Thursday, October 28, 2010

I Am Legend part 1

Shocker!!!! I had no idea that this book was about vampires in the least bit.  I remember seeing the trailer for this movie and it was never made too clear that this was about vampires.  Without seeing the movie I had already had preconceived notions on this book just from the trailers and I didn't think it was going to be that interesting.  The book started out slow and it was almost like the writing was dancing around the topic.  Nothing was really blatant until Robert Neville started talking about the garlic.  And just like me I don't understand the siginficance of garlic to a vampire.  When the vampires were taunting him to come out of the house I found it to be the norm as far as vampire novels are concerned.  They want to lure you out in some fashion in order to obtain what they want.  The part of the book where Robert drives to Sears and makes a few other stops and killed vampires during the day was fascinating.  To think that an entire town has been taken over by the undead it is something that is hard to imagine yet a definite page turner.  The chapter in the book when Robert was hung over and wanted to get out of the house and he ended up driving to his wife's grave was thrilling to me.  The fact that his watch had stopped, he left the garage door open and he had no idea what time it was.  I literally couldn't read it fast enough because it was so exciting how the vampires were waiting for him and chasing him while he was in his car.  So far this novel has been sooooo good.

2 comments:

  1. I also had no idea when I first started reading that this was a vampire novel. The movie, which I have watched, portrayed them in a very different light with only small subtle behaviors that hint towards vampirism. In the movie the “vampires” are ugly, gray, and have lost all their hair. This seems to scream zombie to me and I am sure most people who watch it. There seems to be very little at all that suggests that the humans that are infected are really zombies instead of vampires. Unfortunately since I saw the movie before I read the book I have the images of zombies in my head rather than vampires. Because of this the garlic part was almost confusing for me at first. I also liked the part when Neville was driving around killing vampires. He kills them like he has been doing it for what seems like forever. The book does get very intense in some parts, I could only imagine being out in the open with no idea what time it was and picturing vampires getting into my home. The terror and anxiety Neville must have felt would be almost too much to handle. Your blog is unique in the fact that you often speak about many of the parts you enjoy straight out of the reading, it is very enjoyable to see what someone else likes about a book.

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  2. I also really like this book. The monsters do seem to be almost a zombie-vampire hybrid. They crave blood, but they're mostly brain dead. I still wonder if the reason that all the classic things work on the vampires is due to the placebo effect. They think that it's supposed to work against them so it does. The evidence I found for this is the fact that religious symbols only work on those who practiced that religion in life. I really enjoy the fast paced scenes where he's racing against the clock to try and get back to his house before the vampires return. It really keeps you on the edge of your seat! It's way better than the movie, in my opinion.

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