First sentence: “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.”
“My friend ‘M’ says the irony of being a zombie is that everything is funny, but you can’t smile, because your lips have rotted off.”As the story progressed, the turning point was really R’s will to live. And although it was brought on by meeting Julie, I wouldn’t call the story a romance. At least not in the sense that most people probably assume. To me, Warm Bodies had more similarities to a dystopia than any paranormal romance. Things are unquestioningly a certain way. R begins questioning the way he lives and wondering if it’s possible to change and be something more, much like heroes and heroines of dystopias. And Julie is struggling with the same question from her side. When they meet and begin their adventure, their unwillingness to do what everyone else would and do what everyone’s always done is what separates them from the rest of the world. R and Julie challenge their way of living and that’s what makes this story so great. It’s not so much about R being a zombie and Julie being a human and them falling in love. It’s about their will to change the way of things and I respected that. The story even goes far enough to ask questions about how the world got the way it did and what it means to hold onto their humanity and how to rebuild and various other questions that add depth to the story.
“I notice a female on the opposite conveyor. She doesn’t lurch or groan like most of us; her head just lolls from side to side. I like that about her, that she doesn’t lurch or groan.”
“There is no ideal world for you to wait around for. The world is always just what it is now, and it’s up to you how you respond to it.”Warm Bodies was fun, thought provoking, amusing, and adventurous. I loved R’s character and his way of looking at the world. Though his narration wasn’t as funny as the movie previews led me to believe, it was still humorous and quite enjoyable. I was blown away by how unique and original the entire concept of the novel was. If traditional zombie lovers can set aside their stubbornness and look outside of the box, I think they’d enjoy the story. And if people who dislike traditional zombies can handle a little bit of gross stuff and a little decomposition, they’d enjoy it, too.
“We cast our votes and raised our leaders, charming men and women with white teeth and silver tongues, and we shoved our many hopes and fears into their hands, believing those hands were strong because they had firm handshakes. They failed us, always. There was no way they could not fail us—they were human, and more importantly, so were we.”
Labels: Book to Movie, Review, YA