Grimlock ♥ Ultra Magnus

Not even as far as writing, although it's a gorgeous use of language.   But I'm thinking more the ending, which, yes, brings hope from pain - but isn't the tragic ending of Shakespeare's Romeo and Juliet.   R.   Julie.   M(arcus).  Romeo, Juliet and Mercutio.   

There are obvious differences.   Warm Bodies is a zombie novel set in America, whereas Romeo and Juliet has no horror elements and is set in Verona.   Juliet's mother is alive, whereas Julie's mother is not.   But all these are details, and much of the spirit of the story is there.   The fact that this is a novel and the play is, well, a play has much more of an impact on the narrative flow.   Then again, this is not meant to be a play nor a straight retelling of Romeo and Juliet.   In fact, it's far better for the many and obvious differences, so much so that I feel that not only this story but The New Hunger - the prequel - work on their own merits.   This is a story which would work with far less allusions to Shakespeare's work, or even with none at all.  In fact, having read it already last year with the similarities in mind - and after I saw the movie - I spent much of this reread focused on the original aspects, the new mythology of zombies, and one that captivated me just as much the second time around. 

Let's be clear: I didn't want to read this when this first came out as I'm not a huge zombie fan, and I wasn't impressed by the Romeo and Juliet in Zombieland aspect.   I wouldn't have seen the movie except friends were, and so began a love affair.   The movie was brilliant and also had a screenplay by Isaac Marion.   I went out, bought the book, devoured it, and then bought the New Hunger, and devoured that as well. 

The concept of zombies as a disease is explored, and mentioned, a few times in the book. "...the cities we wander through are as rotten as we are."

"After all, I'm a cell in the cancer that killed her."

That's nothing new, nor is the death/living undead trope, the way that death and annihilation are connected to this new, unnatural being whose only feeling is that of hunger.   

"...insisting to myself that I can still smell things besides death and potential death..."

"Death takes hold of him with retroactive finality."

"'Bodies are just meat,' he says."

"The sparkle of life sprays out of his cells like citrus mist from an orange peel, and I suck it in."

(I'm partially including quotes because there is just no way I can ever match Marion's poetry.)

The whole 'petite mort' covers the death and sex connection, and has been expanded on in multiple mediums.   

"M thinks it's a sick fetish."

"The new love is simpler.   Easier.   But small."

"He always finds the women.   Their memories are porn to him."

What's new, then you might ask.   And you would be right to ask.   The hope, the questions of philosophy and morality, are new to me in zombie literature.   Oh, not in general, but done the way Marion writes them, certainly.   

"She is Living and I'm Dead, but I'd like to believe we're both human."

"I instantly regret speaking his name.   Rolling off my tongue, the syllables taste like his blood."

"But no, 'R.'  No sleep of the innocent.   Not for you.   Did you forget?   You have blood on your hands.  On your lips.   On your teeth.   Smile for the cameras."

There is some car stuff I like, too!

"Elegant Mercey is starting to look like a crumpled roadside tragedy."

"Mercey, Juie named it.   Who is this woman lying next to me, so overflowing with life she can grant it to a car?"

But there is one more quote I would like to share, that pretty much sums up how I feel about this novel. 

"But I'm a new thing.   A fresh canvas.  I can choose what history I build my future on, and I choose a new one."

Yes, this novel is a new thing.   And a glorious thing.   I really am not crazy about zombie fiction, but I love this new thing.