First let me say, Happy Halloween!!! It's one of my favorite holidays and we've got some good fun planned for the little boy (who is 2). He's going to be a tiger (RAWR).
So on with the review. I've chosen a wholly appropriate book for today, I Am Legend.
After a plague almost decimates the human population turning killing off most and turning the rest into blood thirsty vampires, Robert Neville is left completely alone to fend off the vampires who come to his house at night. Leading a completely solidarity existence causes him to turn to alcohol and fuels his rage. But as time passes, Neville tries to learn as much as he can about the disease and to create a cure.
Written in 1954, I Am Legend helped, according to the Wiki, to popularize the idea of vampirism as a disease and one of the first stories with that concept. So I don't know if Peeps gives it a shout-out or not, but it definitely should. I have seen the Will Smith version which I found scary, but mostly just sad. It showed vividly how a human will behave if left compeltely alone and it was just a sad movie. The novella also contains that same mixtures of sadness and horror. It really shows that a person could get use to anything. Day after day, Neville does his daily chores, cleaning up the dead bodies on the front lawn, making stakes, killing any vampires sleeping in the area and after a while he barely notices the abject horror of his situation as the only human in the city or in the world for all he knows. And all the while he relives the past and what happened to his wife and daughter. I was really struck how he managed to live through the whole thing and with his memories. But his will to live was strong.
*highlight for sort of spoilers*
The science part is well-research albeit it is from th 1950's and I'm no biology expert but it sounds good to me. The only part that was sounded shaky to me is the end with the "living vampires." And I got confused between the two a lot. I found the ending to be fitting if not sad and it actually made me a little angry, but there was really no other way.
*for the November Novella Challenge
After a plague almost decimates the human population turning killing off most and turning the rest into blood thirsty vampires, Robert Neville is left completely alone to fend off the vampires who come to his house at night. Leading a completely solidarity existence causes him to turn to alcohol and fuels his rage. But as time passes, Neville tries to learn as much as he can about the disease and to create a cure.
Written in 1954, I Am Legend helped, according to the Wiki, to popularize the idea of vampirism as a disease and one of the first stories with that concept. So I don't know if Peeps gives it a shout-out or not, but it definitely should. I have seen the Will Smith version which I found scary, but mostly just sad. It showed vividly how a human will behave if left compeltely alone and it was just a sad movie. The novella also contains that same mixtures of sadness and horror. It really shows that a person could get use to anything. Day after day, Neville does his daily chores, cleaning up the dead bodies on the front lawn, making stakes, killing any vampires sleeping in the area and after a while he barely notices the abject horror of his situation as the only human in the city or in the world for all he knows. And all the while he relives the past and what happened to his wife and daughter. I was really struck how he managed to live through the whole thing and with his memories. But his will to live was strong.
*highlight for sort of spoilers*
The science part is well-research albeit it is from th 1950's and I'm no biology expert but it sounds good to me. The only part that was sounded shaky to me is the end with the "living vampires." And I got confused between the two a lot. I found the ending to be fitting if not sad and it actually made me a little angry, but there was really no other way.
*for the November Novella Challenge
I've not seen this movie. It scares me.
ReplyDeleteHappy Halloween!
I've heard the book is a lot better than the movie. I've seen the movie & didn't really care for it itself, but the story seems pretty cool.
ReplyDeleteHappy Halloween & have fun with the tiger!
What a creepy cover that book has! I don't know what's creepier, that or the premise. Sounds like it was good for this time of year though!
ReplyDeleteThis sounds like a good read, I might have to check it out!
ReplyDelete