I Am Legend by Richard Matheson Summary and Reviews
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Book Reviews of I Am Legend
Book Review: A Classic
Summary: 5 Stars
I'm not going to summarize this book as you can just read Amazon's description. I just want to put in my 5 stars and let anyone thinking about reading this know that it is a great book. It's pretty short, only about 150 pages, (there are other short stories that come with this book), and very effective. Don't expect scary, gory vampires. This book works like an episode of the Twilight Zone, it's kind of scary throughout and then the ending is what really gives you the chills.
On a side note -- it looks like Hollywood is going to twist this one all around and turn it into a Ford Mustang commercial!
Book Review: A bleak little chiller. Terse and unnerving. NOT MUCH LIKE MOVIE!
Summary: 5 Stars
Richard Matheson wrote this book in 1954, and imagined into a future that was 1976. It's a pretty amazing piece of writing for any time, but the very bleak nature of the entire book was pretty unusual for 1954. It obviously came out of that whole paranoia about us destroying ourselves in an hydrogen bomb holocaust that was so prevalent in the '50s and '60s (ON THE BEACH, DR. STRANGELOVE, FAILSAFE, etc.)
It tells the story, in about 150 pages, of a suburban man (Robert Neville), probably around age 35 or so, who is apparently the last man on earth after a horrible plague has infected the rest of humanity...leaving everyone dieing...and worst of all, the people who die come back as vampires. It's almost like a zombie story...and in fact, the details of just what the vampires can do are the least interesting parts of the story. What I really enjoyed were the very specific observations on Neville's emotions and actions during his time of extreme isolation and desolation. He's lost a daughter and a wife to his disease. He's now holed-up in his home...venturing out during sunny days for supplies, research books, and to shore up his home's defenses. At night, he drinks a lot and endures the howls from the vampires who assemble outside his house each sunset to sunup.
Neville is, after months alone, a man tormented by the past, by his own desires, and by sheer loneliness. He lives wrecklessly, but not wrecklessly enough to actually want to die. (Although there is one very exciting sequence when he's forgotten to wind his watch and he makes it back home a bit late. Talk about tense!) And occasionally he turns his attention to the idea of a "cure" for this plague, or at least an understanding of what it is.
If you've seen the movie...there are few similarities. A similar plague has swept mankind...but the Robert Neville that Will Smith plays is very different from the 1950's sensibilities of the suburban white man that populates the book. Smith did a fine job, and his character wins our sympathies too. But the Neville in the book is a man seemingly even more tormented and more alone. And he has no science to help him and no DVDs to divert him. He's alone with his whiskey, his murals and his depression.
Also, the endings of the two stories couldn't be more different. The reason for the title of the book is completely different from the movie. Again, this is a bleak book indeed. It grips you quite powerfully, and when the climax comes in the final few pages...you will be dismayed. The story doesn't leave you hanging...but it doesn't exactly take you where you might have hoped either.
Matheson's writing style is solid and no-nonsense. This guy wastes no words...I venture to guess that many lesser writers would have doubled the size of the book and accomplished half of the intensity. It is taut, terse, exciting and yes, it feels just a bit like it came from the 50s. But it is unfraid to examine its subject matter and its main character...and that's what makes it so great.
A true classic...yet to be filmed properly.
Book Review: A great main story and an assortment of short stories that vary in quality
Summary: 4 Stars
My opinion of this book changed quite a bit while I read through it. Unlike what the title suggests, this isn't just the "I Am Legend" novella (which is 159 pages long), but rather it is a short story collection, containing 11 stories of various lengths. Some were very good, but some were not.
The titular story was very good. We follow the main character, who believes he is the last human alive in a world populated by vampires. I was a little confused as to what the differences between the two "monster races" were (vampires and living creatures infected by the vampire virus, but not dead). It's a key plot point, but it was never clear in my head how each came about. The story also hits the science stuff pretty hard at some points, but overall it was a fascinating quick read.
I liked the short story "Prey" quite a lot. Stephen King's quote from the back cover is "Books like I Am Legend were an inspiration to me." That inspiration is very clear here, as this story feels like a precursor to King's short story Battleground (from the Night Shift collection). In King's story it is a collection of Army men that come alive, but for Matheson, it is a doll. In both, the human has to fight a deadly little creature that is trying to kill them. I loved it.
"Mad House" is another story that I enjoyed quite a bit. To reference King again, I was reminded of the Shining a lot (in that book, the main character has plenty of rage issues to deal with).
Some of the stories towards the end were good as well. I personally didn't care for the "Dance of the Dead," "Witch War," and "Dress of White Silk" stories, which unfortunately are lumped together in the middle of the book. My opinion of the book overall started to drop during that section, but picked up with the last 4 stories that finish up the book.
Book Review: A story of it's own
Summary: 5 Stars
I had seen the recent movie adaption to this book and I must say, I love both just the way they are. The book made the movie a lot clearer in ways for me, actually trying to put science behind exactly what the monsters were. This book is extremely well written for the time it came from, and the imagination is boundless. I love monster stories and this one is not one to pass up!
This book, however, comes with more than just I Am Legend. It also comes with assorted stories from Richard Matheson. Although his other stories aren't quite as long as I Am Legend, they follow a similar style and are definitely worth reading once you're done with the book itself. All in all this is an extremely great buy. I love it.
Book Review: A true classic
Summary: 5 Stars
Though I am not a real fan of post apocalyptic fiction, this is truly a great novel. I am Legend should be on everyone's must read list. It is truly a master peice of story telling. Set in the mid 1970's Los Angles it is a story about the lone surviver of a plague hit world. You see how he adapts and searches for the truth when most people would have given up. He is not a scientist, or any exotic profession but a humble factory worker. The story is fantastic and well written, which great pace. That being said it is surely not a feel good book, it is rather depressing at time. But the story is fantastic and the main character is very easy to relate to. It is sometimes scary how easy it is to relate to the main characters and most readers will see a bit of themselves in him. I can not recommend this book any higher.