My Life as a White Trash Zombie

By: Diana Rowland

Narrated by: Allison McLemore

Length: 9 hrs and 5 mins

Publisher's summary

Audie Award Nominee, Paranormal, 2013

Teenage delinquent Angel Crawford lives with her redneck father in the swamps of southern Louisiana. She's a high school dropout, addicted to drugs and alcohol, and has a police record a mile long. But when she's made into a zombie after a car crash, her addictions disappear, except for her all-consuming need to stay "alive".

©2011 Diana Rowland (P)2012 Audible, Inc.

Critic reviews

"Allison McLemore's delicate voice and Southern accent give Angel's first-person narration a humorous kick. McLemore excels at bringing Angel's self-deprecating and sarcastic comments to life. Her brisk pacing suits Angel's personality and draws listeners in from the first chapter, keeping them glued to their earphones as she plays up the book's 'gross factor' with drawling descriptions of gooey brains and crunchy skull cavities. She's also good at giving unique voices and mannerisms to secondary characters." ( AudioFile)

unexpected great find

What made the experience of listening to My Life as a White Trash Zombie the most enjoyable?

The narrator did an excellent job.

What did you like best about this story?

The fact that the story was new and not the same tired "zombie" crap. And the main character is now in my top 5 favorite characters from any book series.

What does Allison McLemore bring to the story that you wouldn’t experience if you just read the book?

I think her accent was perfect. Her voice/accent was what made me decide to give a book with zombie in the title a serious chance.

If you could take any character from My Life as a White Trash Zombie out to dinner, who would it be and why?

Angel because we have a lot of the same attitudes about things. My favorite Angelism is "I'm not really a touchy feely type of person. I'm more the if we're not fuckin don't touch me type of person." Absolutely stealing that Angelism.

Any additional comments?

I originally got this for my 14 year old who is way into zombies. However I forgot to tell her. Then while scrolling through the over 300 audios I have trying to find 1 I hadn't listened to I decided to listen to it. And so glad I did because even though I love this book it is absolutely not age appropriate for her due to the language. However that's alright because it's age appropriate for me and I'm loving it. In fact after listening I purchased the rest of series & I'm on book 3 and still highly entertained.

A bit too much gore!

Would you try another book from Diana Rowland and/or Allison McLemore?

yes

Has My Life as a White Trash Zombie turned you off from other books in this genre?

no

What does Allison McLemore bring to the story that you wouldn’t experience if you just read the book?

She was very good. I don't have a lot of free time to read. Very busy so audio makes my work more fun.

Could you see My Life as a White Trash Zombie being made into a movie or a TV series? Who should the stars be?

no

Its better than you might think.

When I first noticed this title on Audioable I wasnt sure what to make of it. The title was kinda weird and the blurb reminded me of Izombie mixed in with a junkie main character instead of Liv. I was sceptical, but I was proven wrong by the great characters and the narrator.

My review:

The overall experience was above most of the zombie novels/ movies lately . They usually revolve around a survivor group vs zombies and a secret conspiracy. Here the main character is a zombie who tries to get her shit together and break "white trash" stereotype molds. All the while living as a functional "Izombie" without the visions from eating the brains.

The narrator performance really did the book justice 5/5 up there with the best like Adam vikas and Michael Kramer etc.
I actually think it lifts the total experience up 1 star and even the male voices where destinct and varied ,wich can be a challenge for some female narrators.

The weakest part of the book is the story sadly. I enjoyed the book , I loved the narrator and the characters and the obvious links to the authors own experience from law enforcement. However the story was weak with no big red line through or a goal set by a bad guy or the main character . Dont get me wrong, I wasnt bored but I sure hope something more happens in the next book.

4/5 Reccomended for zombie fans, and Iwill check out the next book.

Absolutely IN LOVEE!

Where does My Life as a White Trash Zombie rank among all the audiobooks you’ve listened to so far?

Definitely one of the top zombie books I've ever listened to!

Any additional comments?

Let me start off by saying I am not you're average zombie book fan. Don't get me wrong I like them but they aren't my usual nitch. I simply bought this book because it was the daily deal and I was out of books. I quickly became obsessed! I I love the characters in this book. They are so relatable and real. Even the ones you kinda hate like her dad and skezzy boyfriend Randy. Overall I would recommend this book to just about anyone enjoys some humor and action all rolled into 1.

A fun, light, yet engaging listen.

What does Allison McLemore bring to the story that you wouldn’t experience if you just read the book?

The accent! She did a great job.

Any additional comments?

A bit of fluff, but there is nothing wrong with that. I found it entertaining and I really enjoyed the narration.

Zombies can heal themselves?

Is there anything you would change about this book?

I have to admit it took quite a bit for me to suspend my ideas of what zombies are defined as now - rotting corpses that never look pretty for very long. But once I did it was an interesting read.

What was the most interesting aspect of this story? The least interesting?

I really liked how the author compared the hunger for brains with the hunger for drugs and how even as a brain eating zombie the heroine was a better person. It was a bit off kilter, but I liked it.

Do you think My Life as a White Trash Zombie needs a follow-up book? Why or why not?

It already has one.

Any additional comments?

The only thing that really turned me off was the idea that zombies can have sex? It sorta creeped me out and some of the descriptions.....well I can't give it away. So I'll just leave it at that. The narrator really was great though and she brought it all together very well.

Pretty entertaining

I like the accent the narrator uses. I also like the sound of her voice.

Story wise I was positively surprised. There's a lot to the various characters, they're multi-dimensional and for the most part very likeable and depicted in a sympathetic way. That's a nice change from the ususal cardboard cutout side characters.

I also like the way the author handled the topic of domestic abuse and child abuse. She didn't go the standard route of a family-values sob-story but stuck to a realistic depiction that made the main character look vulnerable as well as strong and capable.

I don't think I'm going to read the rest of the series, though, because I don't like the mafia/some asshats ruining things for everyone aspect that the sequel has in store. I like the topic as a sort of character portrait thing, but not as a 'let's go social and show how things get effed up' thing.

Great fun.

Alison McLemore has so much fun performing this story and it shows. The twists and turns kept me engaged. It was a romp.

1st person five star

Any additional comments?

1st person
Five star
I listened to books 1-4 which were a great listen Fun.
I think this is a great series but i stopped listening only because i started another series then forgot about it. Books 5 and 6 i have yet to listen. I will eventually get back to the series
originally listened in 2014

Slow but Good

The narration on this one was excellent and while it was a good story, it was very slow going for most of the book. The last hour really picked up and was an enjoyable listen. I liked that I did not figure out who the bad guy was until the moment Angel figured it out....and while I had an idea of who made her a zombie I was not positive....I look forward to starting the next one in the series.