[Review: Warm Bodies by Isaac Marion]

"Warm Bodies"
Author: Isaac Marion
Pages: 240
Genre: YA, NA, Zombie Books
Date Published: October 28th, 2010
Publisher: Vintage
Format Read: Purchased paperback

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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 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.

-Goodreads 

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My Thoughts:

My brain has been blown.  The pun is intended and I'm not going to take it back.  I have so much love for this book.  It manages to give you wonderful characters, grizzly death, horror movie amounts of blood and almost too much heart for a book so small.  It's one of those books that makes you think about things as well a grabbing you by the foot and pulling you on a ride that you'll never forget.  

Warm Bodies is a book that is very complex and yet extremely simple.  If you take away the writing, you're left with story that is very simple to begin with.  But it's Marion's writing that fleshes this story out into something that you will remember.  (Yes, I realize that I am using lots of zombie words in this review.  I can't help it.  So I just gave in.) 

The book is as sweet as it is gory.  It's got that healthy dose of the "ewww that was nasty" factor, and the "awww that was so cute" heart flutters.  Sometimes in scenes that were right next to each other and magically even sometimes in the same scenes.  Marion, you get a high five from me.   

The brilliance that is R will have you laughing and thinking deep thoughts all at the same time.  Making a zombie self aware about what is going on around him is an awesome idea and it's so much fun to read!  The fact that his thoughts are so huge and that he can only speak a few syllables at a time makes you love him all the more.  Because honestly, if he said all of his thoughts out loud all the time, you would want to tell him to shut the hell up, but somehow as internal dialogue it worked.

And Julie was one tough little cookie.  I mean she gets dragged into a zombie pit and tries to get herself out.  There is something about her that makes you wish that she was your friend.  At least during a zombie invasion.  And with all of the gnarly things that have compiled to make her life, you would think that she wouldn't have a shred of hope left.  But that's not the case here.  Julie is our ray of glorious hope through the whole novel.

The surprise character that I loved happened to be Perry.  Marion's use of his voice after his death was an interesting twist.  And he was a great plot tool as well.  It was through his eyes and voice that we saw what had been happening while R was at the airport, listening to Sinatra.  Though I didn't fully get why he did what he did, in the end I loved how he got to live on in the book!

And the secondary characters added so much to the story.  M, Nora, Rossy and Julie's dad all had their parts to play and they all had strong enough personalities that they didn't get washed out by the vibrant leads of this story.  

All in all I loved everything about Warm Bodies.  From the world building and the characters and the interactions that they had with each other.  I mean after all this is a zombie love story.  Yeah, read that sentence again... zombie love story.  All I'm asking is how can you not love that?  In my opinion you should run, stumble and grumble your way to a book store to pick this one up!  

Rating:

 

5 Unicorns = Get Your Hands On This One Now!

(Here is my review of Warm Bodies The Film)

[Warm Bodies: A Film Review]

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Movie Summary (via IMDB)

After R (a highly unusual zombie) saves Julie from an attack, the two form a relationship that sets in motion a sequence of events that might transform the entire lifeless world.
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My Review:

I took myself to see "Warm Bodies" on Superbowl Sunday.  I wasn't sure what to expect.  Other then a whole bunch of women being there, with no males in sight.  I had heard good things, but ever since the "Twilight" films YA film to movie adaptations tend to freak me out.  I have to be honest and tell you that I have seen all the "Twilight" films, but I've never been a fan of them.

So, I was happily surprised when I came out of the movie theater with a HUGE smile on my face.  I was blown away by the movie.  I haven't read the book yet, but I'm hunting it down as you read this.

Seriously, the script of this film was so impressive.  From the opening credits to the very last seconds of the film.  It was funny, it was snarky, it was emotional or emotionless as it were, it was gory, it was dark, it was twisted and the most impressive thing was that it was intensely self aware.  How do you pull off a self aware zombie movie?  Make your main character self aware, or at least more self aware than all the rest of the zombies that surround him.

It was the indie feel to Warm Bodies that wrapped you up in what was happening, without being flashy, which added to it's flow and awesomeness.  The filming technique, the color contrast and the music were all perfect.  Who doesn't love a hunky looking zombie fellow who also listens to classic vinyl because it makes him feel more "alive"?!  (For a track listing head over to my Music Blog)  While I'm on the subject the casting was awesome.  Nicholas Hoult as R (our zombie fellow) and Teresa Palmer as Julie had the most perfect, awkward chemistry.  Though both have been in a few larger films, this is the one that stands out to me as some of their best performances.

The supporting cast was awesome too.  With Analeigh Tipton, Rob Corrdry, Dave Franco and John Malkovich rounding out the cast.

The thing is that this movie surprised me.  It wasn't until a point near the end when it dawned on me that this is a twisted retelling of a classic piece of literature.  If you look at the leads names you might get it before I did?  Guess I should try to look into things before I see them?  Or maybe I like going in with no more info that "it's based on a YA novel"?

In a way I'm really glad that I haven't read the book yet (still hunting for it).  I got to fall in love with the film first, having nothing to compare it to.  Who knows if I would feel the same way if I had read it first?  Guess I'll have to let you know after I get my hands on a copy.

Straight up I'll tell you (just like Paula Abdul) if I were going to write a zombie movie, it would basically be this one.  So, I guess that means I can go ahead and scratch "write a zombie movie" off my list and just makes people watch this instead.

So, have you seen "Warm Bodies"?  What did you think about it?  Let's talk!

Rating: