Review: Warm Bodies by Issac Marion

Title: Warm Bodies

Series: Stand Alone

Author: Issac Marion

Published: 2011

Edition Read: Nook 

Pages:  256

Level Recommended: Adult Fiction

Overall: I wanted to like this novel. I really, really did. Alas I didn't. 

Summary (From Barnes and Noble) : 

R is having a no-life crisis—he is a zombie. He has no memories, no identity, and no pulse, but he is a little different from his fellow Dead. He may occasionally eat people, but he’d rather be riding abandoned airport escalators, listening to Sinatra in the cozy 747 he calls home, or collecting souvenirs from the ruins of civilization.

And then he meets a girl.

First as his captive, then his reluctant house guest, Julie is a blast of living color in R’s gray landscape, and something inside him begins to bloom. He doesn’t want to eat this girl—although she looks delicious—he wants to protect her. But their unlikely bond will cause ripples they can’t imagine, and their hopeless world won’t change without a fight.

My Thoughts: I made a huge mistake when I initially started to read this novel. My huge mistake was that I read this book because the movie trailer had peaked my interest. It's my fault, really, for expecting this novel to be at least somewhat close to the movie trailer. Because of the trailer I expected the book to funny and a bit silly. I really expected to throughly enjoy a comedic story about a teenaged zombie who falls in love, quite inexplicably, with a live human girl. While almost all of that sentence is true--R, the main character, doesn't really know his actual age--the book was not a funny one. Not even a little bit, and sadly I don't think it ever really was meant to be. But, this first impression of the book that I got from the movie trailer, really colored how I approached this book. 

I kept expecting comedy, and I kept getting a seriously, muse-y story that tried to make me think of the existentialism of zombie life. R is introduced in the book as a zombie who thinks quite a bit about his life and asks himself almost constantly where he came from. He has no idea who he is because his memory of his past life has been wiped from his mind completely. He doesn't even know his whole name. All he has is R. 

R lives in an airport with several hundred other zombies and Boneys. Boneys are the leaders of the fleshy zombies. It's assumed that, since they are almost completely bone, that these Boneys have lived longer then any of the flesh zombies. However, R doesn't know how long even he has been dead since the zombie rate of decomposition is different for all of them. Some slowly decompose and could have been dead for years. Some decompose very quickly and have been dead only a short time. 

Although, how does R even know this since time seems to have no meaning for him considering that he doesn't even know how long HE'S been dead. Right? 

As the introduction progresses R meets another zombie, falls for her, and is 'married' to her by the Boneys. They are even given zombie children to raise and teach about zombie life. Eventually R and several other zombies go on a hunting trip, and find a small group of teens. R knows that once he eats even a bite of a live human's brian he'll instantly be treated to that human's memories. Those memories are like a drug to R and all other zombies. This time R looks up from his meal to realize that the teenager's delicious memories make him fall in love with the teenager's girlfriend, Julie. As soon as R looks at Julie he knows that he has to protect her no matter what the cost. This need to protect Julie is what pushes R throughout the rest of the novel, and what eventually causes all of the zombies to start to change back into living humans. 

As sweet as the premise of this book is (I mean the premise is what really pushed to me get the book in the first place, right?)  I just found myself not enjoying this book. I wanted to root Julie and R on in their road to falling in love, but I just couldn't seem to get behind their romance at all. I don't know if it's because R's initial and continuing motivator are the memories that he takes from Julie's now-dead boyfriend. Or if it's because Marion gives R the easiest way out of being hated by Julie when she tells him off-handedly she really can't blame whichever zombie ate her boyfriend. OR if it's because the poor eaten kid gets his memory trashed a bit by Julie and her friends when they remember how annoying he was towards the end of his life. 

Maybe it was just a bit of all of that, but I really just couldn't get behind Julie and R as a couple. In fact I finished the book, and every time I talked about it with someone else all I could say was "Ehh, it's alright." No gushing. No "OMG I can't wait to finish this book!" feelings at all. At the very end all I said was "Finally, I finished the thing." 

