Status Updates From Handling the Undead

Notes:
(1) At this point in the book, the undead (or "reliving"), are starting to demonstrate violent tendencies.
- This starts with the destruction of a toy car and reaches its apogee (at least so far) with the bloody decapitation of a pet rabbit.
- I understand this is meant to be alarming, but it's still nowhere near brain-hungry zombie level.
- More so like the mentally disabled who don't know their own strength.

Notes:
(1) Telepathy plays a fairly significant role in the story: two characters, Elvy and Flora, exhibit psychic prowess long before the big re-enlivening, which is an ability extending to anyone in the vicinity of the undead.
- Supposing it's all related, at minimum it means supernatural energy's always been floating around in the ether. More intriguingly, Elvy and Flora may have played a part in raising the dead.

Notes:
(1) While I understand the concept—as a true-to-life speculation about how an emotionally-restrained Swedish populace and punctilious Swedish government would handle the dead reanimating—it doesn't make for very exciting reading.
- Albeit Swedes, people getting extremely emotional—also taking comfort in religion, alcohol, etc.—should not be seen as extraordinary. Yet this is the driving force of the narrative.

Notes:
(1) Halfway in and the three family storylines are starting to crossover.
- David read Mahler's newspaper article and wants to talk with him.
- Flora realizes Eva authored a favorite children's book of hers and cries.
(2) People correcting others about how the undead are not zombies has become a constant refrain.
- I can understand a few times but it's way overdone.
- You're trying to subvert a genre—I get it!

Notes:
(1) Having passed the enlivening stage, and the immediate reactions of relatives of the newly undead, we've moved into an evaluative stage—that of medical researchers, state bureaucracy and benign clergy.
- Authorities, in other words, meant to sort out the inexplicable.
- As well, we have an inversion of a typical zombie story: instead of being on-the-loose and feral, the undead here are contained and docile.

Notes:
(1) "[David] wanted to throw himself at them, shake them and scream that this wasn't some movie, that Eva wasn't a zombie, that she had just died and then come back to life and soon everything was going to be fine."
- Hence why this book isn't clicking with me. It's too mundane, clinical and bureaucratic. The dead have arisen! Where's the mass hysteria?
- Frankly, people were far more freaked out during COVID.

En nada llegué al 20%…. Me está intrigando muchísimo además que es muy fácil de leer.

Notes:
(1) Nearly through a third of this, and I wouldn't consider it horror at all. It's definitely supernatural, but there's nothing scary about it.
- At best, there's a scene where Mahler's digging out his grandson's grave with his bare hands that's awful frenzied—and could be considered psychological horror—but the story as a whole's been quite subdued.
- The undead aren't dangerous, they're feeble and helpless.

Notes:
(1) The story follows three different families, of three different types, with three different generations of undead.
- David, son Magnus, and dead wife Eva.
- Mahler, daughter Anna, and dead grandson Elias.
- Elvy, granddaughter Flora, and dead husband Tore.
(2) So, quite diverse, if almost too diverse—unnaturally so.
(3) Now, the question arises, do the stories remain separate or do they eventually converge?

Notes:
(1) Seemingly, the big zombie event is the result of an interminable electrical surge, which causes terrible headaches and appliances to not shut off. Also, there's the appearance of white, burrowing caterpillars.
- So, is it the electricity, and the caterpillars are a byproduct? Or is it the caterpillars, and the electricity simply awakened them?
- Electricity's a very "Frankenstein" method of making zombies.

Notes:
(1) Well, it's October, which means it's the time of year for Halloween and horror reads.
- Not that I wouldn't listen to this at other times of the year, but being the scary season meant I jumped this ahead in my queue.
(2) As with all my audiobooks, this is a re-read. I remember being so impressed after finishing "Let Me In" that I immediately jumped to this.
- Suffice it to say I wasn't nearly as impressed.

It’s officially Spooky Read season! 🎃💀👻