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3.53 AVERAGE
3.53 AVERAGE
This was a very difficult book to finish - not because it was poorly written but because of the unremitting despair and futility of the characters and their stories. I tagged it "unique mechanic'because the POV is from the zombie side (expect for a rare case or two). For me, it was amazing how much it changed the feel and weight of the story.
The book contains several major parts, each focusing on a specific zombie or group of zombies and how they arrived at their present state. It's this backstory that caused the horror and despair for me and is a fantastic way to tell the story of a zombie outbreak in New York City.
Highly recommended for Howey/zombie fans but NOT for the easily squeamish or those who like happy endings.
The book contains several major parts, each focusing on a specific zombie or group of zombies and how they arrived at their present state. It's this backstory that caused the horror and despair for me and is a fantastic way to tell the story of a zombie outbreak in New York City.
Highly recommended for Howey/zombie fans but NOT for the easily squeamish or those who like happy endings.
dark
slow-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
Character
Strong character development:
No
Loveable characters:
No
Diverse cast of characters:
Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Yes
Interesting at first but becomes extremely repetitive. No character development, plot goes nowhere. Too hopeless to so much as be interesting. Overall a drag but not in a compelling way.
dark
sad
tense
medium-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
Character
Strong character development:
No
Loveable characters:
No
Diverse cast of characters:
No
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Yes
Content Warnings
Graphic: Child death, Gore, Violence, Grief, Death of parent
EWWW! Okay, I tried. Sorry, not for me. I was curious to see if I'd like a zombie book--there are so many zombie books and zombie fans I wondered what I was missing. I don't wonder anymore! I made it through about 5 pages, and that was all I needed.
Not for me, and probably not for you either. Don't bother.
Unless you're looking for a book that vividly and colorfully describes the sights (bloody dead people), sounds (crunch,squish, rip), smells (rancid), feelings (pain, no control over your body) of what it's like to be a zombie, of course.
......Still a Hugh Howey fan though.
Not for me, and probably not for you either. Don't bother.
Unless you're looking for a book that vividly and colorfully describes the sights (bloody dead people), sounds (crunch,squish, rip), smells (rancid), feelings (pain, no control over your body) of what it's like to be a zombie, of course.
......Still a Hugh Howey fan though.
I, Zombie follows a variety of zombies through their everyday lives: shuffling around, attacking humans, rotting, and moaning. That doesn't sound too exciting, does it? This book has the only zombies I have ever seen that have fully conscious, normal people behind those vacant, rotting faces. Zombies are horrifying enough on their own (walking dead that want to eat us), but putting a person that can't communicate or control their actions inside each one makes the situation infinitely worse. The horror isn't just for the survivors; it's even more so for the zombies. They are a captive audience to every meal eaten, their bodies degenerating, and whatever action their body takes while experiencing it with all of their senses. Every wound is excruciating and they can't even make the slightest move to alleviate the pain.
Although the existence is the same with every person, their reactions, emotions, and experiences differ from person to person. One religious woman thought she was being damned for sins during her life and she continually reflected on her life. Another very old woman was elated to be able to move again and delighted in feeding off the young after she had been in a nursing home, immobile and waiting to die. A survivalist woman reflects on the irony that she was so prepared in her apartment for the apocalypse, but isn't even wearing shoes in her current existence. A drug addict suddenly realizes that his mother could still be there inside her wasting, unresponsive body and that she knew when he beat her or shot up heroin in front of her. Some wish to die, while others prefer to exist in some manner rather than be permanently dead. One even wanted to turn his friends into zombies, giving in to the uncontrollable urges of his body. The thought processes of each person were fascinating to read. Hugh Howey did a wonderful job of capturing the voices of vastly different people from Alaskan tourists to high powered business people to drug addicts. Each chapter changed in tone and completely immersed me in each character's story from their perspective.
This book is incredibly bleak. There is really no hope for anyone. The humans have no idea the zombies have any sort of consciousness left and are either eaten by them or kill them indiscriminately. The zombies know that other zombies are conscious, but are damned to be utterly alone. Each zombie is trapped in their own mind and realized what they should have done with their lives before it was considered a luxury to be able to move or scratch your nose or decide which direction you want to walk. They realize they were already zombies when they were alive, not doing the things they really wanted to do. The little things added up and take away what free will they had, like addiction, drive to fit societal norms, fear, boredom, and the comfort of familiarity.
