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.

Speak Reflective Reading Quiz

Closed

5 words that describe Melinda

• Exasperated
• Sarcastic
• Scared
• Alone
• Closed

I said that Melinda is exasperated because everything in her life is a nuisance. She goes through life and nothing goes her way, she has to keep dealing with all these hardships.

I said that Melinda is sarcastic because she doesn’t care what is going on around her. She thinks that all her classmates are morons, and that most are much dumber than she is, and she expresses it through sarcasm.

I said Melinda is scared because of IT. When Andy Evans, who is believed to have raped Melinda, comes up to her she becomes afraid, and feels like vomiting.

I said Melinda is alone because she has no friends. Even the one person who would talk to her left her.

I also said Melinda is closed because she is shut out from the outside world. She wants to hide away from everything and everyone.

I think the best word to describe Melinda is alone. She has no friends or social group and her parents don’t care about her much. She thinks that instead of being with others it is smarter to be alone. Melinda says “ It is easier not to say anything. Shut your trap button your lip can it.”(Melinda, 9) She doesn’t share her feelings with other people.

Melinda doesn’t just try to shut out the world and be alone, she also tries to shut out the world. “ I just want to sleep.” (Melinda, 81) She thinks that avoiding her problems will make them go away, and that hiding it is the safest option.  She wants to ignore the world that has been so cruel to her, and she really just wants to be alone.

The Battle School

Ender from Ender’s Game

Junior from Absolutely True Diaries of a Part Time Indian

It was just after a battle at the school. Ender got the message that there would be one more member coming to their squad making an uneven 41 for dragon team. “What’s the news?” Crazy Tom asked.

Ender replied “We’re getting a new player.”

“Why do they keep trying to mess us up?”

No team in the school had 41 players, it was just another disadvantage. Sure another player would give them a sheer number strength but other than that everything else was drawbacks. For starters he would probably be a launchy a weak new player to the game. Second, Ender had five squads of eight guys, one more would throw off balance. Topping off the cake there was no time to train him meaning he wouldn’t know Enders tactics and just be in the way.

Junior was playing one-on-one basketball with Rowdy when an odd man in a suit came up to him.

“Hello” the man said in a casually.

“You’re white” Rowdy said out loud. Rowdy and Junior had sort of mended their relationship over the past month or so, even though their relationship was so weird that nobody could tell. Rowdy still had no problem making his opinions vocal.

“I am from the battle school” the man said in a politicians voice.

“Is that supposed to mean something fart face-” Junior stopped him from elaborating.

“What do you want?” He asked suspiciously.

“To keep it short the battle school looks for gifted young minds to train into warriors in the war to keep the alien race we call the buggers away from Earth and the human race. We fear a bugger invasion and are doing everything we can to be prepared in case of emergency.”

The laughter that emanated from the basketball court could be heard for miles around. Junior laughing because this man claimed to be an alien fighter and Rowdy laughing because he called Junior gifted.

“Keep moving white guy” Rowdy said, tears in his eyes.

“Junior, you need to come with me.”

Junior shrugged, he didn’t really care, and besides he was white, had a suit, and he had a badge on his chest. It also looked like he might have a gun so he decided not to push him, even  if he was diagnosably insane.

He got in the car with the man and made sure Rowdy told his parents where he had gone.

About an hour later in a long stretch of desert road he turned on to an unmarked dirt path. Then he saw it, a space shuttle.

If it was possible for a space launch to be boring then this was it. Junior knew he should be excited about going into space but he just …. wasn’t. He got in and prepared for launch. At least they weren’t lying about the space part he thought.

The shuttle stopped moving and all the lights turned on as a couple older boys started getting out. The strange place must have been a space station, he thought. Another white man gave him directions. He entered a room full of boys all younger than he was.

A chorus of “Sup bro” and “Hey” and even “Ho there” went up. Who said “Ho there”?

“I’m Ender your new commander”

He looked down to see a nine year old boy looking up at him. He could tell it was going to be a long day.

“First off you’re, like, six years younger than me, so bug off. Second, What do mean commander.”

“Wait, are you new to battle school?”

“Yea, I just got here why?”Junior answered.

Ender was speechless, they couldn’t do this to him, not again. He wasn’t even a launchy, he wasn’t from battle school At all! Plus he was older so he probably thought he was all high and mighty. This was just another obstacle not a gift, but he had already known that.

They trained for the day and Junior didn’t really learn anything but in the morning there was a battle. Junior got up and got ready because he wanted to do well, then maybe he could leave. They walked to the door and Junior prepared himself, flash gun in hand. The door opened. Junior was instructed by Ender to stay out of the way of the squads so he would hide behind a star, a little square, to protect him. He fould cover shot from behind it. He didn’t want to get hit so he didn’t look, just shot in their direction. He didn’t know how many he got but he got flashed after What seemed like an hour, which meant he couldn’t move. It ended only a few minutes after that.

He was proud and some of his teammates didn’t seem to like it. He supposed they hadn’t expected a rookie to do well. He got a note later saying he could leave. On the shuttle back he asked why he had to go.

The man said “They are our best team and you were a challenge to overcome.”

“Well it looks like your plan backfired.”

“Actually we expected them to be able to win even with you on the team.”

“But I did well, I lasted a long time and shot some of them.”

“Junior, I hate to tell you this, but you didn’t shoot any enemies, in fact you shot six of your own teammates and even though it seemed like a long time you got flashed after about 30 seconds.” Then Junior went home.