Warm Bodies by Isaac Marion

Okay, as you may have noticed by now I am a fan of books that become movies. Actually it seems like recently just about everything on the big screen falls into that category. I found this book after watching the trailer for Warm Bodies. I vaguely remembered the plot from my search for a zombie story that was less gore more heart.

If you have seen the trailer you know that this story tries to make light of the Protagonist,  R‘s, situation; you know… being the walking undead. Here is what you need to know about the plot.

This is a story of star-crossed lovers. She is a teenage girl and he is a zombie who has eaten her boyfriend’s brain. When a zombie eats a human brain, it absorbs all of its prey’s memories and in the case of “R” he absorbs the feelings this boy has for Julie.  R & Julie…. ring and shakespearian bells? R’s ability to love Julie causes a change and its contagious, proving that love truly conquers all.

Click to read what I thought about the book and to watch the trailer for the upcoming movie.

I was really worried when I picked up this book. I knew that a Zombie was the narrator and I thought it would begin with broken sentences and lots of groaning undead noise, but R has very coherent thought patterns right from the start. His memory is basically gone and all that remains of his human identity is the letter “R” which he uses as a name. As his love for Julie develops, he becomes increasingly verbose.

IMHO the author, Isaac Marion, had a great concept for his zombies and what the potential cure would be. However, I do not believe that the rest of the story was as well thought out. I liked that this  story had a sense of humor and fun moments, but they happen so organically that if you are bored by the author’s flat writing style you might miss it.

I found that the author had a message that he wanted to get across to the reader, but instead of doing it subtly or through his characters actions he just went ahead and repeated it over and over again. It made me feel like he had no faith in my intelligence as a reader.

Despite the monotone book, I have faith that this can be translated well for the upcoming movie. The movie trailer really plays up the humorous moments in the book and I think that the way the story ends will set Warm Bodies apart from the other movies.

If you are looking for a zombie love story, perhaps you should pick up S.G. Browne’s Breathers.