society (“The Society”) has been given the power to prosecute and punish anyone who, even accidentally, harms an animal. The government has started putting walls around highways, tracking vehicles with videocameras, and banning recreational vehicles from the roads.
After a photojournalist stops to report a dead jackal on the highway, he becomes involved in The Society’s investigation. During the process he meets an elderly couple who claim to own the last Winnebago, and he visits the woman who accidentally killed his own dog, one of the last to survive, 15 years earlier. Along the way, he keeps hoping to get a candid photo that will show, through its owner’s face, one of these beloved dogs who’ve been lost.
The Last of the Winnebagos, which won both the Hugo and Nebula Awards ... Read More:
http://www.fantasyliterature.com/revi...
After a photojournalist stops to report a dead jackal on the highway, he becomes involved in The Society’s investigation. During the process he meets an elderly couple who claim to own the last Winnebago, and he visits the woman who accidentally killed his own dog, one of the last to survive, 15 years earlier. Along the way, he keeps hoping to get a candid photo that will show, through its owner’s face, one of these beloved dogs who’ve been lost.
The Last of the Winnebagos, which won both the Hugo and Nebula Awards ... Read More:
http://www.fantasyliterature.com/revi...
January 3, 2017
A beautifully understated tale of mystery, consequence, memory, guilt, and state surveillance that's absolutely nothing like what you think a story nominally about the last dogs on Earth is going to be. The pacing is slow but melodic, scattering in an array of directions before sucking everything back together by the close, and I found myself startlingly moved as the emotional landscape spread across the story's canvas came into sharp focus at the close. A very finely crafted tale, full of delicate nuance, and a wonderful way to be introduced to this author (with thanks to Sara for that introduction!).
November 24, 2013
Another classic "post-apocalyptic" story of the demise of dogs and RVs and cars, and the uprising of government and such. Connie Willis starts an interesting story with (what appear to be) totally unrelated theme, then mergers them agonizingly slowly (shouldn't use two adverbs in a row!) and paints the bleak picture of our potential future. Greaaaaat ....
I give this short story 4 stars because it is so entertaining, but I (sort of) like happier endings. Ms Willis did what she intended - she left me with a sense of unbalance and a feeling of impending doom. Good Read!
I give this short story 4 stars because it is so entertaining, but I (sort of) like happier endings. Ms Willis did what she intended - she left me with a sense of unbalance and a feeling of impending doom. Good Read!
Displaying 1 - 30 of 44 reviews