Title: Warm Bodies
Author: Isaac Marion
Series: Warm Bodies #1
ISBN: 0099549344
Synopsis (from Goodreads):
A zombie who yearns for a better life ends up falling in love—with a human—in this astonishingly original debut novel.
R is a zombie. He has no memories, no identity, and no pulse, but he has dreams. He doesn’t enjoy killing people; he enjoys riding escalators and listening to Frank Sinatra. He is a little different from his fellow Dead.
Not just another zombie novel, Warm Bodies is funny, scary, and deeply moving.
Book Trailer:
Favorite Quotes:
“I want to change my punctuation. I long for exclamation marks, but I’m drowning in ellipses.”
“In my mind I am eloquent; I can climb intricate scaffolds of words to reach the highest cathedral ceilings and paint my thoughts. But when I open my mouth, everything collapses.”
“There is no ideal world for you to wait around for. The world is always just what it is now, and it’s up to you how you respond to it.”
What I Thought:
With Warm Bodies set for a film adaptation to be released in February 2013 and Halloween being less than two weeks away what better book to read & review?
I’m no stranger to zombie books but reading this book was something new for me. This was the first book I’ve read with a zombie as the protagonist; let alone the narrator! You might be thinking “how could that work, zombies are dead brainless monsters?” well not all of them as Isaac Marion shows us!
This is not just a zombie book it’s also a romance. It’s a love story between a zombie and a living girl. Yes, it sounds revolting and unnatural but it doesn’t read that way. R is not like the other zombies. He has feelings and thoughts that never even cross the other zombies’ minds. Then one day while on a food (human) hunt he eats someone’s brain and has an inexplicable urge to save human Julie.
At first Julie is terrified of R. However, she does come around after noticing his humanlike qualities. But… after having just seen her friends and boyfriend be murdered by a bunch of brain eating zombies, I couldn’t help but feel that she came around a little too quickly.
Despite the zombie romance it still has all the aspects of zombie fiction that you’d love; including brain eating zombies roaming a wasteland. Yet somehow the author manages to keep it somewhat classy. You’ll be immersed into the life of a zombie. You’ll soon find that after all they are like were living breathing people too. Then suddenly something I’m sure you never thought would happen – you’ll be cheering for the zombies. Instead of wishing them dead, you’ll want them to live!
The whole time while reading this book I couldn’t help but feel as though this book was a twisted zombified version of Beauty and the Beast. The romance is not overly cheesy or overdone; there’s still plenty of gross brain eating terror filled and just plain YUCK moments to keep zombie fans pleased. Isaac Marion found the fine line of a grotesque romance and walks it precariously.
Warm Bodies is mostly about humanity. What is it that makes us human? Is it a beating heart, breathing air, and living flesh? Or is it consciousness, memory, or emotions? If you’re looking for a different take on zombies go ahead and read Warm Bodies. You’ll surely be entertained.
To Buy From Amazon: Hardcover
To Buy from Barnes & Noble: Paperback/Nook Book
