I Am Legend

First and foremost, this isn’t a novel about vampires so much as it is a novel about loneliness. Robert Neville is isolated for years without any outside contact as the vampire hoard lurked outside his door. The shifts in his mood between apathy, anger, depression, desperate hope, and at times seeming madness and cruelty made his character feel real and believable. The chapter about the dog was so human it was painful. I thought that Neville’s exploration and experimentation in order to understand what the vampires were exactly and how the world was taken so swiftly was interesting. I appreciated the scientific elements that tried to explain well established tropes about vampires, either explaining how they could be possible or separating the ones that were no more than superstition. Many of the assumptions made in the novel were actually reasonable. The experiments that he carried out on those afflicted with vampirism, both alive and dead, made him a monster. The glee with which he executed or experimented on vampires showed his devolution from human to something else. This is where the novel hits kind of a tail spin. I get where the author is going with the evolution of humanity and how moral Neville’s thirst for knowledge and understanding was, but I feel like the novel got a little bit contrived around the end. Most of the novel was spent wondering where it was going, seeming just a bit confused and lacking any real direction. This made the second half of the novel feel forced and left me feeling like I had whiplash. Even so, I Am Legend stands as a classic because it was influential in the development of the zombie genre and the concept of a world wide apocalypse caused by the spread of disease and I can completely understand why. Even though the affliction is officially branded vampirism and explains vampire lore, the creatures in the novel are different from the types of vampires one is used to from other works of fiction and I found it refreshing.

Ive wanted to read this book for years because I loved The Last Man on Earth (1964) with Vincent Prlce. And surprisingly, the film adaptation was somewhat close (minus a few details of course). Robert Neville is a seemingly capable survivor of a sort of plague-driven apocalypse. The twist is, the plague turns the victims into zombie-esque vampires. Robert is immune but haunted by the loss of his beloved family. Whats truly chilling in both the book and aforementioned movie is Robert is not forgotten by the undead others. His neighbors and an old friend visit his house every night in an attempt to get him, throwing rocks and calling out his name. Yeah...creepy for sure. I loved the source material even though some parts dragged a smidge. Robert was a hard character to like, especially when he was drinking. But, his depression and rage are understandable...all the more frightening because that could happen to anyone in his shoes. Frustrated, sad but enraged, achingly lonely, and resentful of the world for leaving him like this - alone and scared. I recommend this book for fans of vampires, zombies, and post-apocalyptic tales. I also highly recommend Vincent Price in The Last Man on Earth, as his performance channels that deep angst so compellingly. Richard Matheson was a legend himself as this haunting tale continues to prove.

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.

I recently bought the kindle version and was disappointed to find sloppy editing had rendered portions of the beginning unintelligible. Buyer beware. However, please dont let that stop you from a compelling read. Unlike some of the clumsy Hollywood adaptations, I am Legend is subtle and introspective, with a solid foundation, regardless of the seemingly dated premise. It is the tale of Robert Neville, sole survivor of a plague which has swept society into chaos and ruins. Leaving the rest of humanity either infected, or worse, plunged by death into a half-life of gruesome hunger. Focusing on the crippling effects of isolation, suicidal depression, and profound loneliness as much as the horror of witnessing an extinction-event plague ravaging humanity, Matheson deftly paints a portrait of the depths and heights to which we all might aspire in the fantastic event of a worldwide vampiric epidemic. In light of the current undead craze infecting our collective imagination, Matheson is certainly ahead of his time considering this was written in 1954. Yet rather than take the easy, action-oriented formula so often utilized in this genre, Richard Matheson instead weaves an emotionally complex tale; a novel infused with palpable grief, enervating despair, and very costly personal redemption~while still delivering all the pure, wretched horror and taut drama we have come to expect and admire from a true Master of Macabre. Though not without its flaws, I am Legend is a remarkable achievement, one that deserves the cult status it has earned.

I love my vampire and zombie fiction, but this really isnt either of those. Its a lot more than just bloody gore and jumpy scares. Its also about survival, and the struggles of man with his inner demons and loneliness. Themes that go a bit deeper than your average zombie apocalypse movie. For that I actually really liked it, though it did start out pretty slow but once I got past the first few chapters it quickly became a page turner for me. Like many others I first heard about this book through the movies, for me it was I Am Legend with Will Smith. In my opinion if you havent seen the movies yet, or already have, then you should read the book as well. None of the movie adaptions have the same weight as the book does. Robert Neville the main protagonist, once an everyday average Joe he survives a deadly pathogen that goes on to destroy most of humanity. Now the world is populated with the living dead whos only living objective is to haunt the ruins of man looking for blood to gorge themselves on. With the world destroyed Neville is forced to become a survivalist. He turns his house into a fortress, sharpens stakes, and goes out hunting the vampires. Eventually he hones his skills to where he becomes an expert vampire killer second to none. Vampire survival isnt all of it however, Neville struggles with loneliness as well as his personal demons as he just tries to get by day by day. He seeks peace in music, books, or the bottom of a bottle. To give his continued existence meaning Neville occupies himself with almost pointless tasks such as trying to understand the very disease that took everything he knew. Hes very human, hes not going to fly through a church window on a motorcycle with duel wield guns and a katana. Instead hes a bored, half crazed, booze addled mess just as any other person who has lived as long as he had in that kind of world would be. If I had any reservations about the book it was its ending. I understand the theme but for a man who spent so much time killing vampires that he almost sees it as an art form, to just suddenly hand himself over like as a feasts main course seemed pitiful. I guess I just found it very bleak (and Ive read The Road). Still it didnt really take away because afterword it stuck with me and I dwelled on it for it awhile, a sign of a pretty good book ending. Its a good story, Robert is a very relatable character that is believable and to some degrees likable. The world he lives in is fleshed out by Matheson and the moments of sheer terror are well done, this is horror not just cheap jumpy scares. Its a very good horror novel about survival and vampires that no movie has matched, and probably never will.

