YA New York

Remember how I reviewed Zombie Blondes by Brian James awhile back, and I was all, “The zombie trend has started, and this book rocks!” and you were all like, “ZOMG, you have to read Generation Dead!!!”?

Well, I did, and it’s remarkable. Possibly in my top five for the year thus far. Indeed, probably in my top five. Whereas Zombie Blondes was a straightforward horror novel that read like Stephen King for teens, Generation Dead is … well, it’s definitely not horror.

Indeed, I was surprised to discover that this tome is a thoughtful, subversive discussion of … popularity? Acceptance? Racism? We start out with our heroine, Phoebe, telling us a little bit about the zombies at her school. Only they’re not called zombies — using that sort of a slur could get you in big trouble, mister. No, they’re called “living impaired,” and they’re just teenagers who died and then got back up again. Some of them have problems talking, or walking, or with school subjects.

And then one of them goes out for football, and all hell breaks loose. It turns out the coach and most of the players don’t want undead Tommy Williams on the team.

Next thing we know, Phoebe, Tommy and several other students are roped into participating in a work-study program to learn more about the “biotically different,” and the angry mobs start to pop up.

I really wouldn’t call Generation Dead horror. I’d call it a clever exploration of class status. But that’s getting all technical and academic and stuff, and I don’t want you to think this isn’t a thrilling read. It is so thrilling that I almost got hit by a car when I was crossing the street while reading. (Hey! I had the “walk” signal!)

Anyway, if I had a rating system a la the Olympic judges, this would get a perfect 10. Now, you have to understand that I actually read this book in spite of my absolute terror of zombies. (Things I am mortally afraid of: cockroaches, mice, zombies, cleaning under the stove.) Prior to reading this book, my idea of zombies was 28 Days Later (which, by the way, is a fantastic movie even if it does feature my least favorite scary creature).

But now … I don’t know. I think maybe the biotically different could be, like, kind of cute and cuddly. Or at least worth snuggling up to until you finish this book. Go buy it! You only have a few weeks before school is back in session, and work goes back into that post-Labor Day funk.

Buy Generation Dead from Amazon.com.

This entry was posted on Thursday, August 7th, 2008 at 11:24 am and is filed under Reviews. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.