I Am Legend and Other Stories in The Alternative Worlds

Dec 17, 2008 Danielle The Book Huntress rated it it was amazing

Shelves: vampire, favorites, owned-copy, short-story-collection, classic-horror, apocalyptic-postapocalyptic-dystopi

It was really good. Neville is a very interesting protagonist. You really want to root for him that he will survive. I don't want to spoil you, but the ending will definitely hit you like a one-two punch. I definitely wanted a different one. Nevertheless it was one of the best short stories I have ever read. I finished I am Legend more than a year ago. It had such an effect on my psyche that I had to put the book down. Let me tell you a secret. I am a bit of a whimp when it comes to horror. Yet It was really good. Neville is a very interesting protagonist. You really want to root for him that he will survive. I don't want to spoil you, but the ending will definitely hit you like a one-two punch. I definitely wanted a different one. Nevertheless it was one of the best short stories I have ever read. I finished I am Legend more than a year ago. It had such an effect on my psyche that I had to put the book down. Let me tell you a secret. I am a bit of a whimp when it comes to horror. Yet like the worst masochist, I adore horror. I love being scared and that feeling of unsettledness that settles in your stomach like a heavy meal. Anyway, I felt like I wanted to finish it, because I really liked Matheson's writing. And I paid a lot of money for the book ;)
I pulled it out the summer I moved back to TX and read some more. There were some excellently written stories, all deeply disturbing. One of the most effecting is one where a henpecked young woman under her mother's thumb buys a Zuni doll for her boyfriend that her mother has forced her to break up with. The Zuni warrior comes to life and tries to kill her. She manages to survive but her mind is possessed by the Zuni doll and she calls her mother over to visit. The story ends with her jabbing a knife into the floor in the same motion the Zuni doll uses. The end is particularly disconcerting because you know that a horrendous fate awaits her mother.

Another story was a little too unsettling. It's set in the future after wars and people have barely managed to keep a semblance of normal life. A sheltered suburban girl meets a dangerous crowd in college. They go to the city to a club where there is a unique show. A woman who has become effectively a zombie from a drug that she overdosed on. That scene was really hard to read because the horror is knowing that this was a normal girl who was changed by this drug she abused. And the other element of horror rests in the fact that the young, sheltered woman is about to walk down the same path. That was not my favorite story.

Another story features a man who goes to the funeral parlor to plan his wife's service and arrangement. It ends with him going home to kill his wife. Very unsettling. As I have described, some of the stories are quite disturbing, some horrific, and some humorous.

I loved the story in the funeral parlor where a vampire wants a funeral and he invites a host of ghoulish creatures. And the witch and this other character has a fight. Of course the werewolf has to go because he is called by the moon to hunt. It was really funny.

I also loved the one where the guy has been hexed by a witch doctor in Africa and his fiance calls her anthropologist friend who studied witch doctors to save him. It was really really good-my second favorite after I am Legend. I think it be great as a movie short.

Probably the most disturbing story was the one with a man who has anger issues. His anger has possessed his house, for lack of a better description. He is a frustrated writer who cannot write and has allowed bitterness to kill him slowly. Strange things happen to him at home, rungs slip, pencils jab him, he bangs his knee everytime he sits down at the table. His wife has decided to leave him and he cannot ask her to stay, although he loves here. His friend at the university where he works who is a scientist warns him about the house but he doesn't listen. He manages to get fired by yelling at a student and goes home. His wife is there and asks him to tell her to stay, he runs her off, and the house takes his revenge. This story comes across like a Greek tragedy. You can see the path that the character is taking but you are helpless to stop it. This is the side aspect of horror. The horror lies not necessarily in the supernatural elements but the poor choices the characters make.

I can see why Matheson is cited as an influence by Stephen King. He definitely has a feel for the horrific in various forms.
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Jan 17, 2011 Kevin Xu rated it really liked it · review of another edition

Shelves: re-read

different than the movie

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Aug 10, 2009 Nicky rated it liked it

Shelves: post-apocalyptic, dystopia, horror, vampires, zombies

Hmmm, where to start. I picked I Am Legend up in a charity shop spree, but I've been meaning to read it for a while. Had no idea what it was about, but knew it was Something I Should Read. So I picked it up for, what, 79p? Awesome. Turns out, it's a kind of post-apocalyptic thing, and it's about vampires. It's not simple horror, and I didn't find it very scary, but there are all these attempts to make it make sense and be almost scientific. It doesn't really work, it just comes off as pseudo-sci ...more

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Aug 03, 2007 Wealhtheow rated it liked it

Shelves: fantasy, post-apocalyptic

He is the last human on earth.

But he's far from the last humanoid.

Creepy and claustrophobic, this is a gem of the post-apocalyptic genre. ...more

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May 03, 2011 Daniel Roy rated it really liked it

Shelves: sf, fantasy, horror, sf-masterworks

For a novella that was written in the fifties, it just doesn't show its age at ALL. Gripping, horrifying and thought-provoking, it's really, really worth the read. I haven't seen the recent movie because I don't see how Will Smith can possibly do it justice. ...more

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Mar 19, 2008 Jackie "the Librarian" rated it really liked it

Shelves: classicsworthreading, horror, blood-sucking-fiends

Everyone on earth, except one man, has succumbed to a terrible disease that has made them vampiric. They appear to be dead by day, but by night they seek out the hero, who has fortified his home to keep them out.
During the day, he scours the town, and whenever he finds a vampire's lair, he destroys it.
Then he discovers that he is not the last human on earth - there's a woman. Are there others?
Explores the changing nature of humanity, and flips the idea of monstrousness on its head. A must-read ...more

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