Warm Bodies Review - The Book!
How and Why?
After seeing "Warm Bodies" in theaters I learned shortly that it was actually made based on a book by Isaac Marion. Since "Warm Bodies" was such a different take on zombies and I knew there was probably much more detail into the zombies that the movie could not go into without tons more narration and was curious more about the dynamics of the zombies. I decided to write a review because so many people I have run into hadn't even been aware that it was a book.
Back of Book Summary
"R is having a no-life crisis—he is a zombie. He has no memories, no identity, and no pulse, but he is a little different from his fellow Dead. He may occasionally eat people, but he’d rather be riding abandoned airport escalators, listening to Sinatra in the cozy 747 he calls home, or collecting souvenirs from the ruins of civilization.
And then he meets a girl.
First as his captive, then his reluctant house guest, Julie is a blast of living color in R’s gray landscape, and something inside him begins to bloom. He doesn’t want to eat this girl—although she looks delicious—he wants to protect her. But their unlikely bond will cause ripples they can’t imagine, and their hopeless world won’t change without a fight."
My Review
First off I'd like to say that the book and the movie are fairly different. They both have the same framework in which a zombie, R, falls in love with a human, Julie, and takes her to his zombie base and tries to keep her safe. Right into the book it is obvious how witty Isaac Marion is and I noticed just how well written the book is. The visual descriptions paint a vivid picture of how the world is along with all of the characters in the book. There is also a blunt and almost dark humor that is present through out the book, mostly in R's thoughts as you are seeing the world from his point of view.
I enjoyed the premise of the story as there are not many books out there told from a zombie's point of view, not to mention a love story told from a zombie's point of view. I found the idea intriguing and really loved reading about the zombies and how they started to run the world. In the book, it goes into much more detail about what goes on at the airport R lives. If you have seen the movie, you know basically all you see are the zombies aimlessly walking and the occasional menacing boney, but the book goes so much more than that. Boneys play a much bigger role in the day to day lives of the zombies who live at the airport and there is also more to the lives and community of the zombies. Given, it isn't exactly a bustling fast moving airport, but I found the concept of how Marion portrayed the zombies interesting. It brings zombies into a new light and you definitely start to view them differently as you read the book from R's perspective.
Marion also is a master at giving characters their own specific voice and personality that really shines through the text. You can really tell each character's personality by the slang they use or how they go about things. I find this surprising and enjoyable as in many books many of the characters are very similar in their way of thinking and almost blend together without much to distinctly separate them.
As for the love story goes, I find it actually very sweet in a dark way. While this isn't a flat out romance book, R is very endearing over his feelings for Julie and minus the darker scenes where R has to occasionally eat some human brain you start to relate with him and really start to cheer him on to win the girl. I found the ending actually surprising, along with many other scenes, even after seeing the movie. While the movie is very similar to the book in some ways, other ways it is very different and it throws in some new and interesting twists.
I would definitely recommend this book as it is a fast read and with humor, likable characters, and a whole new view on zombies in general. If you haven't seen the movie, I would definitely recommend reading the book first but as "Warm Bodies" was a popular movie and you have seen the movie I would still recommend you pick up a copy of "Warm Bodies" and give it a read. It was a book I truly enjoyed and had a hard time putting down.
