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I Am Legend Buddy Read
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I'd be interested, if I can get a copy for the Kindle. They just finished a buddy read on it over in the Apocalypse Whenever group:https://www.goodreads.com/topic/show/...
I made a few comments there, related to the movies that were made from it. But I've never read the original Matheson story.
I've read the original several times - you would really enjoy it, Randy, I believe. Definitely worth the read.
I hope you can get it, Randy! I want to start soon. I know there has been at least 3 film adaptations, but I've not seen a one. I want to read it first. Let me know if you get a hold of it!~Teresa~
Five films that I know of:I am Legend (2007) -- http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0480249/
I am Omega (2007) -- http://www.imdb.com/title/tt1075746/
The Omega Man (1971) -- http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0067525/
Soy leyenda (1967) -- http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0149027/
The Last Man on Earth (1964) -- http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0058700/
Six if I include Night of the Living Dead.
Well, we are a go! Sorry there wasn't more of a heads up, guys. Schedule is starting today, hopefully finishing the first half by tomorrow, second half tomorrow, and just a little wiggle room in case we can't get through a half today and a half tomorrow, meaning a 'firm' conclusion on Thursday. I put firm in quotes because, well, sometimes life gets in the way. But this is pretty short, so anyone interested can hop on board! I'm sure you can get it finished by Thursday. And we will discuss here, WITH spoilers, so be forewarned! Thanks, guys!And thanks for the film info, Randy! Where does your knowledge end? You seem to know an awful lot about an awful lot! ;-)
~Teresa~
Teresa wrote: "You seem to know an awful lot about an awful lot! ;-)"I would have said I know an awful lot about nothing. :)
...and I know nothing about an awful lot.
That's called a 'Jack of ALL trades; master of NONE!' LOL ;-)
OK - this is my first buddy read so I'm not exactly sure what I'm supposed to do. I read the first half of the story tonight and wrote down a few thoughts after each chapter. I'm pasting them below...apologies in advance if I'm doing it wrong :)Chap. 1: It takes cojones to wear earplugs to bed when your yard is full of monsters that want to break into your house. When were stereo headphones invented? This guy definitely could have used some!
Chap. 2: Just another day post-apocalypse…grocery store, Sears, perpetually burning fire pit/body disposer.
Chap. 3: Five months in and he is getting drunk each night while his yard is full of vampires. I would still be scared to death; he seems to be in full-on tempting fate mode. Also, for someone who takes such good care of his teeth (because all the dental/medical providers are gone), he sure doesn’t care about his hands (shattering high ball glass, punching plaster wall repeatedly).
Chap. 4: Best Robert Neville quote thus far (regarding chirping birds): “Once I thought they sang because everything was right with the world. I know now I was wrong. They sing because they’re feeble-minded.”
Chap. 5: He meticulously maintains his car/home, keeps detailed to-do lists, but can’t keep track of how many hours he has until sunset?? My vote goes for unconscious death wish. I guess vampires having super-human strength is another myth; otherwise, Robert wouldn’t have gotten out of his impromptu vampire fistfight on the front porch.
Chap. 6: Finally, a bit of the backstory. Overall I think the story flows very well. I enjoy how Matheson engages the reader in some intense present-day action before the exposition.
Chap. 7: Not sure about these experiments – injecting a vamp with garlic extract? bringing one home to question why the crucifix is so upsetting? What happened to dragging them out in the daylight? That seemed to be working out pretty well.
Chap. 8: What is this water trough in the yard and why is he shooting Cortman to get him away from it?
Chap. 9: Incredibly powerful description of his emotional collapse following the death of his wife. Amazing writing. Then he buries her in Pet Sematary (“and what you own…always comes home to you”)?
Chap. 10: He’s back to being Bill Nye, the vampire apocalypse science guy. He's taking a quick time out to learn everything there is to know about blood so he can do....something....???
