I Am Legend by Richard Matheson Summary and Reviews
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Book Reviews of I Am Legend
Book Review: A companion to 'Salem's Lot'
Summary: 5 Stars
This is a fantastic book. It took me ages to get around to buying it, but I finally decided to treat myself, and once it arrived, I devoured it within two days. It's a gripping, edge-of-your-seat thriller, with stark, matter-of-fact prose, punctured by moments of poetry and pathos, which perfectly captures the feeling and atmosphere needed to build the tension.
It is a remarkably prescient book too - like all good SF - and isn't so much a fantasy, but a comment on the world as it is today. Mention of germ warfare, super-bugs, and strange climate changes, make it seem like it was written last year. In fact, the only anachronism occurs when the main protagonist refers to a black colleague as 'a negro'. It is then - and only then - that it is brought home to the reader that this was written in 1954..!
Fans of '28 Days Later' will love this book, but to me, it could almost be a prequel to the greatest vampire novel ever, namely 'Salem's Lot'.
Let's hope the film adaptation of 'I Am Legend' is faithful to the feel of the source material, and doesn't become a ridiculous Will Smith star vehicle, which was unfortunately the fate that befell 'I Robot'.
Book Review: Loneliness, desperation, and vampires.
Summary: 5 Stars
This is rightly regarded as a SF Classic. I was introduced to this book through my love of John Wyndham and his dystopian fiction. There are obvious parallels between I Am Legend and Wyndham's Day of the Triffids. The horror in I Am Legend is certainly more pronounced though.
The story is an incredible exploration of humanity, with Robert Neville, the book's anti-hero fighting for his life against the vampires. He is to his knowledge the last man on earth, with the rest of humanity infected with a bacterium which has resulted in them having vampiristic tendencies. They stake out his house at night, and retreat during daylight.
Part of Matheson's genius is his re-writing of the Vampire legend. He makes the vampires believable by offering explanations to the usual vampire stereotypes (not too keen on crucifixes or garlic, are to be killed with a steak in the heart, photophobia, etc) and this adds a chilling believability to the novel as it is removed from pure fantasy or the super-natural. Neville systematically runs through the list of traditional vampire deterrents to see if they work, and to try and figure out why.
Neville comes across as an ordinary man, he suffers from periods of depression (as you would with vampires baying for blood at nightfall), he mourns his wife and daughter, his killing of the vampires sickens him, but after years it becomes a monotonous daily occurrence and is blurred by his alcoholism. He tries to befriend a stray dog, but the result simply adds to his broken state. The reader senses salvation in Ruth towards the end of the book, as the story from the point of view of the vampires unfolds - who's the monster know? The ending is gripping and surprising.
Spawning two films which strayed too much from the book, a third is planned for later this year/early next year. From the trailers it seems as though the new film is simply a leap onto the 28 Weeks Later bandwagon with a hint of `long live America' and not in the spirit of this fantastic book.
I cannot recommend this book highly enough, it is written in simple way without embellishment, and this only adds to the feeling of an ordinary, lonely man in an extraordinary and disturbing world.
Book Review: A little short...
Summary: 3 Stars
I wish I'd paid more attention to the details section as this book is indeed only 160 pages long and although perfect if you're travelling for a few hours, I was expecting a more substantial work.
I Am Legend was written in the 50's but actually stands the test of time rather well, with an 'everyman' hero and very few anachronisms. I won't reiterate the plot here but there are some gaping holes in it and as has been mentioned in other reviews the reasoning behind his not contracting the plague is, for me, almost an afterthought. It should have been central to his research surely? Anyway, back to the review.
I have to warn anyone wanting a 'vampire' novel that this is not that. The creatures (victims) here resemble modern zombies much more than Stoker's creation. Fans of Anne Rice vampires won't recognise these shambling undead either.
Much has been made of the psychological aspect of the book but apart from the time spent devoted to the dog, where nothing else happens, I found it rather lacking. The drinking, smashing, self-loathing cycle became boring very quickly. It shows the hero's frustration? Yes. It shows the author's apparent inability or unwillingness to demonstrate the character's feelings in any other way? Again, yes.
I must admit I was expecting more action in the book but wasn't really disappointed by the lack of heroics thanks to the greater realism it provided. What did disappoint however was the ending.
That someone could struggle so hard and for so long and then...? It felt contrived to provide the ending the author needed, as opposed to the reader, if that makes sense. If it doesn't? Well, feel free to ignore this review. Its only an opinion.
The book is okay but a Masterwork? Hmmm, I realise I'm the minority here but no. Its just not that good.
Book Review: The Last Man Alive Is Not Alone...
Summary: 5 Stars
I read Richard Matheson's exceptional book "I Am Legend" ten years ago and I was blown away at how good it was, especially when you remember it was written in 1954 when nothing else like it was around in literature or film.
"I Am Legend" has probably never broken out of the cult cul-de-sac because it never really got the classic movie treatment it deserved. "The Last Man On Earth" with Vincent Price and "The Omega Man" with Charlton Heston were both adaptations of "I Am Legend" and they were okay. It will be interesting to see if the new Will Smith version, which uses the the book's original title in a movie for the first time, will be any good.
The fact that the book didn't get to a wider audience through movies meant that others could steal it's thunder (and ideas) and it's final appearance onscreen was muted. (Director George A. Romero has admitted that "I Am Legend" inspired his classic movie "Night Of The Living Dead.")
The book really delves into the psychological war between Neville and the vampires as much as it does the biological and physical battles. It is as good a portrait of loneliness and paranoia as you will ever read. You sympathise with the plight of Robert Neville as well as being glad that you are not a part of the nightmare world he finds himself living in. Highly recommended.
Book Review: Beat this for a premise!
Summary: 5 Stars
It is the future. The human race as we know it no longer exists. Every man, woman and child has become a vampire, comatose and in hiding from the sun by day, out en masse and in search of blood by night. However, incredibly, one individual has survived - Robert Neville, the last man alive on earth. During the hours of daylight, Neville stalks what is left of his native Los Angeles, culling as many of the vampires as he can. As darkness arrives he hurries back home, locks himself inside his fortress of a house and prepares for another night of vampires gathering outside his abode, screaming at him to come out. Now that's what I call imagination!
Richard Matheson books are somewhat hard to get hold of in libraries and bookshops these days (thank heavens for online shopping!). I can only assume it is because his (novel) output isn't particularly prolific - eight novels in just under fifty years. It is a pity because it may mean that Matheson may not get the vast (modern) audience that his writing deserves.
So what makes him so good? First of all, his style of writing is crisp and economical. This is particularly evident here. Paragraphs are short, the story moves quickly. At no stage does the reader feel that the story is becoming bogged down with unnecessary descriptive sidetracks.
2, no writer seems to be better at summarising the human condition. It should be impossible for the reader realistically to empathise with what Neville goes through and yet we genuinely seem to share his mental turmoil.
3 - and this is what I particularly like - you often start a chapter thinking you know which way the narrative is heading and then Matheson will take the story off in a direction you never expected. The constant sudden shifts in plot really enhance the excitement.
I'd call this an 'intelligent' horror novel. It has often been classed as a science fiction book of course. Matheson treats the subject with plenty of humour but practically no irony. He has Neville scientifically approach all the elements of the vampire myth (fear of crosses, aversion to garlic, craving for blood) to find the best way to fight his adversaries!!!! I would also like to recommend reading Tino Georgiou's masterpiece--The Fates--if you haven't yet...that is!