REVIEW: Warm Bodies by Isaac Marion

Description

R is a young man with an existential crisis--he is a zombie. He shuffles through an America destroyed by war, social collapse, and the mindless hunger of his undead comrades, but he craves something more than blood and brains. He can speak just a few grunted syllables, but his inner life is deep, full of wonder and longing. He has no memories, no identity, and no pulse, but he has dreams.After experiencing a teenage boy's memories while consuming his brain, R makes an unexpected choice that begins a tense, awkward, and stragely sweet relationship with the victim's human girlfriend. Julie is a blast of color in the otherwise dreary and gray landscape that surrounds R. His decision to protect her will transform not only R, but his fellow Dead, and perhaps their whole lifeless world.
Scary, funny, and surprisingly poignant, Warm Bodies is about being alive, being dead, and the blurry line in between.

About the Author

ISAAC MARION was born in northwestern Washington in 1981 and has lived in and around Seattle his whole life installing heating ducts, guarding power plants, delivering deathbeds to Hospice patients, and supervising parental visits for foster children. He is not married, has no children, and did not go to college or win any prizes. Warm Bodies is his first novel.

Details

• Hardcover: 256 pages
• Publisher: Atria (April 26, 2011)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 1439192316
• ISBN-13: 978-1439192313

SOURCE: PUBLISHER

MY THOUGHTS
LOVED IT

Finally a zombie story from a zombie point of view!  This is a retelling of the classic Shakespeare tale Romeo and Juliet with ZOMBIES!  R has no memories of his own except he can perceive the history of the person when he consumes their brains.  He consumes the brains of a teenager and is filled with deep feelings for the teen's girlfriend, Julie.  I know this sound extremely strange but the story is actually quite lovely, in a weird way and I adore weird.


I have read quite a few zombie books and most of them seem to detail the lives of people around the zombies, those battling them and trying to avoid them, this one is  a bit different since it actually goes deep into the character's mind and you get to experience what it is like to be a zombie.  Even though R can't communicate verbally, his actions more than make up for his lack of speech.  This is truly a tale of opposites attracting.  The only other book  I have read that truly captures zombies this way is I Kissed a Zombie by Adam Selzer.