Warm Bodies

by Isaac Marion

Grade: 3 1/2 stars
Story: R is a zombie. But then one day, he eats a boy and saves a girl, and strange things begin to happen in his post-Zombie Apocalypse world.

Review: I had decided that zombie novels weren't for me, especially after reading Zombies vs. Unicorns. I had read a description and thought, "Love story with a zombie? Boring, kinda gross, definitely not for me." Even when I started reading it, I was sure it was going to be one of those books that I put down and never picked up again.

But somehow...I didn't. I read till late last night, and continued reading it this morning till I finished, even when my computer and new Kindle were both luring me away. It was addictive, strange, and rather beautiful.

I kept thinking about all of R's philosophical musings from a Catholic perspective. And though at first I was skeptical--I thought it would be one of those attempts to create meaning in the universe that are really mostly sentimental and don't make any logical sense--I think in the end it was dealt with as well as it could be from a natural point of view.

(Here's a short parenthetical example. At one point, there was mentioned a "morbidly pregnant woman" (I hate that phrase--pregnancy is NOT morbid) and then a typical comment about not wanting to bring children into such a horrible world. In some other books (such as Graceling and Inside Out) this is left at that. But here it was actually discussed by the two girl--true, in a way I don't entirely agree with, but it seemed part of their character and what they really would say.)

And yeah, I understand the hype now. Did you know it has "Soon to be a major motion picture" written on the first edition cover? It was picked up immediately.