I Am Legend

Reviewing a book by comparing it to its movie is not the ideal thing to do, but I did watch the Will Smith movie first, which itself was not the first movie adaptation of the book - The Last Man on Earth and The Omega Man both were based on the novel and came out more than 30 years ago, and only more than a year later read the novel. Robert Nevilles character in the book is more complex, more prone to weaknesses, and more fallible than the movie character. In a post-apocalyptic world where a bacteria has killed most of the worlds human population and turned the survivors into blood seeking vampires that stalk Nevilles house at night, Robert Neville must live and survive, though seemingly without purpose. He frequently succumbs to bouts of drinking, frustration, and rage. He wages a lone, sometimes gruesome, and what often looks like a pointless battle against the vampires. Company comes in the form of a dog, that brings back to him a modicum of humanity he had long forgotten he had, and then in the form of a young woman who has just lost her husband to the vampires. The end is bleak and quite unlike the movie. This book is supposed to have inspired such legends, so to say, of the field as Stephen King and Dean Koontz. Not to mention its influence on a whole genre of gore-filled zombie infested movies of the 70s and 80s.

This is one of those classic books Ive been meaning to get around to. When it was finally on sale for less than a buck on the Kindle, I decided to take the plunge and I was not disappointed. Ive only read one of Mathesons other books (his latest one at the time of this review) but Im a big fan of his work on the original Twilight Zone and I Am Legend certainly has much of the same vibe as many TZ episodes. Many Twilight Zone episodes (including the pilot) dealt with a lone or small group of survivors after the apocalypse. Only in this case instead of nuclear war its a plague that gradually turns everyone into vampires. Its important to note that in many ways Mathesons vampires are more akin to the zombies of Night of the Living Dead and such than the vampires in Dracula or especially Twilight. These vampires cannot go out in the light and they drink blood, but they arent super strong or super fast and they cant change into other shapes. The way they shamble around, seemingly unable to even open a door, definitely makes them closer to zombies than vampires. Robert Neville is seemingly the last man on Earth, or at least the last man in his neck of the woods in California. After about five months hes built his old house into an impenetrable fortress thats stocked with food and has a generator for electricity. He even has a hothouse to grow garlic that helps keep the vampires at bay. Every night the vampires gather around his house, hoping hell come out. One of his former neighbors yells at him constantly to come out while the undead women strike lurid poses in the hope of coaxing Neville from his fortress. Most of the story then deals with Nevilles survival. In particular in how he has to deal with the crushing loneliness and isolation of being the only real human left. To help combat that, Neville begins trying to understand the disease that wiped out humanity and possibly to find a cure for it. Along the way we learn a little more about Nevilles life before the plague, in particular what happened with his wife and daughter. Though still by the end the details are a little skimpy, especially where the daughter is concerned. One bit of confusion for me was that it took a while for Matheson to really establish whether Kathy was the wife or daughter and the same for Virginia. Still, I found this a riveting, suspenseful read. Modern readers who yearn for buckets of blood and gore arent going to find that so much in here, but it is a fascinating tale of survival in the face of great horror and adversity. Another note is that if you saw the Will Smith film from a few years ago you should disregard that as except for the title and basic premise they dont have much in common. That is all.

It is a quick read at only 100 pages, and reminded me a lot of Michael Crichtons The Andromeda Strain. However if you like any form of neatly tied up answers and conclusion you will be somewhat disappointed with the ending. It left me dissatisfied in the way the vague ambiguous endings of The Twilight Zone and The Outer Limits do.

There were too many details when there didnt need to be and not enough when they needed it. Good concept though.

Just what I wanted and received BEFORE the stated delivery time frame. I knew I was ordering the hardcover version of the book, but I was surprised to see its size. Its a little larger than a paperback. Fits in my hands perfectly. I was kind of leery about the font sizes as I was sure shrinking it down would make it difficult to read (getting up in years, so my eyesight isnt so good). But again, I was pleasantly surprised to see that wasnt the case. Excellent readability. The stories contained within: I Am Legend Buried Talents The Near Departed Prey Witch War Dance of the Dead Dress of White Silk Mad House The Funeral From Shadowed Places Person to Person

