Breathers

A Zombie's Lament

De: S.G. Browne

Narrado por: Kirby Heyborne

For fans of Max Brooks’s The Zombie Survival Guide and zombie aficionados everywhere, a hilarious debut novel about life (and love) after death.

Meet Andy Warner, a recently deceased everyman and newly minted zombie. Resented by his parents, abandoned by his friends, and reviled by a society that no longer considers him human, Andy is having a bit of trouble adjusting to his new existence. But all that changes when he goes to an Undead Anonymous meeting and finds kindred souls in Rita, an impossibly sexy recent suicide with a taste for the formaldehyde in cosmetic products, and Jerry, a twenty-one-year-old car-crash victim with an exposed brain and a penchant for Renaissance pornography. When the group meets a rogue zombie who teaches them the joys of human flesh, things start to get messy, and Andy embarks on a journey of self-discovery that will take him from his casket to the SPCA to a media-driven class-action lawsuit on behalf of the rights of zombies everywhere.

Darkly funny, surprisingly touching, and gory enough to satisfy even the most discerning reader, Breathers is a romantic zombie comedy (rom-zom-com, for short) that will leave you laughing, squirming, and clamoring for more.©2009 S.G. Browne; (P)2009 Random House

Reseñas de la Crítica

Browne's black comedy debut brilliantly reinvents zombie culture for the 21st century. Andy Warner reanimates after the car accident that kills his wife, but is too mangled from his injuries to talk. He lives in his parents' wine cellar, occasionally attending a zombie support group and struggling to rejoin a society that offers the undead no rights, bans them from working and doesn't even punish those who destroy them. When Andy and his fellow zombies—notably Rita, a sexy suicide victim with a lipstick fetish, and Jerry, a Playboy-obsessed stoner—learn why they're so driven to consume human flesh, the repercussions are both tragic and hilarious. Browne neatly mixes humor and extreme violence with a surprisingly tender love story, some witty social satire and an extremely strong narrative voice. (Mar.) --Publishers Weekly (Starred)

The dead shall walk the earth, and they’re hungry for…love?
Debut novelist Browne branches out from his mostly horror-related short stories and delivers a rousing entry in the Rom-Zom-Com genre. Based on his short story “A Zombie’s Lament,” Browne’s mortality tale begins rather grimly but almost immediately picks up speed and humor to evolve into a terrific comedy about the perils and joys of life beyond death. Browne’s hero is Andy Warner, who survived, so to speak, the car crash that killed his wife but lost his vocal chords along with his life. Reduced to a pathetic existence consisting mostly of downing his father’s wine collection, suffering Glade spray-downs from his mother and attending the occasional Undead Anonymous meeting, old Andy is in pretty wretched shape. His afterlife takes a turn for the better when he meets Rita, a pale but lovely girl who slit her own throat, and Ray, a feisty undead hunter. Before long, Andy is fighting against zombie discrimination, mutilation and other forms of abuse by those unenlightened “breathers”: “After all, what do I have to lose by standing up for myself? If being a rotting corpse with no rights and no future isn’t the worst thing that can happen to me, it can’t be that much further to rock bottom.” The book has its share of gruesomeness, but it also offers astute observations on the world in which we live.
A zombie comedy with brains. --Kirkus

Hooked immediately

Words can't describe this epic tale 8 was sucked into. I was craving more by the end yet was fully satisfied

Different, But Really Good!

I just finished listening to "Breathers", and I really liked it. The story is about "Zombies", so you can expect some gore. But, the story was really, really good.
Kirby Heyborne, was the narrator. He did a great job, of sounding like he was telling the story, instead of reading it.

Unique

It is unique to hear it from the zombie’s point of view and how he feels and deals with what has happened to him. A support group? Like it was something normal. LOL, great story.

fun quick listen!

my husband and I listened to this book on our way to VA beach. we laughed a ton. had to turn roll up our windows so people sitting in traffic wouldn't hear our zombie porn at certain points. totally a different way to look at zombies. so fun! highly suggest!

First person zombie POV works

Fun zombie read. You definitely empathize with the zombie plight. UA, LOL! Adam defo had a better life as a zombie!

Amazing!

Till this day one of my favorite books. If you have not picked up a S. G. Browne books, I highly recommend picking one up. As for Mr. Heyborne, what a perfect pick to read a book like this.

Entertaining but with grating reader

During the first few hours of this book, something bothered me. At first I couldn't figure out if it was bad writing or a bad narrator but I eventually concluded that I couldn't take another minute of this guy's voice - its meter, its emphasis, the way that the end of most of his sentences go up, like everything is a question. It was like listening to an Intro to Theater class get through their first monologues. The twentieth or so time the guy said "Breeeeeeethers" my driving partner and I both lunged for the dial and listened to talk radio instead.
Which is sort of a shame, because the story itself was good. Not great - not moving or particularly resonant - but a good driving book: fun and quick. Or, as Kirby Heyborne might say, "Fun and quiiiiick?" Overall it deserved a better narrator, one that better suited the sardonic tone of the narrative itself.
sigh.

Funny, Cute, Grusome

I don't think the summary does enough to warn would-be readers about the intricately detailed gore in this book. There's plenty of it, and although the zombie sex isn't all that graphic, the zombie feasting is. So be warned that if you have a weak stomach, you should probably step far away from this audiobook.

But for those who can handle it, this book is a marvelous treat. There is a lot of quirky humor and the story itself is very engaging. It starts out well, takes you through a rewarding ride and the ending is one of the most satisfying I've read in a long time.

The characters are fun, although some can be a bit cliched (Jerry, for example), they are still lovable and you become attached to them.

Kirby Heyborne does a terrific job of reading so I highly recommend this book to most people, even if they're not into zombies that much. For those who are fans of the living dead, this is a must-read.

I really liked this book!

I am pleasantly surprised that I liked this book as much as I did. Definitely dark humor and quite a bit of gore, but a fun listen. You will cheer for the zombies. The narrator is perfect for this story, and does a really good job.

Entertaining..couldn't put it down.

Not Scary, but revealing...a twist on "Night of the living dead" in the fact that you wake up after your dead, find a group session of other Zombies (who smell bad to) and find out you are not alone, but hated, but kind of like the Homeless, ignored until you are out on the street, and then watch out for rotten fruit, the wipping toys of frat boys. But Zombie Romance is in the air and what..a magic exlir..

Lamet, for sure, but I found it a great read...very well done.