I read Twilight a little while back and (sorry girls) it wasn’t a great book. Ever since reading Dracula, the definitive vampire novel, I’ve yet to find another satisfying vampire tale. Most, Twilight included, portray the vampire as an attractive, tragic character so full of beauty and mystique that the opposite sex goes gaga anytime they are in their presence. Hence the rise of Gothic fantasies and bile-inducing romances. Sad. Anyway, back to I Am Legend. I haven’t seen the movie yet but the book can sit comfortably on my bookshelf next to Bram Stoker. It takes a much more scientific approach to vampires while giving them an unquieting appeal and redemption in the end. Having said that, the book is just as much a zombie novel and classic science fiction as it is vampyric. It’s short (170 pages) and well worth the read.
Edit: Just saw the movie last night - it was really well done. Totally different from the story in the book though. I understand why you would have walked out Mom. You probably wouldn't like the book either but it's not as graphic, strangely. But, I think that has a lot to do with a picture says a thousand words. You don't 'see' the zombies in the book. The most disturbing part of the I am Legend experience for me was actually the animated comics included with the DVD about the other survivors. The one that takes place in New Dehli, India and was written by Orson Scott Card was so disturbing, in fact, that I had to watch an episode of the office before going to bed at 1 in the morning. It's not for the faint hearted.
Well, if the book is anything like the movie, I will walk out of it and send it to goodwill. That's my take on zombie & vampire movies. I can take vampires, if they are glamorized like in Twilight, because they are good (if you can call a vampire good). Sorry on the difference of view, Richie!
ReplyDeleteYes, visuals tend to stay for a long time, sad to say. I guess I like happy endings...
ReplyDeleteThe ending was happy, at least in my opinion. The end of misery, even through death, is still happy, right? Hence Romeo's lament "oh, happy dagger". Apart from the end of his miserable solitude, he got to be with his wife, daughter, and dog again AND save the day by providing the cure AND believe in God/Fate again AND be remembered as the Martyr of the Plague. I'd be happy to go out in such a fashion :)
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