Warm Bodies - Isaac Marion

“In my mind I am eloquent; I can climb intricate scaffolds of words to reach the highest cathedral ceilings and paint my thoughts. But when I open my mouth, everything collapses.”

Since finishing my first exam on Tuesday, I decided to reward myself with a little taste of my anticipating summer holiday. So I accidentally finished reading Warm Bodies by Isaac Marion in two days. By accident I meant forgetting all reality of exams and everything else. 

I have read Twilight by Stephanie Meyer and painfully endured the second book, New Moon (if I took a shot of vodka every time Bella describes the "hole" in the her chest, you'll be rushing me to the emergency room). I have also studied religiously for Year 10 English, Shakespeare's Romeo & Juliet. Now replace the vampire phenomenon with zombies and the two protagonists, "R" & Julie. You see what I did? I've just described Warm Bodies on the surface known to many. 

I initially began reading with those thoughts in my mind and I can admit I was blown away at how good and different this was from page one. My persistence for reading Twilight were to be thanked here, as I appreciated new and insightful writing that weren't always...you know, where the protagonist doesn't leap off cliffs to catch a glimpse of her lost vampire boyfriend. I'm not saying Twilight is atrocious, I just prefer it as light reading for my taste. This book wasn't entirely based as a remake for Romeo & Juliet as well, in my opinion this included some of Beauty & the Beast tale. How could  a beautiful woman love a brain eating monster? 

The dystopian setting in Warm Bodies also eludes me back to Orwell's Nineteen Eighty - Four and I too enjoyed this back thought while reading. Surprisingly I really do like the whole doomsday fear concept (in books!). I never knew I could sympathize with a zombie before. "R" narrates intelligently and philosophically on the world that he sees everyday. His knowledge of the human emotions and memories lost within, as well as the ability to communicate through only a few syllables comprises his heart warming nature. Sometimes he's just damn adorable. 

Of course there are those gory bits all zombie stories would elaborate on and I'd always see it on film, but never before have I ever considered my perspective on the way cells and neurons are annotated by R. I'm hoping that the film set to be released in 2013 will have at least some aspect on this. I also know that it will be dominantly narrated since the zombies don't really talk so I'm not sure how this will be tackled either. I already have a feeling of some parts that the directors will leave out so I'll be surprised if they did decide to include it. The last few chapters were a little disappointing I must say (those gimmie-more-more! thoughts), and I can already imagine the directors amplifying the story like they always do. Ah, this style of this novel has already made me skeptical about the film.  

A beast and his beauty. Romeo and his Juliet. I must emphasize this is not Twilight with zombies. Never. The pace of R & Julie is not too slow or rushed either. R can be the most cheesiest zombie you'll ever meet, while we are also reminded of the gruesome instincts they inevitably possess. Humans and zombies. A cure. A book so elegantly written, this will surely not be my last time reading it. 

Oh and bonus....I swear I found this on the internet when I finished reading!