'Warm Bodies' and Why You Should Read It

Guest post by Jason. Find out how you can become a guest blogger on A BookLover's Diary. 

Okay, so I have to start out by telling you that I had no idea this book even existed before I saw the awesome movie trailer during The Hobbit. Warm Bodies is author Isaac Marion’s first book. And while I am not saying it is the best book I have ever read, it certainly impressed me. Why? Well, because of what the story line is all about.

The story line behind Warm Bodies is that a zombie living in an airport thinks about his life. Really, that by itself is enough to give you pause. The zombie is the hero of this book and the one you are rooting for the whole way through. Unusual enough. But then add to this a sort of existential crisis. The zombie can’t remember his name, something that starts with R, and has a best friend who communicates with him mainly through grunts, groans, and exasperated stares.

Then, one day, R and his fellow zombies go on a hunt. They need to eat warm bloods to survive. They do not call them human because they consider themselves still human. They do not consider them alive either because that would mean that the zombies were dead, which clearly they were not. Anyway, to the point. During this hunting expedition R runs across a warm blooded girl… and falls in love with her.

via Movies.com

R takes the girl, Julie, back to his airport home and protects her from being eaten. She, of course, is confused by his actions. As the story progresses you begin to understand what makes Julie so special and what makes R so human. It is not how their blood moves or even how they move, it is how they see the world. They both share an understanding that living is about more than just survival.

Eventually, Julie must return to her world and R to his, but that is when things start to go wrong. R finds he cannot live as a zombie anymore, and his friends start to feel the same way. It is almost like Julie has brought an infection into the zombie community. An infection of humanity. However, the skeleton-like leaders of the zombies do not like change. And neither does Julie’s General father.

Like Romeo and Juliet, this story of doomed (or maybe not) romance resonates with you long after you have finished reading it. It really makes you think about what makes us human. Is it enough just to survive from day to day, going about our assigned jobs and never deviating from the norm? Or should living be about more than that?

Warm Bodies is a short book but a powerful one full of romance and action and, yes, inevitably violence. Though it is a bit gory in parts, the majority of the book is not focused on that. Instead you are focused on the relationships that form and the impact that our memories have on who, and what, we are.

The book is full of comedy also (as looks to be the movie). I mean, how can you have a zombie and human romance without a sense of humor about the whole thing? From human makeup to cover zombie pale skin to ‘holy’ marriages between zombie couples with instant children, the book is rife with irony, poking fun at the genres of both horror and romance.

Like I said, I first became aware of this book when I saw the awesome trailer at a showing of The Hobbit. It is coming to theaters on February 1, 2012, just in time for Valentine’s Day. Watching the trailer is a great way to get a feeling for the book and the movie as a whole and really sets the tone.

You can watch the first four minutes of the movie version here:

Needless to say, I will definitely be checking out this film. Take the time to read the book first to get the full story, but be prepared for a little deviation and extra action in the film. They have to get that zombie appeal up, right?

Jason Miner plays a vital role for www.blogcarnival.com.  He is an expert in writing topics of different categories.  He is helping the carnival team to grow & working on making this an even better place for bloggers.