REVIEW: 'warm bodies' held my heart in 'R's' hand...

Warm bodies by Isaac Marion
Page Count: 240 pages
Star Rating: 5 stars
Movie conversion rating: 4 stars

'R' is a zombie. He has no name, no memories and no pulse, but he has dreams. He is a little different from his fellow Dead.

Amongst the ruins of an abandoned city, R meets a girl. Her name is Julie and she is the opposite of everything he knows - warm and bright and very much alive, she is a blast of colour in a dreary grey landscape. For reasons he can't understand, R chooses to save Julie instead of eating her, and a tense yet strangely tender relationship begins.

This has never happened before. It breaks the rules and defies logic, but R is no longer content with life in the grave. He wants to breathe again, he wants to live, and Julie wants to help him. But their grim, rotting world won't be changed without a fight...'

 

'R' is a zombie... but not the face eating fear inducing monsters we are used to... 'R' is changing. 'R' meets Julie... while eating the brains of her boyfriend Perry... but that's a whole different story! He doesn't know how long he's been dead; he just knows that while all the other zombies are slowly rotting and turning into 'bonies' 'R' is coming back to life... thanks to Julie!

Now this story is the classic Romeo and Juliet with some epic twists... instead of two warring families, you have the last of the humans against the Zombies (a pretty epic interpretation in my opinion)... a forbidden love and finally life (obviously opposite to the tragic ending of Romeo and Juliet... how can the dead die after all?).

This heartfelt story shows the struggle and importance of communication between partners at any point in the relationship... since 'R' is monosyllable in his language he learns to communicate in different ways... which really pulls on those heartstrings!

When you look at the story properly, its not just the story of 'R' rebuilding his existence but also Perry's story... shown through the digestion of his brain by 'R'... sounds totally gross but you learn so much more about the characters and you see and feel a whole host more emotions and memories... especially when 'R' begins to dream! Oh so good!

I watched the movie adaptation before I even knew it was a book; so when I realised I search amazon for the copy I wanted and then delved into 'R's' world... and my god I couldn't put that book down! I read it in a matter of hours and in my honest opinion I think the movie was actually a good interpretation. The major things they kept *but did move a few minor scenes around- but hey its Hollywood* except one huge plot twist at the end... which I think would have been exceptional in the movie- not going to spoil it though... so go read the book!


Now I think they got the casting half right for the movie... 'R' was cast perfectly; I don't think anyone other than Nicholas Hoult could have played the heartfelt zombie! However I think the casting of Julie was off... Julie was described as having short blonde hair and a bubble of emotional expression when in fact they cast a Kristen Stewart look-a-like who failed to show the expressions the books demonstrated so well. I think they were aiming for a zombie version of Twilight and didn't quite make it... which is sad really because this is nothing like Twilight and I really wished the industry would stop comparing every paranormal romance to Twilight!

I cannot wait for Marion's prequel coming out soon!

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