3 out of 5: Warm Bodies by Isaac Marion

Warm Bodies (Warm Bodies # 1) by Isaac Marion

Summary:

R is a young man with an existential crisis--he is a zombie. He shuffles through an America destroyed by war, social collapse, and the mindless hunger of his undead comrades, but he craves something more than blood and brains. He can speak just a few grunted syllables, but his inner life is deep, full of wonder and longing. He has no memories, no identity, and no pulse. Just dreams.

After experiencing a teenage boy's memories while consuming his brain, R makes an unexpected choice that begins a tense, awkward, and strangely sweet relationship with the victim's human girlfriend. Julie is a burst of vibrant color in the otherwise dreary and gray landscape that R lives in. His decision to protect her will transform not only R, but his fellow Dead, and perhaps their whole lifeless world.

Scary, funny, and surprisingly poignant, Warm Bodies is about being alive, being dead and the blurry line in between.

Review:

There was a lot of hype for the movie based on this book. Of course, I must read the book before going to see the movie. I surprised at how thin this book was, but the nice thing is that it doesn't drag on. (Managed to finish this in one day)

There are certain things that were awkward and gross. The beginning of the book R gets married and "has" kids. It was obvious that the "girl" R married would not be the love interest of the book but, it did bother me. How can you be married with kids then, fall in love with another girl and forget all about your kids and wife? What makes it worse it the pace of the book; R meets the girl then 3 pages later, he is married and "has" kids.

On the back of the book, there are many quotes that suggest that this book is "slacker-zombie novel with a heart" or "most unexpected romantic lead." As a result, I don't think this book lived up to the quotes. There is a lot of unusual aspects in this book. The one I had a problem with would be that zombies don't know there names/age, in fact, they don't remember anything. Thus, the reader never really gets a good grasp on the age of R. I found this unnerving because I didn't know if he was 30 or around the same age as Julie.

Also, I was expecting a bigger explanation for R's brain/subconscious connection. The plot was fairly captivating, and the ending was nicely written. (Although some inferring was needed.) I just hope the movie will be better, however as history suggests: the book is always better.

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