Perfect, Sara!!! Buddy reads are informal so you can basically do whatever you want! I'm slightly behind (understatement of the year) due to my 'on the clock' status. I don't get off work 'til 2 A.M. and then I'm gonna curl up with this creepy book. I can't wait to listen to the wind whipping through the trees as I read!!! I will post some responses to your thoughts and some of my own thoughts tomorrow afternoon (after I sleep half the day away recuperating from this über long shift lol). Thanks for reading with me, Sara! I love your enthusiasm, and wish I hadn't been so busy at work so I could have read more. By the by, I have this on loan from my library on MP3...do you think it'll be a good book to listen to? I'm hoping the reader makes it like a great scary movie! I'm really excited to listen to some of it on my drive home...~Teresa~
Randy wrote: "Five films that I know of:I am Legend (2007) -- http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0480249/
I am Omega (2007) -- http://www.imdb.com/title/tt1075746/
The Omega Man (1971) -- http://www.imdb.com/title/..."
Randy, is there a specific movie you'd recommend to start off with? Just curious...
Sara wrote: "OK - this is my first buddy read so I'm not exactly sure what I'm supposed to do. I read the first half of the story tonight and wrote down a few thoughts after each chapter. I'm pasting them bel..."Sara, your thoughts are cracking me up!! You are too funny! But you are very spot-on, too. I am up to part 2, and I'm sure I can finish up tonite. I'll post my thoughts too. I have a lot of stuff bookmarked. So far, I LOVE how terse and short and powerful some of the sentences are. Its minimalism at its best, and its perfect for the horror of this situation. I've been listening and reading, although I've been making so many notes in the margins of my physical copy it look like a kid scribbled all over the damn thing...I have a bad habit of that. There are really a lot of funny statements in this story. I guess you gotta retain some humor in the apocalypse. Also, he's lucky he has 1000 cartons of cigarettes! Talk about a nice thing for the vampire apocalypse. Also, he has quite the stash of whiskey. Also nice. I will say that during chapter 3 when he was having his little drunken temper tantrum, the narrator used different accents and voices in the audio version and the effect was quite unnerving, although looking back at the text, it was written in colloquial language in certain spots. Sometimes the narrator laughs...also very creepy! Another first thought I had was that it seems odd that the vampires seem sentient, yet zombie like in their hoarding. It was a plague, so I don't know all the details of what happened. I guess I'll get to that when I get to the backstory you mentioned! Looking forward to straight up 'staking' this one tonite! ;-) I'll post some thoughts later on. Til then, happy reading! (and I'm super sorry all my thoughts are just jumbled up together in that long paragraph; I have THAT as a bad habit, too...what can I say? I'm full of vices! LOL)
~Teresa~
Teresa wrote: "Randy, is there a specific movie you'd recommend to start off with?"I prefer The Last Man on Earth, although it's probably a bit dated today. And I think it is the only one that really maintains the *real* point of Matheson's original story (at least what I know of it, since I've not read it).
Omega Man is my least favorite. It has some good aspects, but I hated the religious aspect of it. I thought Charleton Heston overacted in it (but he often did).
I am Omega is the low-budget zombie version. I enjoyed the story, but the acting is terrible. I don't think anything would have killed Marc Dacascos. A lot of hand-to-hand fighting.
I am Legend is the big-budget zombie version. Loved the beginning. Hated the actual zombies. Fasted, strongest zombies I've ever seen.
BTW, it's no coincidence that I am Omega and I am Legend came out the same year. The Asylum production company makes cheap "mockbusters" when a blockbuster movie comes out, trying to make some money on the side. Sometimes they are decent films. Oftentimes not.
In the end, Romero's Night of the Living Dead is my favorite of the bunch, even though Romero only gives a nod to Matheson as the inspiration.
Yeah, those vampires are sentient alright. Wait until you get to the end. In the meantime, here's some more of my random thoughts. Snark aside, I think this is an awesome story.Chap. 11: It’s interesting how apocalyptic stories have changed since this was published in the 1950s. Many of the zombie stories we read focus heavily on the limited resources aspect (no running water, little food, fuel going bad, etc). Although Robert Neville doesn’t seem to want for much material-wise, it is his perilous psychological state that really keeps you on the edge of your seat. I think a large part of what makes this such a compelling story is Matheson’s attention to the protagonist’s internal emotional struggle.
