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lsparrow's review
2.0
a YA zombie story - enjoyed the accents in the audio book version - small town scotland - 6 teens trying to find themselves and their way in the apocalypse.
mirandarenae42's review against another edition
3.25
It was fun, but the movie is definitely better.
ash_ton's review against another edition
adventurous
dark
emotional
funny
sad
tense
fast-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Plot
4.0
what the fuuuuucck
bethtabler's review
3.0
Anna and the Apocalypse by Katharine Turner and Barry Waldo is an entertaining if an unlikely combination of a teen story, Christmas, and zombies. Based on the musical horror/comedy movie, the book involves the protagonist Anna, her best friend, and her school friends as they battle the undead on Christmas eve. There are evil teachers, undead pensioners, an undead 11 and under girls soccer team and a wooden candy cane turned weapon. It is a strange combination but entertaining.
"Forget your troubles, Let go your woe. Live for today 'cause you might be dead come tomorrow!"
Zombie horror-comedy is a well-tread genre. Arguably started with the titular Sean of the Dead and followed up by numerous movies, including Zombieland and Warm Bodies. If you will pardon the pun, the zombie genre has been done so much it is dead. But, with everything, I don't think there has ever been a musical zombie Christmas story. So while zombies as a genre have pretty much saturated the market, reaching the realm of musicals is a whole new thing, which there lies the rub. Should a zombie musical be made? Is a zombie musical one step too far? That is up to the viewer; I am always down for campy fun. Sometimes things are so bad that they transcend bad and become great. They revel in their awful and find legions of fans who love to laugh at the ridiculous and themselves for loving it so much. I am not sure if Anna and the Apocalypse makes it to cult status, but it tries.
The plot is a simple one. Anna's day starts like any other. "It was Tuesday. A regular, boring Tuesday. Really, no different than any other Tuesday that Anna had experienced on her eighteen years on Earth." We have all had days like this, the mundane and uneventful. Days that plod along from one moment to the next in a long daily march towards sleep. The fun thing that Anna and the Apocolypse does very well is call out how one boring ordinary day can go to the extreme and the extraordinary and change your life forever. How one day can become the "before" and the "after." And, for Anna and her best friend John, that day was today.
"Uh, sorry, St. Peter, she whispered, fighting with the on/off button. But I was trying to save my friends' lives and instead, I accidentally switched on a huge vibrating dildo and dropped it on the floor and then I got eaten by zombies. May I come in?"
Anna laments at the sameness of it all. How the day is gray, and John has his daily jelly donut. She yearns for the different, the exciting, the something else. It is a sentiment shared with my teenagers, and even on into the doldrums of adulthood. We yearn for something novel and new to break up the monotony. Driving along, Anna's father screeches on the breaks, almost careening into a shambling blood-covered figure before it collapses to the ground. Anna's response to this is, "Well that is a bit different."
"The white fleecy snowman costume was covered in sticky red and black patches and stank of something far worse than sweaty feet and cigarettes. Underneath the silk black hat, a man's face peered out of the costume, but something was very, very wrong. The whites of his eyes were red and his irises were gray, and at first, John thought he had meat smeared all around his face, but when Anna rolled him over and his jaw went slack, John realized his skin was missing."
Having seen both the movie and read the book, I don't think the book is particularly fantastic. It doesn't have the campy charm that the musical does. It does have a fun story, as the movie does, but where the dialog of the film sung at the oncoming horde is amusing, it doesn't translate well in novel form. You miss the campy charm. You end up having an offbeat zombie somewhat funny book that takes place around the holidays. If you are a fan of the movie, go for it! But aside from that, this was a lukewarm read. Funny, and passable but nothing much going on beneath the surface.
"Forget your troubles, Let go your woe. Live for today 'cause you might be dead come tomorrow!"
Zombie horror-comedy is a well-tread genre. Arguably started with the titular Sean of the Dead and followed up by numerous movies, including Zombieland and Warm Bodies. If you will pardon the pun, the zombie genre has been done so much it is dead. But, with everything, I don't think there has ever been a musical zombie Christmas story. So while zombies as a genre have pretty much saturated the market, reaching the realm of musicals is a whole new thing, which there lies the rub. Should a zombie musical be made? Is a zombie musical one step too far? That is up to the viewer; I am always down for campy fun. Sometimes things are so bad that they transcend bad and become great. They revel in their awful and find legions of fans who love to laugh at the ridiculous and themselves for loving it so much. I am not sure if Anna and the Apocalypse makes it to cult status, but it tries.
