NOT Left for Dead

Warm Bodies by Isaac Marion, Atria Paperback, 2011.   Genre: Science Fiction.

This book is about a zombie named R, who can’t really remember anything about his past life and feeds on the living, until he meets a human girl named Julie. The book is set in future San Francisco, after humanity has fallen and there are only tiny remnants of civilization remaining. R and the zombies live in an abandoned airport and Julie lives one of former San Francisco’s stadiums.When R meets Julie he feels remorse for what he has done and tries to be a little more human. However as Julie learns to care about R despite the fact that he is a zombie, the rest of the city, especially her father do not. Meanwhile bringing a live human into the airport unharmed causes great unrest. Now R and Julie are all alone with no help and they must survive.

“I never thought I could care so passionately for a zombie.” says Stephenie Meyer, author of the Twilight series, on the back of the book.

I have not read any other books by this author, as this was his debut novel, not self published. This book is not like any I am familiar with as Marion puts all of his idiosyncratic personality into it, making the book unique and fun to read. He has a great way of storytelling that can captivate an audience for hours.

“She is Living and I’m Dead, but I’d like to believe we’re both human. Call me an idealist (42).

I feel that the theme is that everyone, no matter how different looking, can be human, humanity comes from the heart not from the body. People who are considered ugly or different are human if they are kind and generous, but bullies, even if they look more human, are less human because they don’t have a kind heart.

The book starts off slow but has a great story and lots of action. I give Warm Bodies 5 paws- Devour it.