Chap. 12: In the matter of a few weeks, Mr. Neville has gone from working at “the plant” to functioning as a researcher for the CDC. I guess this is the 1950s lay perspective on bacteriology…I remember it being much more complex when I was in medical school (about 50 years later).
Chap. 13: Ugghh…the dog has made his appearance. I didn’t see the Will Smith version/movie specifically because I heard this dog situation doesn’t end well ☹ Now I need some whiskey.
Chap. 14: Another great quote: “In a world of monotonous horror there could be no salvation in wild dreaming. Horror he had adjusted to. But monotony was the greater obstacle, and he realized it now, understood it at long last.”
Chap. 15: Hey, he found a girlfriend in the middle of the apocalypse. It’s a shame that he couldn’t come off a little less rapey.
Chap. 16: Well, the honeymoon’s over. Ruth is infected with the vampiris bacillus (or just hasn’t been living in a garlic-draped house for the last 2-3 years); Robert proves conclusively that social skills and empathy atrophy with disuse.
Chap. 17: Robert Neville problems: Kidnaps lone female apocalypse survivor, then resents her for interrupting his solitude. “But if she stayed, if they had to establish a relationship, perhaps become husband and wife, have children…Shall I kill her now? Shall I not even investigate, but kill her and burn her?” Dude, you are contemplating murder to avoid cohabitation; "regression to ill-tempered and inveterate bachelor" is putting it pretty darn mildly.
Chap. 18: Well, I’m eating my snarky words from Chap 17; I guess he should have tossed her out on her ass. Although who among us hasn’t had at least one relationship that ended with a not-so-consensual lab test followed by a mallet-induced traumatic brain injury?
Chap. 19: Romeo and Juliet, status-post vampire apocalypse. That "Dear John" letter is gonna leave a mark.
Chap. 20: Even after Ruth’s note, I will admit that I still held out hope that this squad of dark-suited men was the cavalry coming to Neville’s rescue. Given the emergence of gunplay and his apparent chest wound, I surmise that this may have been wishful thinking on my part. He is initially resigned to death, yet that pesky will-to-live pushes him to go out in a hail of gunfire.
Chap. 21: Shit, who was the bad guy in this story??? He is legend ☹
Sara wrote: "Shit, who was the bad guy in this story?"And, that, *is* the beauty of the story.
Lost in all the zombie-movie versions.
Sara wrote: "Yeah, those vampires are sentient alright. Wait until you get to the end. In the meantime, here's some more of my random thoughts. Snark aside, I think this is an awesome story.Chap. 11: It’s..."
I'm so sorry I'm out of town and don't have a copy of this book available so I can play along, but I do have to say, Sara, I'm enjoying reading your comments on the book.
Matheson is a terrific writer and is full of great lines, some of which you quoted for us. :) I remember when I read this book that I would often have to put it down and say, DAMN. In a good way.
Netanella wrote: "I'm so sorry I'm out of town and don't have a copy of this book available so I can play along, but I do have to say, Sara, I'm enjoying reading your comments on the book..."Well said, Netanella, emphasis on the enjoying reading your comments on the book in reference to Sara's breakdowns of the chapters! GREAT job, Sara! You crack me up...I wish I'd made notes like that at the end of each chapter (I'm gonna copycat you! :-P ). Usually, I only write a 'mini-review' at the end of short story anthologies.
Anyway, back to the book...I just finished chapter 15. I wish I woulda took my work schedule into a little more consideration. But there's no f*^king way I'm not finishing this book tomorrow! Unless the zom-pocalypse occurs...
So I forgot how incredibly horny Robert was/is. THAT'S a little weird to me, especially for the time period it was published in. Screwing the dead? Taboo now, let alone then. And I thought generators could only run so long without overheating and were super loud. As for the dog, my heart is broken. I haven't seen the big-budget Will Smith movie either, but the picture of him curled up in the bathtub with the dog made me not wanna watch it just because I couldn't see a dog going over well in the plague/zombie/vampire/whatever apocalypse. I'm super into the story, I just hadn't anticipated being so incredibly busy at work on a Tuesday and Wednesday night. My job actually cut into my reading time. Can you imagine that? Terrible, I tell ya! ;-)
I can see why so many people have raved about this book to me, and I'm glad we set this read up so quick. I'll probably post some more things I've forgotten before I go to work at 2 tomorrow, and anticipate being done with it by the time my shift ends at 8, and review it then. So, until the A.M., sleep tight!
