Rowland, Diana: My Life as a White Trash Zombie

[calico_reaction]

Comments

[thebluerose]

YAY! Im so glad you liked this book and 'got' its quirky humour. Like quite a few of the other readers I was initally put off by the cover, not so much for the pinkness, that didn;t bother me. What I found a bit gratuitous and potentially a concern was the blood on her mouth - I am absolutely not into the 'zombie chewing off your arm' kind of stories which this cover tends to imply

[calico_reaction]

Yeah, the blood never even fazed me, though I was conscious of the fact she was a zombie instead of a vampire, which really had me wondering how it'd all work. :)

Also I enjoyed the dawning realisation that she didnt need the drugs, although the underlying theme that one addiction can only be broken by another, or that you need to be addicted to 'something' I found a bit disturbing.

Well, considering brains are food for her, one could argue that even regular food is an addiction, and it's the one we kick only when we die, so.... but it really seemed like Rowland was trading one addiction for another, didn't it?

I did how she matured, sticking with the job for the required time proved to her she could if she *tried*, and gave the comprehension that all the other difficulties in her life could be dealt to rather than just run away or avoided. I really liked how you saw her grow up and take ownership of her life, partly forced to keep alive and to keep her secret, but also in general, as seen by the change in relationship with her

[calico_reaction]

How far did you get, out of curiosity?

[calico_reaction]

I hope you do! The very first time she has a brain smoothie is when she thinks the texture of what she's drinking is tapioca. At that point, she doesn't know it's brains or that she's a zombie, even though the reader does. The first time she consciously eats brains is in actual brain format. From there, she tries to ration her "stash" to try and control the zombie hunger. :)

[ardys_the_ghoul]

I meant to write a review of this, but I got sidetracked. I may still manage it over the weekend, at least I hope so, because I do have a lot to say about this book.

I really enjoyed this, too, and I loved seeing Angel grow into her own, because I really didn't expect that.

I also only figured out who turned her into a zombie a page or two before Angel figured it out herself, which I liked, because books so rarely surprise me in that respect--it was also refreshing to have a character I wasn't cursing for their density, you know?

What did you think about who the zombie-killer turned out to be? The revelation was a bit of a sad surprise for me--in that someone Angel thought was a friend could turn around and try to kill her. Kind of heart-breaking, in a weird way.

[calico_reaction]

Yeah, that was a sad surprise. I rather liked the team of friends Angel was building around herself, but I liked that reveal better than the assumption of the other zombie guy who then became a victim.

[ardys_the_ghoul]

Yeah, I had a feeling the killer would be someone she knew, but I had no idea who it would be.

I think I really fell in love with Angel as a character when she realized, and was totally surprised, that the people she worked with actually liked her. I think I may have "awwww"-ed out loud, possibly even more so because I can remember feeling the same way as a kid ("Wow, people actually like me?".

And it was nice to see a character who could be totally kick-ass without being a bitch, because writers seem to have trouble with that (I liked the description "a monster with a mushy heart" in particular).

[calico_reaction]

And it was nice to see a character who could be totally kick-ass without being a bitch, because writers seem to have trouble with that (I liked the description "a monster with a mushy heart" in particular).

Yes. Absolutely. :)

[shel99]

For some reason the description of this one didn't grab my interest, so I didn't make much effort to get my hands on it. Strange, because this kind of book is usually right up my alley, but I guess I'm kind of over the zombie craze. Maybe I'll pick it up one of these days and come back to the discussion.

I do already have Eon loaded on to my kindle :)

[calico_reaction]

Yeah, this book's marketing is a bit misleading (and scant, when you look at the blurb), and being tired of zombies doesn't help. This is definitely a very different take, so I hope you get around to reading it one day!

[ext_901144]

I'm not into zombies and certainly not into reading about white trailer trash. And I wasn't expecting to like this book. But I did! I did! It's probably my favorite of the ones we've read so far. I liked how it was sort of a story of redemption. I will be looking into other books by this author for sure.

[calico_reaction]

I'm glad you ended up liking it! I think a lot of elements worked to turn potential readers off, which is a shame, since it is a fun book.