I, Zombie is an amazing book that grabbed me right from the beginning. The disconnected narratives worked well in painting a horrifying picture from so many different perspectives. It's not for the faint of heart as there are a great many descriptions of eating people, rotting, and various bodily functions. I highly recommend this to any zombie fan looking for a thought provoking and depressing read.
Although the existence is the same with every person, their reactions, emotions, and experiences differ from person to person. One religious woman thought she was being damned for sins during her life and she continually reflected on her life. Another very old woman was elated to be able to move again and delighted in feeding off the young after she had been in a nursing home, immobile and waiting to die. A survivalist woman reflects on the irony that she was so prepared in her apartment for the apocalypse, but isn't even wearing shoes in her current existence. A drug addict suddenly realizes that his mother could still be there inside her wasting, unresponsive body and that she knew when he beat her or shot up heroin in front of her. Some wish to die, while others prefer to exist in some manner rather than be permanently dead. One even wanted to turn his friends into zombies, giving in to the uncontrollable urges of his body. The thought processes of each person were fascinating to read. Hugh Howey did a wonderful job of capturing the voices of vastly different people from Alaskan tourists to high powered business people to drug addicts. Each chapter changed in tone and completely immersed me in each character's story from their perspective.
This book is incredibly bleak. There is really no hope for anyone. The humans have no idea the zombies have any sort of consciousness left and are either eaten by them or kill them indiscriminately. The zombies know that other zombies are conscious, but are damned to be utterly alone. Each zombie is trapped in their own mind and realized what they should have done with their lives before it was considered a luxury to be able to move or scratch your nose or decide which direction you want to walk. They realize they were already zombies when they were alive, not doing the things they really wanted to do. The little things added up and take away what free will they had, like addiction, drive to fit societal norms, fear, boredom, and the comfort of familiarity.
I, Zombie is an amazing book that grabbed me right from the beginning. The disconnected narratives worked well in painting a horrifying picture from so many different perspectives. It's not for the faint of heart as there are a great many descriptions of eating people, rotting, and various bodily functions. I highly recommend this to any zombie fan looking for a thought provoking and depressing read.
challenging
dark
emotional
mysterious
reflective
tense
Plot or Character Driven:
Character
Strong character development:
Yes
Loveable characters:
Complicated
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Yes
While most stories are about the people who survived the zombie apocalypse, this story focuses on those who did not. Throughout the book we are introduced to several characters who have joined the ranks of the undead, and yet there's a part of them that's still aware. Trapped in the prison of their own minds, they have no choice but to obey their instincts to feed upon the living. If you've ever wondered what life might be like as a zombie, this book is a must read.
That was extremely intense. I don't think I'll ever look at zombies the same way again. I got this book as part of some pay what you want bundle. I never would have bought it on its own - I'm not a big zombie person. I read World War Z because everyone spoke about how incredibly good it was. And, just like The Walking Dead (pretty much the only other zombie story I consume), World War Z was about the people, not the zombies. Really the enemy could have been a contagion virus or out of control vampires like The Strain.
Well, I, Zombie flips the script - what if we could see what it's like to be a zombie? And what if we took it seriously instead of the parody one would be quick to imagine? Well, then you'd get this incredibly intense book.
I, Zombie is structured similarly to World War Z in that it alternates point of view with each chapter. But, unlike WWZ, it is split into parts and each part spends something like 3 chapters per character in that part. So Part 1 is characters 1-3. Chapters 1,3, and 9 are character 1 and so on. It allows him to shift from day to day and we watch as the characters go through hell. It works out well since we only have about three to keep in our heads at a time.
Interestingly, the germ of the story is similar to this year's John Scalzi book, Lock In. The author posits a world where the minds remain in tact while the bodies do zombie things. So the people are well aware of the horrors their bodies are committing, but can't do anything about it. It's absolutely terrifying and affected just as I feared Lock In might. There are real diseases that do similar things and there are those who are in vegetative states where we aren't sure if they're like this. It's interesting to see how the author has each character deal with this.
