Warm Bodies by Isaac Marion. Atria Paperback (Simon and Schuster Imprint) 2011. 239 pgs (paperback). Fiction, zombie romance.

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Isaac Marion’s Warm Bodies is a classic love tale set in a post-apocalyptic America, a land that has been ravaged by plague and where the clusters of Living survive in makeshift communities in sporting superdomes across the country. Despite its strange premise, I found myself really enjoying this book. I thought Marion’s zombie myth was especially thought-provoking, considering that his Dead participate in a fundamental type of culture, complete with a rudimentary church. In Marion’s world, zombies get married and send their children to school. It was definitely a huge overhaul of everything zombie related I had ever read, watched, or heard about.

Marion’s writing is witty and dark, but his characters aren’t overly depressing or one-dimensional. R, the main zombie, is a little quirky. He has advanced thought patterns and can say a handful of words. While he does eat humans, he feels bad about it and longs to make connections with the other zombies that live in the airport with him. This all changes when R meets a girl while on a hunting expedition in the city. Instead of eating her, he drags Julie back to the airport and hides her in his airplane home. R makes it clear that he doesn’t want to hurt her. Through a series of interesting twists and flashbacks, we are taken on a unique and sometimes crazy journey. There is just something about R and Julie that begins to change the nature of the virus that destroyed their world.

This is not a YA book, despite the way the upcoming movie is being marketed. It’s accessible to any age, I think, and it’s definitely a book to read if you’re at all interested in zombies. Marion’s zombies have a culture despite being more or less dead. The zombies seem to retain some human memories, especially in hilarious zombie “sex scenes.” Over all the book is very enjoyable, and I’m excited to see the movie!

To put it simply: Warm Bodies is Romeo and Juliet meets Zombieland.