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3.65 AVERAGE
3.65 AVERAGE
I know I've read this, and it was enjoyable enough, but also almost completely unmemorable. I remember wishing the love interest had been a bit more fleshed out (no pun intended) instead of just a sexy sexpot of sex. I remember finding Andy smug and irritating. The world building was good and the premise intriguing, but the characterisation put me off.
This was exactly the quality of book that I anticipated that it would be. It was not classic fiction with a moral message and symbolism to last through the ages, nor will this book will not be taught in English Literature classes across the country. This book was a humorous account (fictional, of course...or was it?) of zombies trying to find their rightful place in the world, caught between the living and the dead. They are treated horribly by "Breathers" (living, breathing humans)and the remainder of the novel unfolds as Andy and his Undead friends take on Breathers, the local police, and even their family and friends to be treated with the same equality and rights that are guaranteed by our US Constitution.
This novel is meant to be funny, and the author S.G. Browne uses the catch-phrase "if you've never [insert gross zombie characteristic or action here], then you wouldn't understand." I really enjoyed this novel for what it was, without trying to make it something that it wasn't. I found myself rooting for Andy and the zombies to exact revenge on the Breathers who made their lives a living Hell, and I was seriously disgusted with the way Andy was treated by his own father, and I'm glad he ended up as the main course in a candlelit dinner for Andy and Rita (and subsequent bowel movement).
If you would enjoy a funny, light, non-scary paranormal experience with action, romance, drama, and comedy all rolled into one novel, then go for it. If you haven't ever read a book without a highlighter, Reader's Guide, and Cliffs Notes, then you probably wouldn't understand. :-)
This novel is meant to be funny, and the author S.G. Browne uses the catch-phrase "if you've never [insert gross zombie characteristic or action here], then you wouldn't understand." I really enjoyed this novel for what it was, without trying to make it something that it wasn't. I found myself rooting for Andy and the zombies to exact revenge on the Breathers who made their lives a living Hell, and I was seriously disgusted with the way Andy was treated by his own father, and I'm glad he ended up as the main course in a candlelit dinner for Andy and Rita (and subsequent bowel movement).
If you would enjoy a funny, light, non-scary paranormal experience with action, romance, drama, and comedy all rolled into one novel, then go for it. If you haven't ever read a book without a highlighter, Reader's Guide, and Cliffs Notes, then you probably wouldn't understand. :-)
Too much talk-talk, not enough zombie action for me. I might pick it up again to try later.
BREATHERS: A ZOMBIE’S LAMENT, a novel written by S. G. Browne, introduces us to Andy, who wakes up one day in a mortuary. His mouth is sewn shut, his left leg is mangled, and he doesn’t know how he got that way. Eventually he understands that after he and his wife had died in a car accident that was Andy’s fault, he has reanimated. He is a zombie and must now live as a second-class citizen in the world of “Breathers” that revile him. Throughout all this Andy maintains his sense of humor.
Andy’s parents have relegated him to the wine cellar, so as not to offend their neighbors and guests. He walks the alleyways to avoid running into “Breathers” on his way to attend Undead Anonymous meetings. These meetings contain some of the best writing in the book. They have some genuine laugh-out-loud moments. Over the course of Andy’s adventures we come to care about him and his diverse friends.
This is a story of friendship, love, loss, and standing up for what you believe. Everyone has at one time or another felt the feelings that Andy experiences.
I liked this book because it made me believe that zombies are people too.
Andy’s parents have relegated him to the wine cellar, so as not to offend their neighbors and guests. He walks the alleyways to avoid running into “Breathers” on his way to attend Undead Anonymous meetings. These meetings contain some of the best writing in the book. They have some genuine laugh-out-loud moments. Over the course of Andy’s adventures we come to care about him and his diverse friends.
This is a story of friendship, love, loss, and standing up for what you believe. Everyone has at one time or another felt the feelings that Andy experiences.
I liked this book because it made me believe that zombies are people too.
I liked this book. I would have loved it, but I was disappointed with the down-note penultimate section. Breathers is strong and funny and sad, and you feel a lot of empathy for the characters, living and not-so-much. Each misstep and shuffle is documented, and the detail is amusing and the protagonist's internal dialogue is spectacular. He's very funny. Gore is conspicuous without being excessive, and this is a zombie book with - failing heart or soul - a certain something that makes it work. Stock characters are given depth that serves the story, and the twists are fun and interesting without making the story rest on them.
And then it's as thought Browne gives up. We get an ending that while probably more realistic (under the already ludicrous circumstances) is less interesting, and more nihilistic. So much could have been made out of where this *was* going, before it went off the rails and went nowhere. And in a particularly unsatisfying, pointlessly grisly, unfair to the heroine kind of way. So good book, but it'll leave you cold, IMHFO.