The plot is a simple one. Anna's day starts like any other. "It was Tuesday. A regular, boring Tuesday. Really, no different than any other Tuesday that Anna had experienced on her eighteen years on Earth." We have all had days like this, the mundane and uneventful. Days that plod along from one moment to the next in a long daily march towards sleep. The fun thing that Anna and the Apocolypse does very well is call out how one boring ordinary day can go to the extreme and the extraordinary and change your life forever. How one day can become the "before" and the "after." And, for Anna and her best friend John, that day was today.
"Uh, sorry, St. Peter, she whispered, fighting with the on/off button. But I was trying to save my friends' lives and instead, I accidentally switched on a huge vibrating dildo and dropped it on the floor and then I got eaten by zombies. May I come in?"
Anna laments at the sameness of it all. How the day is gray, and John has his daily jelly donut. She yearns for the different, the exciting, the something else. It is a sentiment shared with my teenagers, and even on into the doldrums of adulthood. We yearn for something novel and new to break up the monotony. Driving along, Anna's father screeches on the breaks, almost careening into a shambling blood-covered figure before it collapses to the ground. Anna's response to this is, "Well that is a bit different."
"The white fleecy snowman costume was covered in sticky red and black patches and stank of something far worse than sweaty feet and cigarettes. Underneath the silk black hat, a man's face peered out of the costume, but something was very, very wrong. The whites of his eyes were red and his irises were gray, and at first, John thought he had meat smeared all around his face, but when Anna rolled him over and his jaw went slack, John realized his skin was missing."
Having seen both the movie and read the book, I don't think the book is particularly fantastic. It doesn't have the campy charm that the musical does. It does have a fun story, as the movie does, but where the dialog of the film sung at the oncoming horde is amusing, it doesn't translate well in novel form. You miss the campy charm. You end up having an offbeat zombie somewhat funny book that takes place around the holidays. If you are a fan of the movie, go for it! But aside from that, this was a lukewarm read. Funny, and passable but nothing much going on beneath the surface.
luigiboard31's review
5.0
I’m not a big fan of movie-to-book adaptations, but I bought this because I thought it would be a while before I could actually watch this film. Luckily, I was able to see this movie in theaters (before reading the book)! I’m so happy with both versions and recommend doing both. Gonna dress up as Anna for Halloween and Christmas.
blodeuedd's review
3.0
This novel is inspired by the coming movie, and I do say, I am sure this is loads better because the movie is a musical, which just sounds weird. This was so much better.
Anna is bored with her little Scottish town. She is bored with high school. Just the same people, the same idiotic teachers, but hey at least she had her pun loving best friend.
Christmas is coming, and zombies.
Suddenly there is a zombie apocalypse! And then it started to feel very Shaun of the Dead. There was humour, witty remarks and for me it worked splendidly. I like dark humour. I like that they had time to joke in the face of danger and death. It made me think I would have really liked the movie (except it is a musical, so random, but will still watch it.)
Fun, and an apocalypse to die for. Pun intended.
Fiona Hardingham is a great narrator. She brought life to the characters and their snark. She kept up the danger, the wisecracks and the ugliness of it all.
Anna is bored with her little Scottish town. She is bored with high school. Just the same people, the same idiotic teachers, but hey at least she had her pun loving best friend.
Christmas is coming, and zombies.
Suddenly there is a zombie apocalypse! And then it started to feel very Shaun of the Dead. There was humour, witty remarks and for me it worked splendidly. I like dark humour. I like that they had time to joke in the face of danger and death. It made me think I would have really liked the movie (except it is a musical, so random, but will still watch it.)
Fun, and an apocalypse to die for. Pun intended.
Fiona Hardingham is a great narrator. She brought life to the characters and their snark. She kept up the danger, the wisecracks and the ugliness of it all.
megaraslibrary's review
dark
sad
tense
fast-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Plot
- Strong character development? No
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? It's complicated
- Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated
3.0
npatterson's review against another edition
emotional
funny
tense
fast-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Plot
- Strong character development? No
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? No
4.25
what_kel_reads's review
adventurous
tense
fast-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? It's complicated
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated
3.0