There were plenty of book bloggers that I usually agree with that loved the book. Like:

Angie from Angieville loved it.

Thea from Book Smugglers loved it. 

But, I just didn't. 

Then I read the Bookish Brunette's review and found someone who felt just about the same way as I did. This zombie book, even though we love zombie books, was too much "feelings", which zombies? Yeah, zombies are not what I think of when it comes to having introspection and feelings and thinking so darn much about life. This book wasn't bad, but it was just "eh" for me. 

Recommended For: Adult or Older Teens

Side Note: I also read and loved an article published on the blog Read Now Sleep Later about some apparent ranting that Marion did when he realized his book was being sold as Young Adult rather then the Adult grouping he expected it to be in. I really couldn't say any of what was written on Read Now Sleep Later any better. I highly suggest reading the article for yourself. 

How to Find an Original Image Source

You see this happen a lot in social media. Something looks neat, and a ton of people repost an image. The problem here is that a lot of people post an image without crediting it's original source. I could say, "It's fine! That happens.", but  really I can't.

In a time where EVERYTHING is digital we have to learn how to credit a source. Not only is it plain old good manners it's required of our children to learn how to give credit to the original creator of a digital work. Whether or not they are completing a school assignment or simply reposting something online in their personal time.

Just how do you start?

First you need your image URL. Right click on your image and copy the address. OR open your image in a new window or tab then copy the URL.

Go to Google Images and click on the camera icon.

A little pop-up window will appear. 

The search engine will give you a list of results. Yes, you will have to click and search a bit to find the image. Remember: Look at the link before clicking on it. Sites like Reddit or sites that have changed the image in anyway are also less likely to have an original source credited.

I was able to find a little article published on a website called Fashionably Geek. Since I already was familiar with Fashionably Geek I knew that it would more then likely have credited the original source. 

And there it is. Thank you Fashionably Geek!

Even though I couldn't find the original image I was able to know who the original creator was. Which means I am able to credit the creator for the image.

2012 Books on my Nightstand: Part 2

Part one of this review of Books on my Nightstand can be found here. This is the exciting conclusion of 2012 books I'm currently reading and have sitting on my nightstand. 

5) Throne of Glass- I read three of the four e-book novellas released before Throne of Glass, the first in a three part series, was released. (Check them out if you're interested.) I was a little disappointed in the novellas. Not because Maas isn't a talented writer, but because I probably built up this series a lot in my head before reading it. Still, it's a book I'm enjoying and I can't wait to read the final novella and finish the novel. I'm hoping it ends with a bang.

6) Ripple- Another book I read about before I went into my book blog coma. I loved Mandy Hubbard's  But I Love Him, and this book promises to be just as dark. Of course I was in my book blog coma so I totally missed that she also released Dangerous Boy. I just may pick it up later on. First, I must finish Ripple.

7) Sweetly- Another fairy tale re-telling by Jackson Pearce. (Yes, I know. I'm behind, and she's also released the third novel in this series, Fathomless.) I was a little disappointed when Sweetly didn't move as quickly along as Sisters Red did. Then, it seemed like Jackson turned around the changed the witch in the story to fit in with the Sisters Red world, and, well, it just kind of bummed me out. I know I should finish it, and I will because I really enjoy Jackson's writing. I just need to get past what's hanging me up.

8) Warm Bodies- If you are like me and you've been to the movies you know this is coming out soon. I thought the movie looked really funny, and decided that I just had to pick up the novel before the movie comes out. Cause I'm old school like that. It's been my holiday read and so far I have some mixed feelings about it.

9) You Can't Make Me (But I Can Be Persuaded)- One of my non-fiction books this year. I picked this up after hearing the author talk about strong-willed children. What she described rang so true to me that I went ahead and picked up a copy for my Nook. I haven't read too far into it, but hopefully I'll finish it soon.