Warm Bodies by Isaac Marion
In Six Words: poetically gritty, gruesomely humorous, wonderful undertones
Genre: Paranormal, Post-Apocalyptic
Read :
R is a young man with an existential crisis–he is a zombie. He shuffles through an America destroyed by war, social collapse, and the mindless hunger of his undead comrades, but he craves something more than blood and brains. He can speak just a few grunted syllables, but his inner life is deep, full of wonder and longing. He has no memories, no identity, and no pulse. Just dreams.
After experiencing a teenage boy’s memories while consuming his brain, R makes an unexpected choice that begins a tense, awkward, and strangely sweet relationship with the victim’s human girlfriend. Julie is a burst of vibrant color in the otherwise dreary and gray landscape that R lives in. His decision to protect her will transform not only R, but his fellow Dead, and perhaps their whole lifeless world.
Scary, funny, and surprisingly poignant, Warm Bodies is about being alive, being dead and the blurry line in between.
Book Order (Warm Bodies)
- The New Hunger (prequel)
- Warm Bodies 01.06.13 * * * * 1/2
Why did I read this? And am I glad I did?
I put this on my TBR after seeing the movie trailer. While I’ll review the movie later on, I will say that I probably wouldn’t have picked up the book after seeing the moive. I’m not just glad I read this book. I’m forcing it on anyone and everyone. That being said, it’s not for everyone. There is a lot of cussing. A lot of gruesome scenes. A lot of emotional and social questions that mixed with the poetic writing style really hit your core. All of which was left out of the movie.
Plot/Pacing/Writing Style
I am dead, but it’s not so bad. I’ve learned to live with it. I’m sorry I can’t properly introduce myself, but I don’t have a name anymore. Hardly any of us do. We lose them like car keys, forget them like anniversaries. ~ opening lines
This book had me from the first lines. I take that back… it had me from the first graphic. The writing style is beautiful. Almost poetic at times. I caught myself rereading passages just to soak in the imagery a little more. The story unfolded with enough time for you to get to know and care about the characters. The action moved things along at the perfect pace building to a conclusion that leaves you wanting more and yet answers your questions.
I wasn’t sure about picking up a zombie book. I’ve only read a few and while I liked them, I still don’t search for them. This was such an interesting twist on the normal zombie story. We see the zombies as real people. We feel with them. We sympathize with them. We see them act more civilized than their living counterparts. As humans, what do we lose when our sole goal in life is to survive? Not live a life, but just live. Watching Perry’s memories and being able to see his decent into merely surviving was depressingly realistic. Seeing these memories bring life back into R was equally as moving.
Characters
R is not the stuff of YA romances. He’s not drop dead gorgeous, however, he’s not bad looking for being dead. The best part is that you don’t care. He’s intelligent and yet unable to express himself. As the reader, I could feel his desperation. His changing has less to do with personality and so much to do with outlook. You can’t help but cheer him on.
Julie is a dreamer. She wants to live. As the daughter of the man responsible for keeping everyone alive, that isn’t always an easy perspective to have on their situation. She was tough and capable balanced with warm and understanding. It wasn’t just zombies that made her who she is and you wouldn’t know that from the movie.
Perry is a much larger piece of the puzzle in the book vs the movie. We don’t just see a flash of memory here or there. We see his life. We see his growth. We see his fall. He challenges and changes R in ways that neither of them could have possibly expected.
Favorite Quotes
The smell is not the musk of sweat and skin, it’s the effervescence of life energy, like the ionized tang of lightening and lavender.
There is a chasm between me and the world outside of me. A gap so wide my feelings can’t cross it. By the time my screams reach the other side, they have dwindled into groans.
“There is no ideal world for you to wait for. The world is always just what it is now, and it’s up to you how you respond to it.” – Perry’s father.
“My mom used to say that’s why we have memory. And the opposite of memory – hope. So things that are gone can still matter.” – Julie
Recommendations
While I think YA fans would like this book, it’s not teen. I’m recommending it to just about anyone I know 
Other Reviews
Rachel rated it 
Going Deeper (Thoughts on the Movie)
I’m not saying I didn’t like the movie. And yeah “the movie is never as good as the book”. And I’m over-thinking it… The movie was funny. It had action. It had the same basic plot. It was TOO DAMN HAPPY. The heart of the book was gutted and a few extra laughs added. Maybe I read into the book too much and created undertones of social collapse??
Has anyone else read the book and seen the movie? What did you think?
Other posts with a 4.5 star rating
*adds Warm Bodies to my already long TBR list*
You’ll like it. Don’t make me start nagging.
This does sound like something I would enjoy. I was worried it would be to YA for me. Though it sounds more along the lines of the Benny Imura series from Jonathan Maberry which I have loved even though it is technically YA.
I wouldn’t have known it was YA if I hadn’t seen the movie trailer. It is very adult. Not in a smexy way, but in content/violence/language. I think you’d like it.
I haven’t read the book, but I’ve seen the movie and I loved it. In fact, I’m going to see it a second time.
I hadn’t read the book previously because I’m not all that into zombie stories and this one just didn’t hold any interest for me. But after seeing the movie I really want to read it. And after reading your review, I’m kind of glad that I saw the movie first – I liked it *because* it was so happy and overall enjoyable. But I think I would also now enjoy the book, with its more gritty social commentary.
I think I would have enjoyed the movie more before the book (which is almost always the case and still I insist on reading the book first lol).
Hope you like the book too!