“I Am Legend” is actually one of those extremely rare examples where the movie was a vast improvement from the book. In the movie, the protagonist is someone who is courageous, resilient, possessing great integrity, and generally someone you want to root for; in contrast, the book’s main hero is a hysterical drunkard who seems to be more concerned with his lack of sex life and not the fact that the world has come to a virtual end. Weird priorities if you ask me, concerning yourself with your urges and not your own survival. Quite a few times he actually ponders sticking it into a female vampire, technically a living corpse. Yes, it gets that gross. When he finally encounters a living female, his first response is not an empathic “poor thing, she has just lost her husband and children, I shall help her as much as I can,” but “she’s skinnier than I prefer them but I’d still do her… hopefully she’s not infected… I wonder why she’s so afraid of me though?” Yeah, I wonder too, you absolute brainless caveman. You have literally just chased her through the field when she clearly didn’t want to be anywhere near you; you slapped her and physically dragged her into your house and locked her in your bedroom. The insolence, not acknowledging you as her knight in shining armor indeed *heavy sarcasm here*. At this point, I was actually glad at how the book ended because the literary Robert Neville indeed would better off being dead than the movie one. The movie one I mourned; this one’s death I actually cheered. So yeah, if you watched the movie, don’t bother with the book. You’ll most likely end up being disappointed.

For being such a short novel (in length), I Am Legend is really full of interesting ideas and the superstitions regarding vampires. The novel was a good read and is Recommended Reading material for not only vampire novel-reading fans but to anyone who wishes to fulfill their reading of the late and great Richard Matheson.

Very different from the movie although it did have some similarities. There were a lot of words I didn’t recognize. I think because the book was written in the fifties. It got a little too technical for me but it was definitely an interesting read. Made you think.

I wanted to enjoy this novella more, but it didnt engage me enough to keep me turning the pages. I would put the book down for weeks and then pick it up again, read a bit more, and repeat the cycle. Sometimes the story bogs down trying to give a scientific explanation for the vampirism at the center of the book. This tedious attempt to take what at first seems like a supernatural phenomenon and show that it instead is due to pathogens is the same problem the second Japanese Ring movie had. It strips away a sense of mystery and wonder of uncanny, frightening, and poorly understood things. In addition, as other reviewers have noted, the scientific explanations dont entirely fit together, so whats the point of all the pseudo-scientific hokum anyway? The novella is restricted almost entirely to the lonely protagonists inner life, but the character is too generic to generate much human interest, and there isnt enough action to compensate. Its too bad the last man alive wasnt more beguiling. Nonetheless, the story takes some interesting twists and turns and creates an effective apocalyptic atmosphere that makes it a pioneering work for 1954 in the vampire genre. One bonus is that Matheson was writing long before stories about vampires became fodder for teen culture--his is a story for adults. Also, I appreciate that Matheson tackles the subject of normalcy vs. monstrosity and questions deep assumptions about the inherent value and superiority of humanity. One peculiarity of the story is that the vampires behave more like zombies than vampires of lore. Their vampire behavior relates to some of their limitations (e.g., their inability to be exposed to daylight, aversion to garlic, etc.), but otherwise they are like zombies roaming the nighttime landscape. The book is a mixed bag, but its literary strengths make it more than just another horror story.

I was apprehensive about getting this book because of all the good reviews surrounding it. I am somewhat skeptical of what everyone else thinks is good because I like to form my own opinions. Its not that I go out looking for things with bad reviews, (because most of the time, theyre right *grin*) just that I dont like to be overly influenced by other people. However in this case I can assure you, the hype is all that. All the stories in this collection are worth your while. Some are funny, some gross, all intriguing. I am Legend is the stand alone best though. It reminded me of The Omega Man, a movie with Charleton Heston, or perhaps it should be other way around. . .I am not sure about the dates. The one true man against a world of monsters. It is fantastic, people at work kept giving me strange looks because of how obivously into the book I was. I read it very fast, then again, it goes fast once you get past I am Legend, which takes up most of the book. The book is set up with I am Legend which is like 126 pages or so, and the others are kind of tag alongs, they dont deal with the first story at all, in fact none of the stories are related in any way, but as I said before, each have their own flavor and I loved each one and began to respect Mr. Matheson more and more as I went on. Check it out, if youre into horror, you dont know what youre missing. Five worthy stars!