And then it's as thought Browne gives up. We get an ending that while probably more realistic (under the already ludicrous circumstances) is less interesting, and more nihilistic. So much could have been made out of where this *was* going, before it went off the rails and went nowhere. And in a particularly unsatisfying, pointlessly grisly, unfair to the heroine kind of way. So good book, but it'll leave you cold, IMHFO.
When Andy wakes up one morning and discovers that he’s stuffed his dismembered parents into their new Amana fridge, he has to stop for a moment and wonder how he’s ended up in this position. He was living a perfectly great life with a wife and young daughter and then bam! Dead. Or rather, undead. He, like the rest of the zombies, didn’t ask to be reanimated, and are now part of the lowest of the lower classes, treated little better than stray pets. Disallowed from participating in society in any sort of productive way, what’s a zombie to do with his days? Andy, fed up with having food (and worse) thrown at him every time he walks down the street, decides it’s time for someone to take a stand. After all, zombies are people too! I really enjoyed this, but it does lose its narrative thread a bit once Andy really ramps up his fight for his rights by trying to get his social security number back. And the ending was not at all what I expected... but can a zombie love story really have a happy ending? The book does say something about how we treat those who are different than us and I think it’s a good message, without being too preachy.
A zombie tale from the POV of a zombie. Hilarious, disturbing and sympathetic to the zombie cause.
Zombies are a very popular subject matter these days, with movies, horror novels, anthologies, and many graphic novels being written, created and published about the living dead. Many of them seek to terrify the reader with gruesome details, while the movies involving the undead running at ridiculous speeds attempt to make viewers scream. Then there are those stories that feature zombies – and vampires and werewolves – in a lust-filled, sexual mishmash that I really don’t want to think about.
And then there’s Breathers.
Breathers is a fun, funny, and at times serious look at the life of someone who one day wakes up and is a zombie. How much would your life change? How would your parents not only think of you, but treat you? Would they allow you to live in their home (formerly your home)? What about your social life?
Breathers is the story of Andy Warner who has just this happen to him. It’s a world where zombies are seen as less than real people . . . because they aren’t. They have no rights, no respect from anyone, and are hounded and ridiculed by all who see them. Andy lives with his parents, in the basement, where he’s not allowed to interact very much with them, certainly not eat with them or engage in social gatherings. When outside, he must keep away from crowded areas, and is not allowed to socialize with large groups of zombies. His “un-life” is pretty much pointless.
But that all changes when he begins attending a help group known as Undead Anonymous. There he befriends some fellow zombies and gets close to a girl named Rita. The help group is allowed by the government as it helps to enforce the laws telling zombies what they can and cannot do; mostly cannot. And then things begin to change when they bring some new friends along who share this tasty venison that miraculously seems to make the zombies feel better and even heal the wounds that caused their deaths.
S. G. Browne has created a very entertaining, tongue-in-check and matter-of-fact novel about zombies and how they would be treated by the human race who has done so well in the past with anything that is different. Browne is never over the top or preachy, but many of his words echo off events and reactions of humanity’s past. And ultimately it does leave one asking themselves a question: how would you treat a zombie if they knocked on your door?
For more book reviews and exclusive author interviews, go to BookBanter.
And then there’s Breathers.
Breathers is a fun, funny, and at times serious look at the life of someone who one day wakes up and is a zombie. How much would your life change? How would your parents not only think of you, but treat you? Would they allow you to live in their home (formerly your home)? What about your social life?
Breathers is the story of Andy Warner who has just this happen to him. It’s a world where zombies are seen as less than real people . . . because they aren’t. They have no rights, no respect from anyone, and are hounded and ridiculed by all who see them. Andy lives with his parents, in the basement, where he’s not allowed to interact very much with them, certainly not eat with them or engage in social gatherings. When outside, he must keep away from crowded areas, and is not allowed to socialize with large groups of zombies. His “un-life” is pretty much pointless.
But that all changes when he begins attending a help group known as Undead Anonymous. There he befriends some fellow zombies and gets close to a girl named Rita. The help group is allowed by the government as it helps to enforce the laws telling zombies what they can and cannot do; mostly cannot. And then things begin to change when they bring some new friends along who share this tasty venison that miraculously seems to make the zombies feel better and even heal the wounds that caused their deaths.
S. G. Browne has created a very entertaining, tongue-in-check and matter-of-fact novel about zombies and how they would be treated by the human race who has done so well in the past with anything that is different. Browne is never over the top or preachy, but many of his words echo off events and reactions of humanity’s past. And ultimately it does leave one asking themselves a question: how would you treat a zombie if they knocked on your door?
For more book reviews and exclusive author interviews, go to BookBanter.