I, Zombie

By: Hugh Howey

Narrated by: Paula Christensen, Lucien Dodge, Mozhan Marno, Greta Jung, Graham Hamilton, Adam Lazarre-White, Conner Kelly-Eiding, Michelle Carmen Gomez, Lorna Raver

Length: 7 hrs

Publisher's Summary

Warning: Not fit for human consumption

This book contains foul language and fouler descriptions of life as a zombie. It will offend most anyone, so proceed with caution or not at all. And be forewarned: This is not a zombie book. This is a different sort of tale. It is a story about the unfortunate, about those who did not get away. It is a human story at its rotten heart. It is the reason we can't stop obsessing about these creatures, in whom we see all too much of ourselves.

©2012 Broad Reach Publishing (P)2012 Audible, Inc.

A SHUFFLE OF ZOMBIES

MICHAEL ATE HIS MOTHER UNTIL HIS STOMACH BURST.
If you are going to listen to this, you better put on your big boy pants or hitch up your big girl panties, cause you are in for a gory, bloody, disgusting ride. SHE BIT INTO A LENGTH OF INTESTINE, RAW SHIT IN HER MOUTH.

SHE PRAYED TO A GOD,HE KNEW SHE DID NOT BELIEVE IN
This replaces Cell by Stephen King as my number one Zombie Book. Yet, there is room for improvement, as I will explain later. First I want you think about what it would be like to be a zombie. In this description of Zombies by Howey, they feel pain. They are brains locked up, with no control of their bodies. In other books, that don't explore the zombie side of things, they claim Zombies don't feel pain. In this book they do, but because the brain has no control, outsiders don't realize it. These zombies feel the cold, the heat, the bullets, the glass in bare feet, air on their sensitive teeth, their broken bones, etc. The writing is so good that you become the Zombie, this is YOU, Zombie. Imagine falling three floors, can't control your body and you land first on your knees and than on your face. Your knees are busted, but your body gets up anyway. Your body walks on busted legs and you feel the pain. You have no control over where you look, you see everything, unless you are the lucky zombie, who HAS NO EYES. Your mouth is wide open, your smell acute, as your face dives into a living person's intestines. I have always thought being alive in a paralyzed body would be scary enough.

THE WOMAN WITH NO EYES
There is a philosophical side to this also. Your brain remembers your previous life. You have days or weeks or years of nothing to do but think about your past and all the things you did wrong. King is the Ruler of this sort of fiction, when he writes about a woman, tied in bed and her dead husband on the floor, a man stuck in bed with a busted leg and a crazy lady taking care of him, a girl lost in the woods, a woman stuck in a car and a rabid dog outside, plus others. It makes you want to live your life a lot better, than they way you do now. Many people talk about going to heaven and you relive every minute of your life before you enter?

Improvements
This is the book I have been searching for and it is a great book. What a lot of people are not going to like, is that it is more of an anthology. As one reviewer writes, there is no story arch. For an hour or so, you following certain characters as they live the life of a zombie and than we move on to another story of another character and the two shall not meet. Only way to top this is to have a book, coming from the perspective of both the zombie and the chased, with a plot and the same characters throughout the book.

Narrators
They are all top notch.

65 of 79 people found this review helpful

why you DON'T want to be a zombie!

Any additional comments?

if you're into the whole zombie genre and are looking for something different, then definitely give i, zombie a listen. the book is broken into 6 parts. the first 5 parts tell the story of people who have become zombies. each part follows 2 or 3 main characters. as they shamble around, looking for fresh meat, they recount parts of their lives. as a zombie, they are fully aware of what they're doing, but they can't stop their bodies. they have no control over their need to feed.

there is a wide assortment of characters with diverse backgrounds. believe it or not, there's a lot of character development in each part. each character is different and has their own unique story to tell. actually, there's a lot of emotion in this zombie book. what do i mean? i felt different emotions from the different stories. to name a few, i felt sadness, disgust, contempt, and believe it or not triumphant.

the narration is excellent. each character has his/her own narrator, who brings the character to life even though they're dead. LOL

the writing is tight. there's nothing i would add nor remove from the story. there is a lot of gore, and the scenes of the zombies feeding are probably the most descriptive, disgusting, an horrifying i've ever read or listened to.

overall, a great and unique addition to my zombie library. so if you're looking for something different, then look no further. this is a great book from the zombie perspective. this is why you don't want to become a zombie!

7 of 8 people found this review helpful

True Human Endearment Story - Delicious POVs

What did you love best about I, Zombie?

I was absolutely enraptured at how Hugh Howey managed to take the most primal fears we all have as humans and warp them into reality. Without giving too much away, this series of short stories from many points of view, which belong to a much larger story that actually ends, steps us through the lives of real humans and how they are trapped inside their Zombie bodies and unable to stop their insatiable need for hunger and forward movement. Not only are they trapped, but in the real life everyday world scenarios of how people would be.

Stuck in the lunch room at the office, on the freeway in a traffic jam, taking care of elderly parents and children. The list goes on and on as to how everyday situations turned into nightmares for these people.

What was one of the most memorable moments of I, Zombie?

One of the most memorable scenes to me was the mother and daughter caught up in a tree. There were two points of view on this particular scene. One from a character we have followed on the ground, and the other from the Mother and Daughter. The decision this mother had to make after days of being held captive in the tree was simply terrifying.

SO many of these situations were excruciatingly difficult to tell, and to hear, but Hugh Howey truly makes you ask yourself... what would you do if it were you in that exact same situation?

Which scene was your favorite?

There is a scene with a little girl in her shop where she and her parents lived. After they all turned, and the parents died, the little girl simply wishes to go outside but cannot until a human family breaks into their shop scrounging for food. I won't spoil the scene... let's just say the little girl is no longer alone and lonely.

