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A review by theogb451
I Am Legend by Richard Matheson
3.0
TW for domestic violence. Yes, this is a horror tale and it is violent but (without spoilering) there is a particular section that I believe could be triggering for someone who finds dv tropes particularly upsetting.
A classic case of a seminal piece of work that is very dated, mainly because of all the later, more sophisticated and modern pieces it inspired.
More interestingly, this is a tale about vampires but the ideas here have mainly been used in zombie horrors, which provides an odd dissonance for a modern reader (but not a negative one).
The post-apocalypse feels far from the ones we see now where we are far more used to feeling someone eke out their existence; here our main character seems to have no real issues, comparatively.
And so to some spoilers for the later part of the story: the character of Ruth and what happens between them seems so far from any modern depiction of women (outside the unreconstructed male authors) that it was a huge duff note for me and is the main reason for 3 stars.
A classic case of a seminal piece of work that is very dated, mainly because of all the later, more sophisticated and modern pieces it inspired.
More interestingly, this is a tale about vampires but the ideas here have mainly been used in zombie horrors, which provides an odd dissonance for a modern reader (but not a negative one).
The post-apocalypse feels far from the ones we see now where we are far more used to feeling someone eke out their existence; here our main character seems to have no real issues, comparatively.
And so to some spoilers for the later part of the story: the character of Ruth and what happens between them seems so far from any modern depiction of women (outside the unreconstructed male authors) that it was a huge duff note for me and is the main reason for 3 stars.