Status Updates From Handling the Undead

Notes:
(1) The end of this turned out to be a real oddity hodgepodge.
- I mean, if this is meant to be grounded in stone-cold realism—as nearly all of it was—then why do a hard turn into full-on fantasy at the end?
(2) Bottom line: this novel is only really defined by what it isn't, or rather doesn't want to be.
- It tries so hard not to be a conventional zombie story that it ends up being unrecognizable as anything.

Notes:
(1) Having witnessed violence by the undead, albeit relatively mild, we now have violence perpetrated against the undead.
- This violence doesn't seem retaliatory: simply hooliganism emboldened by the idea these aren't dangerous movie zombies, but helpless abominations ripe for "Resident Evil" LARPing.
- Apparently, they never thought the dead might fight back in self-defense to preserve what "life" they have.

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! 🎃💀👻

Det talas om Marilyn Manson och Cannibal Ferox!

Bra bok ändå!

This is much less bleak than "Let the Right One In."

Nu börjar den bli satans bra och utstråla lite mer Låt den rätta komma in än de halvbra novellerna som jag läste senast. Blir väl lätt så med såhär många karaktärer — det tar ett tag att känna in dem

Oooh, this is really good so far! Basically everything I hoped it would be when I read the synopsis: dark, tragic and mysterious! Hope it continues…

Bringing in ethics and the human emotion of love for family into the undead is not where I thought this was going.

Jag vet inte vart i hela friden den här boken är på väg, har nog haft 10 olika teorier vid det här laget 😂

"When the military comes into the picture, something else goes out the window."

"However much Mahler loved him, his eyes saw that Elias no longer resembled anything human. He looked like something you kept behind glass."

I hope to get more of this read tomorrow as I have the day off. This is really excellent so far, although I find the chapters with Mahler and Elias and Anna emotionally difficult to get through.

Tremendo

Да-да, я читаю

Nothing is happening. I might have to give up.

An unexpected amount of Marilyn Manson stuff…

My kindle page numbers are messed up so idk how far I am lol

This is actually terrifying

Saw a trailer for the movie. Bought the book. 7% in and it's absolutely gripping.