~Teresa~
Well, I finished yesterday evening before I left work, but groceries got in the way of posting immediately, and the fact that I worked over 70 hours in 5 days made for some exhaustion that knocked me flat on my ass as soon as I got home. Sorry for that! But I'm ready to say a few things now...here goesI gotta say that I DIDN'T like this one as much as I had previously thought. I guess what with the 'Omega' in 'Last Man on Earth' in the movie titles, not to mention his brain shattering isolation, made me thoroughly comfortable with the idea that he was indeed the last man/person on Earth. Boy was I wrong. Or was I right? Are the 'new' people mutants? They ARE a-holes, that's for sure. Yeah, I guess Ruth's whole 'We gotta start this society with violence' statement is correct, kinda, but damn. I DID find like 50 quotes that I think should be on Goodreads, and I'll add a few of those later. Matheson's story telling was a picture of perfection, even if I didn't really love the ending. I am definitely inclined to read the rest of the stories in this collection now. But the major problem I had with this one was the fact that these 'people' (or should I call them 'recovering blood addicts' to be PC?) seemed to be pretty damn organized. I know Neville's sanity was not in tip top shape, but I can't understand how he would miss a mass organization attempt taking place fairly close. Kinda weird, no? But still, it was worth the time and I definitely liked Matheson'sstory telling ability, as I mentioned above. I am going to try and watch one of the film adaptations tonite. My next post will let you all know what movie I watched and how I liked it.
By the way, Sara, how many stars did you rate this one?
I rate this story 4.5 stars. The 1/2 star deduction would be for the fairly silly pseudoscience nonsense about bacteria and bullet holes sealing up spontaneously. That stuff certainly hasn't stood the test of time; I suspect it may have even been a bit hokey around the time of publication.I can understand why you didn't like the ending. I enjoyed the book and am certainly glad I read it, but the ending is definitely quite unsettling. I feel like much of the more contemporary apocalyptic-type literature I read ends up being very formulaic. If this book was released today, Ruth and Neville would probably collaborate on a daring escape. If either character died, it would be as a hero. Matheson's story certainly doesn't take the easy way out. In the final chapter, we have the rug pulled out on us in terms of who we believe are the good vs. bad guys not to mention the surrender/end of Neville. It is far from the climactic action sequence type-ending, but it certainly makes you think (for much longer than it takes to read the book).
I finished reading the rest of the stories in the collection yesterday. I thought they were all enjoyable - short and weird. It was like reading several scripts for The Twilight Zone. Of course this isn't exactly shocking, given that Matheson famously wrote several episodes including "Nightmare at 20,000 Feet" (aka - the reason I can't fly without Ambien and/or liquor). Of the remaining short stories, my favorites were: "Prey" (which I believe was actually also adapted into a film version), "From Shadowed Places", and "Person to Person".
Good to know they are worth reading (which I kinda thought they would be lol). swear, those gremlins on that plane were TERRIFYING!!! My brother had never flown and he was working in Las Vegas when my grandfather died. So he obviously didn't have time to drive all the way to West Virginia before the funeral, and god so help me, he ALMOST missing the damn thing because of those gremlins! A 28 year old man, too! And, wouldn't you know, he got a seat RIGHT by the wing lol...he said he was watching out the window the whole time, and said he swears he saw one. It was at least a little funny story during a sad time in our lives lol. I'm trying to finish up 'Fragile Things' by Neil Gaiman, and I've got 2 buddy reads coming up this week, so I am kinda pushing them off. I still have the audiobook, though, and I often listen to stories or something when I'm cleaning, driving, or walking. The narrator proved himself pretty awesome, so I'll get to 'em eventually! On a side note, I noticed my 'to-read ASAP' pile is teetering. Since we got the step daughter, I tucked her in her bedroom/my library, and when she bounced into bed, the stack of books on top of the TV started wobbling! I REALLY need to chip away at that pile!!! ;-)
~Teresa~
~Teresa~