From a story-telling/meta point of view there are two things I really like that the author did. First of all, he had the characters compare their being trapped in their lives before and after being zombies. Sometimes the characters did this on purpose and sometimes through their reminiscing it was made clear to us. The metaphors worked incredibly well. Two that stand out for me are one man who had a catatonic mom and the child of immigrant parents. The man's mother was an obvious parallel for the zombies in this world, but her situation had driven him to drug addiction and there was a nice parallel between that and the unending hunger of the zombie. The immigrant felt trapped in this new world and was trapped in her zombie body and trapped where she turned. Another that stood out was a character he used to make a metaphor between date rape and zombie attacks. The second thing I loved was that he started the story with the characters in part 1 already turned. This allowed us to get immersed in the world he was creating rather than deciding whether to root for the heroes that were hiding and in danger of being turned. He hits those, and other great zombie tropes, in part 2 and beyond.
The book's dedicated to 11 Sept and is set in Manhattan. That has consequences for the story as well as the ending. I wonder if others interpret the ending the same way I did.
I heartily recommend the book to anyone who likes zombies thrillers and wants to think about them in a different way. I know there are other zombie point of view books and movies (one came out in the last couple years), but they're usually played for laughs rather than serious like this one. This is a pretty heavy book, though. So if you find that books affect you strongly - don't read this one when you need a pick-me-up.
I hope it's painfully obvious that this book is gory. Outside of that, there's profanity. It's actually not that excessive, but it's there. That's pretty much it for the stuff people shy away from other than the trigger warning that there's implied date rape. Well, probably a lot more than implied, but it's not graphic. Just a mention that a guy takes advantage of them both being drunk to convince the girl she wants to have sex even when she initially says no and wouldn't if sober.
Well, I, Zombie flips the script - what if we could see what it's like to be a zombie? And what if we took it seriously instead of the parody one would be quick to imagine? Well, then you'd get this incredibly intense book.
I, Zombie is structured similarly to World War Z in that it alternates point of view with each chapter. But, unlike WWZ, it is split into parts and each part spends something like 3 chapters per character in that part. So Part 1 is characters 1-3. Chapters 1,3, and 9 are character 1 and so on. It allows him to shift from day to day and we watch as the characters go through hell. It works out well since we only have about three to keep in our heads at a time.
Interestingly, the germ of the story is similar to this year's John Scalzi book, Lock In. The author posits a world where the minds remain in tact while the bodies do zombie things. So the people are well aware of the horrors their bodies are committing, but can't do anything about it. It's absolutely terrifying and affected just as I feared Lock In might. There are real diseases that do similar things and there are those who are in vegetative states where we aren't sure if they're like this. It's interesting to see how the author has each character deal with this.
From a story-telling/meta point of view there are two things I really like that the author did. First of all, he had the characters compare their being trapped in their lives before and after being zombies. Sometimes the characters did this on purpose and sometimes through their reminiscing it was made clear to us. The metaphors worked incredibly well. Two that stand out for me are one man who had a catatonic mom and the child of immigrant parents. The man's mother was an obvious parallel for the zombies in this world, but her situation had driven him to drug addiction and there was a nice parallel between that and the unending hunger of the zombie. The immigrant felt trapped in this new world and was trapped in her zombie body and trapped where she turned. Another that stood out was a character he used to make a metaphor between date rape and zombie attacks. The second thing I loved was that he started the story with the characters in part 1 already turned. This allowed us to get immersed in the world he was creating rather than deciding whether to root for the heroes that were hiding and in danger of being turned. He hits those, and other great zombie tropes, in part 2 and beyond.
The book's dedicated to 11 Sept and is set in Manhattan. That has consequences for the story as well as the ending. I wonder if others interpret the ending the same way I did.
I heartily recommend the book to anyone who likes zombies thrillers and wants to think about them in a different way. I know there are other zombie point of view books and movies (one came out in the last couple years), but they're usually played for laughs rather than serious like this one. This is a pretty heavy book, though. So if you find that books affect you strongly - don't read this one when you need a pick-me-up.
I hope it's painfully obvious that this book is gory. Outside of that, there's profanity. It's actually not that excessive, but it's there. That's pretty much it for the stuff people shy away from other than the trigger warning that there's implied date rape. Well, probably a lot more than implied, but it's not graphic. Just a mention that a guy takes advantage of them both being drunk to convince the girl she wants to have sex even when she initially says no and wouldn't if sober.
We've seen a lot about a Zombie Apocalypse - but what about the perspective of the zombies, who are still human on the inside, still feeling pain and reacting as they are drawn to eat their loved ones? It's a bit horrifying to think about, actually. But I love this author!