mzdeb 's review for:

The Reapers Are the Angels by Alden Bell

5.0

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Someone wrote that this book is like Flannery O'Connor with zombies, and while I haven't really read anything by her, the language style did remind me of Kaye Gobbons' "Ellen Foster." Temple is a shrewd, tough-as-nails fifteen year old trying to survive the "slugs/meatskins" (slang for zombies), traveling north from Florida while managing to survive. Just as often she has to protect herself from the living, but she seems to be drawn to trouble (even if she manages to hold her own), in a way that makes you think she sees it deep down and some sort of penance. As hardened as Temple is, I found myself rooting for her, as best as one can for a girl that shuns reliance on anyone and suspects kindness from anyone. Redaers who take to her will follow her in the book, rooting for her to find a satisfying life somehow. At 225 pages, it's a quick if gritty read. It appears some people have a love/hate thing going on with this book--I loved it.