There is also an amazing story of a man who saves a baby. It is AWESOME!

Was there a moment in the book that particularly moved you?

I truly identified with the character who kept talking about how she prepped for the end of the world and had even purchased a good pair of hiking boots so her feet would be protected. But that particular day when the apocalypse hit, she was in high heels. She also spends time trying to figure out what to call their group of zombies as they travel... are they a horde? a murder? She finally decided on a shuffle. You'll have to listen to how this poor gal has to go through life in painful shoes!

Any additional comments?

This book is not for the weak of mind nor stomach! Hugh Howey totally pushes through the threshold and comes out squeaky clean. Masterfully created in tacking this type of point of view. Definitely not just another Zombie story. In anything... if is a true human endearment story.

2 of 2 people found this review helpful

Wow....

All I can say is wow, what a gruesome and grotesque story. I loved it, so unique and captivating. When it ended I just sat there for a minute and contemplated what had just happened. I am not the world’s biggest zombie aficionado, but this perspective and the performances - whew - amazing. Props goes to all the men and women who read the story, it must have been quite the undertaking. This book is not recommended for the queasy. VERY graphic VERY sadistic VERY explicit.

4 of 5 people found this review helpful

Great Concept, loss of an Opportunity

Would you recommend I, Zombie to your friends? Why or why not?

As a novelty only, not as a fully formed novel.

What about the narrators’s performance did you like?

Indifferent.

Was this a book you wanted to listen to all in one sitting?

No.

Any additional comments?

This was a real lost opportunity for Hugh Howey. What a great idea for a novel, to create a story arch through the varied eyes of different zombies. I was excited at first, listening to it, but was saddened to learn it was just vignettes of different zombies. Even when zombies were returned to, there was no real story arch. Just zombie after zombie, regretting life choices, helpless to the desire to feed. I do love Hugh Howey though- just bummed out at this one.

1 of 1 people found this review helpful

Definitely a new perspective.

If you could sum up I, Zombie in three words, what would they be?

For the three words, I'd have to say: Contained, Different, and Interesting.

Would you recommend I, Zombie to your friends? Why or why not?

I would but only to someone who is a solid zombie fan. It's a decent book, I really did like the perspective of seeing life from zombies view rather than the survivors. It was a good change, to the zombie world.

What about the narrators’s performance did you like?

This was definitely the best part of the book, for each individual character there is a new narrator. It's easy to keep track of who is who and you really get a strong feeling of a characters personality.

Was this a book you wanted to listen to all in one sitting?

Um.. I'm gonna have to go with no. I mean if I really wanted to I could have done it, but the book just doesn't that kind of draw to me.

1 of 1 people found this review helpful

Mindful Zombies...Ultimate Nightmare

Any additional comments?

Take heed, listeners. The author means it when he warns that this is not a typical zombie book and that it is, indeed, foul.

It is foul, disturbing, and very much an exercise in stream of consciousness from multiple perspectives of the individuals imprisoned in their own rotting, carnivorous bodies. It is the greatest nightmare for thinking independent people…to be conscious and aware, but have no control of the horrors surrounding them or the horrors that have taken control of their animated prisons.

I, Zombie is not for the typical zombie reader. If you want a plot or answers, there are dozens of alternatives available. If you really want to explore the questions, the potential consciousness, and the multiple human perspectives of horror, I, Zombie will disturb you to the core.

…but for the typical zombie reader, I, Zombie does reaffirm the instinct to smash a zombie’s head to nothingness…whether the zombie is mindless or mindful. It’s not only an effort to save the living, but also to put the reanimated undead out of their misery.

...and a special note to audiobook listeners...be careful if you're listening in your car or somewhere others might overhear. You will get some seriously dirty looks.

1 of 1 people found this review helpful

Oh WOW !!!

Not sure what to say about this book. But he warns you in the description. Not your typical Zombie story for sure. Probably should of given 4 to 5 stars on story, but there was so much disturbing content that I couldn't bring myself to.

Buy with caution and good luck

3 of 5 people found this review helpful

More gore-or than horror

I thought the concept behind this book was really well thought out and that the stories were definitely a unique perspective. However I felt that they were going for more of a shock value with the Gore then they were with the actual story. Still worthwhile read especially if you are JonesIng for a zombie fix

A Zombie book for the living not the undead!

This book relates to us as living creatures and our dowfalls as human beings. Take the chance to live and not merely exist. Don't wait until regrets about a life that will never be are the only thoughts left...

Didn't work for me

I enjoyed Hugh Howey's Wool trilogy immensely and I thought this one would be a pretty good read but it just didn't do anything for me.

There is no real plot just the point of view of several 'zombies' told as short interludes in what seems a complete mish-mash of ideas. The narration on the whole is very good but the actual stories seem somewhat rushed & unfinished.... Disappointing

2 of 3 people found this review helpful

An excellent addition to my Zombie book collection

I love all things Zombie but until now I've never come across a novel told from the Zombies point of view. Okay you could argue that Warm Bodies and the tv prog I Zombie did but meh!

Told in short chapters, this is a novel which leaves nothing out and yes it is gory and it does leave you with a horrible taste in your mouth but for me that's what a zombies life would be like. Imagine being totally unable to die and feel your body rotting away this is what this book totally does it brings you right into a ZA. It's visceral, bleak and actually funny in places.

Some of the stories did make me cringe and I did have to put the book down now and again but that's what a horror story should make you do. It should make your imagination work over time and it did especially when I had the lights off.

I really enjoyed some of the back stories and I groaned at some of the bad choices made which resulted in the person becoming a zombie thinking that I wouldn't make that mistake! I'm actually sad I've finished it and I will re-listen to it again.

Now I will just have to look for more like this....

Well worth the money/credit..