R is a zombie. He lives in an airport with lots of other
zombies, including his best friend M. When the urge takes them they go hunting
for the Living. The Living have barricaded themselves inside a stadium so the
zombies can’t get them. However, the often need to leave the stadium to
scavenge for supplies. It’s on these trips that they are vulnerable to attack
by zombies. R and his gang attack a group of teenagers getting medical
supplies. R eats the brain of a boy named Perry. Eating a brain gives you the
memories of that person for a while; makes you feel alive. Perry’s brain
contains memories of his girlfriend Julie, who is also on the scavenging trip.
R becomes intrigued by Julie and decides to take her back home with him. At
first Julie is scared but the more time she spends with R the more comfortable
she is around him. He also seems to be gradually changing. It’s almost as if
he’s becoming more human.
I really like the idea of this book; zombie meets girl,
zombie falls in love with girl, girl starts to fall in love with zombie. The
book is nicely written as well. The start is a monologue from R on what it’s
like to be a zombie. He’s retained enough of his humanness to see the humour in
what has happened and to just get on with it. The book gets more serious as it
goes on but the beginning is quite funny.
R is philosophical about how his life turned out and I think it helps him
to cope that zombies don’t feel emotions the same way that the Living do. R
does like to make the distinction that while yes technically he is dead, he
hasn’t ceased to exist. He also hasn’t decomposed to just bones like the
Boneys. He’s a corpse but he can still walk and grunt.
R is an excellent narrator. He is intelligent for a zombie
and hasn’t gone feral like some. Although impulse is what drives him to take
Julie and change his life, he is usually quite calm and just takes things in
his stride. Just because he is a zombie doesn’t mean he can’t have friends. M
is the kind of friend you want in a crisis. He will stand up for you against
the Boneys and isn’t afraid to attack them so that you can get away. R would
not be the hero that he is without M. Julie is a strong female character. She doesn’t
go screaming and fainting all over the place. She does what she needs to in
order to survive. She helps R a lot and shows him what he can be.
The book is a retelling of Romeo and Juliet with humans and
zombies. There is even a balcony scene. I enjoyed this part of the book and
thought it was cleverly done. Apart from the characters, the book didn’t really
have anything new to offer. It had all of the clichés that you would expect to
find in a romantic book or film. Basically the book was just asking to be made
into a film. Don’t get me wrong, it’s a good book and worth a read but
ultimately it’s not as unique as it first appears. Zombies having the ability
to become human again if given a bit of love and compassion is a good idea and
the author has written it well. Would recommend this book to older teenagers
and young adults as it is a fun read.
Overall rating 4 out of 5.
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