I Am Legend by Richard Matheson Summary and Reviews
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Book Reviews of I Am Legend
Book Review: Matheson's I Am Legend still one of the vampire tales ever
Summary: 5 Stars
In 1954, Richard Matheson published a novel that would influence so many future generations of science-fiction and horror writers and film directors. Matheson's body of work prior to 1954 could be summed up as good but nothing too exciting. His work thus far overlapped such pulp genres as horror, science-fiction and fantasy. This style would be the hallmark of his brand of story-telling. This style could truly be seen in his epic and greatest work to date: I Am Legend.
I Am Legend takes the vampire tale and brings it out of the shadows and darkness, so to speak. Set in the late 1970's, I Am Legend begins its tale with humanity pretty much on the quick path to extinction due to a pandemic where the bactirium or virus involved causes symptoms very similar to what folklore calls vampirism. The protagonist of this tale is one Robert Neville. An unassuming man living in a Los Angeles suburban neighborhood who may just be the only living human being, or at least the only un-infected one, on the face of the planet. Neville's been reduced to a day-to-day routine of defending his fortified home from the vampire-like infected humans who've tried attacking him and his home once night falls. This routine has become so ingrained in Neville that it starts him on a downward spiral to utter despair. He knows that he may just be the only human left and the prospect of such an idea almost becomes too much for his psyche.
His attempts to solve the mystery of why he's the only one not affected by the disease becomes his way of keeping himself sane. Neville's work in trying to find the answer leads him to take chances in keeping a vampire survivor alive and bound instead of just killing it outright. His experiments ranges from disproving the myths surrounding the vampire creature and ackowledging the scientific and/or psychological explanations to certain behavioral traits of these nocturnal creatures. Neville's studies on captured vampires tell him why certain things like garlic and sunlight causes such an extreme reaction on these creatures. Why do they have a certain invulnerability towards bullets but not a stake through the heart. He even surmises that the vampires aversion to crucifix is more psychological than anything supernatural. Neville arrives at this after observing a vampire's reaction to a Star of David is similar to the reaction of another one towards the crucifix.
It's events such as these which puts I Am Legend in a category all by itself. It still uses themes of horror which the vampires fulfill to great effect, but it also does a great job of taking the vampire tale out of the supernatural realm and into the scientific and logical. Neville's attempts to keep himself sane, as his loneliness begin to weigh on his psyche and health, through these studies and experiments adds a level of the science-fiction to this tale. It's the combination of these two genres which makes I Am Legend such an epic tale in scope yet it's not that which gives the tale its heaviest impact. It's Neville himself, more to the point, his desperate situation of being the last man on earth weighing on his mind. This tone gives this apocalyptic vampire tale such an intimate feel that the reader hopes and wishes for some sort of peaceful end to Neville, better yet some hope that he might find clues that he might not be the last.
As the story moves forward, the line between who is human, who is monster and who is the true survivor become blurred as Neville's forays into the city for supplies lead him to a community of others who have not succumbed to the monstrous effect of the pandemic. It's this discovery that gives Neville a semblance of hope which momentarily lifts the heavy weight of inevitability from his mind. But not everything is at it seems at first glance. Neville finds this out as his encounters with this thriving community continue to give him more and more insight as to how they've survived. The climactic end to this tale has become such a classic ending that any other resolution wouldn't have worked. The end worked as the best possible ending to Matheson's tale. It also gives the books title a deeper and more profound meaning to it.
I Am Legend will continue to go down in literary history as one of the best examples of fantastic literature. It's seemless blending of horror, science-fiction and the apocalyptic gives the tale both an epic and intimate feel and tone. It's not wonder the very themes and premise of this story has influenced such horror writers and filmmakers as Stephen King (The Stand, Salem's Lot) and George A. Romero (Night of the Living Dead, Dawn of the Dead, Day of the Dead). I Am Legend takes the vampire tale out of the shadows and darkness it usually in habits and brings it out to the light of science and logic with surprising results. A true classic piece of writing from Richard Matheson and one that still stands as the benchmark for apocalyptic tales.
Book Review: Better than Dracula
Summary: 5 Stars
It's refreshing to see a "vampire novel" that isn't populated by the dandified, aristocratic undead of the Bram Stoker - Anne Rice vein. In "I am Legend" the bloodsuckers are either 1) wholly mindless and driven by bloodlust; or (2) calculating, mechanical schemers bent on a new world order. Thanks to Hollywood (see Interview with a Vampire, The Hunger, any Hammer or Universal Dracula movie), the vampire has become something of a priss: They live in castles, are fabulously wealthy, wear tuxedos, etc. "I am Legend" sucks the life out of those images and replaces it with something insidiously vile and monstrous. While I was reading this book, especially the last two chapters, I felt like Matheson was trying to invoke the terror and warped idealogy of Nazi Germany. Anyone agree?Book Review: I AM LEGEND...A LEGEND IN ITS OWN TIME
Summary: 5 Stars
What would you do, if a mysterious plague swept throughout the world, literally killing everyone off, but leaving in its place something new, something frightening, something downright horrible, while leaving you alive, immune and seemingly alone? What would you do, if the undead now walked the earth looking for you, the last man alive...the last vestige of the human race? What if what they wanted was the taste of your blood on their lips? Just what on earth would you do?
These are the questions that faced Robert Neville. It is he who is Legend. How he answers them is what makes this a book to remember and a classic within its genre. It is a book of profound hope and despair. It is a book that demands to be read. Read it. You will not be disappointed.
Book Review: Epic Horror
Summary: 5 Stars
It inspired NIGHT OF THE LIVING DEAD. It changed the way we see vampires (no longer counts in castles), and practically invented zombies (no longer voodoo victims). It even made a young Stephen King pick up a pencil and begin scrawling out horror stories. I AM LEGEND is without a doubt one of the most powerful, influential and important horror tales ever woven. Like Stoker, Poe, Bierce, Shelley, Lovecraft and Stevenson, Matheson's work is mandatory reading for any true fan of dark literature. No movie could ever (despite two attempts so far) capture the brillant terror of this book, and no other books by Matheson, although all of them are excellent (Hell House, 7 Steps to Midnight, ect.), are as good as this one. It is more then worth the money, for it is a book you will read more then twice!
If you enjoy King, Clive Barker, Poppy Z. Brite, William Peter Blatty or Ramsey Campbell, you will shriek for Matheson,... and vice versa.
Book Review: Incredible!!!!
Summary: 5 Stars
Remember when you were a child and a girl or a boy said, "I wouldn't kiss you if you were the last person on earth." How would you feel if you were the last perosn on Earth? Meet Robert Neville, for he could awswer that question...for he is that last man on Earth. What happened to make him the last man on earth? Simple, we're all Vampires. Neville has to try to survive as the last man on Earth. He alone must stand aganist the vampires.... I really liked the char of Neville. I found it interesting that he would go through the vampire myth on what is the best defense aganist them. One by one, he sees which is the fact and what is the fiction. It was also intereseting how he wanted to know "how" the vampires were created, and what makes them a vampire. I found the dog a powerful char. It's hard to explain why I say that, because I don't want to give anything away. This was a very good novel and one of the most interesting vampires books that I've read. If you get his book, you won't be sorry. Just so you know, I am Legend is a short story of 170 pages.