I will start off this post by saying that I loved everything about this novel. The way that it was formatted as a blog post per chapter so that it was open to the public, the chapters short and easy to read with good basic story writing and interesting characters was brilliant. I say this because this is the first time and only time I've ever heard of anything like that and it had the talented writing to back it up. That was the first step David Wellington did right when tackling such a project as a zombie based novel. I'm implying that a zombie novel is difficult because there isn't much one can do that has not been done already. We have almost seen every angle that can be taken of zombies including to inside of the zombie itself. However, David cleverly found a loophole by writing from the point of view of a kind of hybrid between undead and human. This way not only are we getting the suspense of trying to live through the zombie apocalypse as a human in an infested world but also trying to "live" in an infested world with humans trying to kill you. We also get the opportunity to theorize what exactly it would feel like to be zombified with dying tissue, organs, and muscle matter since we live through the experience as the character does. The very fact that Gary medically kept his brain in tact during the transformation so that he kept some of his humanity because the hope of surviving completely human was slim to none, was a genius piece of plot that, in my opinion, made this novel.
The blog posts themselves are interesting because, as I said, they aren't significantly long. A reader can easily get through 10-11 chapters within an hour if they're hooked and I'm sure the majority will be. We're in the day and age where we have seen almost anything and crave for the new. In fact, this might be one of the few novels that the majority of our class actually read instead of skimming it. Now there are many novels coming out with the "bad guy" point of view, skewing the original stories to make a completely new one with different moral and value sets. This is another such work however it's extra appeal is that it reads like a comic book. At the end of each page is yet another twist that keeps the reader hooked until the next "issue". The characters have very distinct characterizations that make it easy for the audience to picture in their heads and follow their actions even though there aren't any physical pictures of them anywhere. It's hard to help after the first few pages not to have a favorite character that you hope will make it to the end but sometimes die within the blink of an eye. My only wish is that this DOESN'T become a comic. As it is, this novel is extremely interesting because it's the first I've read that reads like a sequential piece and doesn't become one. In fact, to make it one would ruin some of the original texts charm.
Later: Looking back on all of the works we had read and movies we have watched and things we have discussed in class, I still think that this particular "novel" was one of my favorites. First off, it's a zombie story which instantly makes it awesome but it is done in such a way that the creatures seem that much more believable. I absolutely LOVE the online format and I really REALLY wish that more authors did something like that. It really does make the novel easier to read and easier for us younger generations to get in to. Is is especially helpful for those kids that struggle with reading just by seeing the amount of pages they have to go through. In the case of this "book" being in a blog format is that we don't quite realize just how much we are reading. Also, each post is a new surprise and keeps the audience hooked and sitting on the edge of their seats. Overall, this is plain and simply well written which is extraordinarily commendable in this day and age where books like Twilight exist. The revamped monster story done right. I'm glad to have taken this class JUST because I got to know of this novel's existence, that's how much I appreciate it.
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