Ive seen the movie version of I Am Legend at least twice, probably three times. And up until maybe a year ago, I didnt realise that it was actually a book, and a sci-fi classic to boot. Which also made me think - how many movies are based on, or inspired by a book we dont even know about? Im also not a fan of reading a book after seeing the movie - I always find movie versions are either a) completely different or b) a big fat let-down, so I was a little wary when I started reading. I really thought I wouldnt be able to get Will Smiths face out of my mind..... However, right from the beginning I realised that the book version of I Am Legend is different in several ways to the movie, and not once did I imagine Neville as Will Smith. The book is more personal and intimate than the movie, and the hopelessness and isolation Neville experiences comes through strongly. There is less action and less vampire spookiness, but their presence was always in the back of my mind the whole way through. Im really glad I put my habits aside and decided to read I Am Legend - and I will definitely be recommending it to anyone that interested in reading a sci-fi classic. Theres not a lot I can say that hasnt been said a thousand times and a hundred different ways before, but I found I Am Legend to be far more character-focused and emotionally intense than I imagined it would be.

Of course, most of us have seen the film I am Legend starring Will Smith. I liked most of the movie well enough, but wasnt very satisfied with the ending, so I thought I would give the book it was based on a try. Robert Neville is the sole survivor of a plague that has transformed the population into vampire-like creatures. Set in a California suburb in the mid seventies, this book chronicles Roberts daily activities of survival and understanding of the disease. He spends his days refortifying his home, restocking supplies, and exterminating any hibernating infected he comes across. By night, he hunkers down inside his home while the infected swarm outside, reminiscing about his deceased family, and studying the disease. He lives this way for several years when he encounters a woman out during the day, alone and wandering the town. Desperate for companionship, he makes a decision that changes everything and goes after her. The beginning of the book is very interesting. The reader is intrigued by what has happened that led to the current events of the story. The history behind the plague is revealed in bits and pieces, hooking the reader along. Roberts personal losses to the plague make the story much more compelling. The reader learns the nature of the disease alongside Robert, who is no doctor or scientist and after observation and trial and error, comes to his own conclusions about the plague. The final third of the book slows down a lot. By this point, all that there is to learn about the disease has been revealed and all the reader is left with is Robert and his loneliness, his own dehumanization as he lives in solitude. The book ends differently than the film, but is not really any better. The story was an okay read, but I feel I overpaid for it, especially for how old the story is. The story wasnt as good as I had hoped it would be. If you can acquire this book for free or for fairly cheap, then I would recommend it. But at the current kindle price of nearly six dollars, it is too much for a mediocre story.

Its not very often that I read a book that isnt YA. Its even more infrequent that I read a book that wasnt written in the last 2 years. I Am Legend was first published in 1954... So why did I pick it up? Well, mostly because I really liked the movie, and thats mostly because Will Smith is one of my favorite actors, if not my favorite. I Am Legend was certainly an interesting read. Matheson did an amazing job of getting the reader to feel the emotions the main character is reading, loneliness, craziness, despair, determination. The author has a fantastic understanding of basic human nature. Id heard the book was quite a bit different than the movie, but I wasnt prepared for HOW different it would be! Aside from the main character being on his own most of the time, nothing was the same. I was really surprised when I realized the book was about vampires, not zombie like creepy creatures! Dont even compare the two, just let them be their own separate awesome. For a book that is almost 60 years old, there really wasnt a whole lot that made it feel old. Except for one word that was used... which starts with a N (I wont say more than that, it was offensive)... I wouldnt have guessed it was written so long ago. Highly recommend if you want something with a MC who isnt a teenager, but something still with paranormal elements. 4 out of 5 stars!

So this is about the 10th last man on earth (its always a man isnt it, funny) novel that I have read, and I would have to say this is one of the best one so far. I went into this novel having seen the Will Smith movie, and not liking it so much. I think the deal is this: If you like the movie, you wont like the book, and vice versa. I wondered how I would like a novel where the human race has be destroyed by vampires, rather than zombies, nuclear war, or plague, but I would have to say, I think that for the context of this novel, it matters not at all how the human race was extinguished, it just was, and was replaced with vampire-like beings. The book reminded me a lot of The Road by Cormac McCarthy, in that the main focus of the novel is this how this last man deals with being alone on earth with little or no companionship. The book is a touch dated because it was written in the 60s, the vampires are a bit cliched and his views on women and sex are almost funny at times (for example, the female vampires try to lure him out of his house by being naked, and he sits inside and pounds his fist to the walls and drinks and cant look outside for fear of being lured out of the house for cheap sex). What I really liked about this novel, and why I gave it 5 instead of 4 stars, is it deals with so much, in so little space, its not a long novel, but it has a lot of depth, and its very accessible. The main character is your typical every day normal guy (I dont think it even said what he did before, other than he worked at a plant, I assume nuclear power plant? So he is Homer Simpson then?). Im sure you could sit down and pick this novel apart for its cliches and silly vampireisms, but in the end, you turn quickly from page to page, desperately wanting something to go right for this guy, and of course, you know it cant. He is the last human alive, surrounded by vampires, alone. Simply put. He is Legend.

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