The Last Weekend

Vasilis "Billy" Kostopolos is a Bay Area Rust Belt refugee, a failed sci-fi writer, a successful barfly, and, since the exceptionally American zombie apocalypse, an accomplished "driller" of reanimated corpses. There aren't many sane, well-adjusted human beings left in San Francisco, but facing the end of the world, Billy's found his vocation trepanning the undead, peddling his one and only published short story, and drinking himself to death.

Things don't stay static for long. Billy discovers that both his girlfriends turn out to be homicidal revolutionaries. He collides with a gang of Berkeley scientists gone berserker. Finally, the long-awaited "Big One" shakes the foundation of San Francisco to its core, and the crumbled remains of city hall can no longer hide the awful secret lurking deep in the basement. Can Billy unearth the truth behind America's demise and San Francisco's survival - and will he destroy what little's left of it in the process? Is he legend, the last man, or just another sucker on the vine?

Nick Mamatas takes a high-powered drill to the lurching, groaning conventions of zombie dystopias and conspiracy thrillers, sparing no cliché about tortured artists, alcoholic "genius", noir action heroes, survivalist dogma, or starry-eyed California dreaming. Starting in booze-soaked but very clear-eyed cynicism and ending in gloriously uncozy catastrophe, The Last Weekend is merciless, uncomfortably perceptive, and bleakly hilarious.

©2014 Nick Mamatas; First Night Shade Books edition 2016 (P)2016 Audible, Inc.

The narrator

The narrator saved this book. I love the zombie genre, but this was more a whining writer than a great book. Had I been reading it, I doubt I would have made it past chapter one.

Bypass if you're looking for a zombie book

This is not, ABSOLUTELY NOT, a zombie book until the last hour of the book. This is more like a comedy/tragedy set during a zombie post/apocalypse. The main character isn't very likeable, though he does have character development by the end.

However the plot is very very hard to follow. Half the time they're just drinking in the bar with tons of
background character descriptions that add nothing to the story or he's pining for a drink, and the other time you're in flashbacks about his life before the dead walked. There is very little tieing the plot together.

It's good for listening as background noise. The narrator does a fantastic job of bringing the characters to life. Unfortunately, that's really the only thing going for this audiobook. It was free so i didnt lose much getting it, but probably won't listen again.

Disappointing

My hopes started out high and steadily declined from there.Not worth it.I love apocalypse style stories but this was sorely lacking

eye roll

are you serious? I havent even finished yet. This writer must be a perpetual creative writing student, uncel and raging alcoholic. most likely depends on their word of the day calendar. My eyes have rolled so many time so far that I have a headache.

A more cerebral zombie story than you might expect

I haven't read much by Mamatas but what I have read has been interesting. Stuff that has made me think and examine life. There were parts of the book where I felt that if I wanted the full effect, I would need to sit and analyze different elements. The kind of writing that just screams "dissect my symbolism!"

The story here focuses on Billy as he tries to survive a post-apocalyptic but still functioning world. Zombies have disrupted the United Stated but not destroyed it. City government is still functioning and hiring drillers to finish any zombies that appear, a job for which Billy is newly hired. We follow Billy as he performs and excels at his job but then at the same time suffers with the other aspects of life: relationships and his heart's desire of being a writer.

There are a lot of elements to Billy's life that readers get to consider: conspiracy theories, letting the world impact your life, the starving artist. I found the novel fit into a Venn Diagram of Enjoyment, Literature, and Cliche. The starving artist cliche became a bit much and was borderline annoying before I found myself back in Enjoyment which would morph into Literature. Some of the symbolic portions left me realizing there was more depth to the novel than expected; other portions had me knowing that something was there but that I was missing something. Overall I enjoyed the book and look forward to reading more stuff by Mamatas. At the same time, I understand many of the more frustrated reviews.