Customer Reviews

Generation Dead (Generation Dead Novels)

5 star:		(29)
4 star:		(22)
3 star:		(14)
2 star:		(6)
1 star:		(1)

 

 

The popularity of zombies is on the rise. In fact, the fans of the walking dead may be soon encroaching on the number one spot held by vampires. I don't know why this is happening, it's as mysterious as the reasons for the zombies climbing from their graves to start searching for a brain buffet in all the movies (and yeah, yeah, I get that some kind of gas was released in the Living Dead movies and in Raccoon City, but come on. Really?).

Zombies moved back into horror fiction with a much more sure step than they've had in a long time. But now they're launching into teen romance fiction. In a way. GENERATION DEAD by Daniel Waters is a mixed bag, and I'm going to be all over the place while describing my reading experience for you. It just refuses to lie down and die to be reborn into a familiar zombie novel of movie tradition.

The cover of the dead cheerleader with blackened eyes seized me at once. I mean, once you get that image in your head, it's not going to easily go away. Neither will the romantic triangle between Phoebe, Adam, and Tommy, the "differently biotic" boy Phoebe falls for.

Phoebe was one of the Goth girls at school. She enjoyed being different, and the dressed-in-black thing really worked for her. Looking like the living dead really worked for her. It even earned her the name Scarypants from Pete, the novel's villain of sorts. Of course, the look really lost its appeal when dead kids started showing up and coming back to school. The author does an excellent job of catching a teen girl's feelings and confusion throughout the novel. Phoebe comes to life on the pages almost at once.

Adam is the football jock and Phoebe's next door friend. As it happens, he's just discovering that the friendship he's always had with Phoebe runs much deeper. That realization is stymied by his own shyness, the fact that he is a member of the Pain Crew on the football team and he shouldn't go for Goth girls, and Phoebe's sudden crush on Tommy Williams.

Tommy is a pioneering wonder among the zombies. He's articulate and he writes, blogs even. He also goes out for the football team and causes all kinds of tension in the school and the city.

The story revolves around these three characters and how they sort out their lives. However, the author throws in great support characters like Margi, Phoebe's best friend, and others.

Teens these days seem to be almost shockproof to so many changes in their lives. If the living dead did claw their way from their graves and decide to go to school instead of the brain buffet, I would be very surprised if teens didn't act exactly as Waters portrays them in this novel. They split almost immediately into groups that supported the zombies and those that stood against. But mostly they were curious.

I could make a lot of comparisons to cultural differences being played out in the pages, of Waters building his zombies up to comment on race, religion, and economics - the usual dividers among populations, but I won't. I don't think he wants the book to go that deeply into global problems. I believe he just wants to talk about the teen world, get into their heads, and tell a story they'll have a ball with wondering "what-if"?

I also have to admit that you're going to have to push yourself to get through the first fifty pages or so. The book progresses slowly but that's so the characters and all their complications can be set into place. Once that's done, Waters engages fully with the story and keeps things moving.

This is a book for the teens. Some parents of teens or those who want a trip back through the teenage years will enjoy it as well, but the junior high and high school readers should eat this one up. There's no real explanation for why the zombies came back to life, or why only American teens were affected, and I was disappointed slightly in that. But the characters are real, facing situations with genuine emotion, and I believe that the target audience is going to feel that and enjoy the read.

Everyone else who's reviewed this so far has mentioned plenty of the good things about this book, and the other reviewers have also done a great job explaining what it's about. I agree with most of them that it was a fun read, but there were too many things about this book that bothered me for me to say I liked it. I give this book a middle-of-the-road rating, and I'll explain what my fundamental problems with the book are, though I should say for the record that such things will not ruin the book for everyone--just did for me. But first. . . .

I'm the first person to rate this book at less than a perfect five stars, so I realize I am just asking to get kicked in the face by fans who like to abuse ratings buttons. This review is CONSTRUCTIVE. Reviews are supposed to be honest and well-constructed, and this review contains my reasons for not liking the book very much. It's not hateful or full of bashing, so I respectfully ask readers to withhold THEIR hate and bashing and remember that your votes are supposed to be for "helpful" and "not helpful," not for whether you agree with my assessment. I venture to say I am writing helpful things here. Now, on with my comments.

My biggest problem with this book is that the concept is a neat idea but wasn't all that well carried out. It seemed almost like the author wanted to write about the social aspects of how dead people returning to life would affect society, but skipped the gritty details of what WOULD actually happen in between, moving right on to the fun part where dead kids are in your school. Consider this:

Less than three years had passed since the phenomenon began and yet there was already this push to fight for zombies' equality as citizens. Before scientists knew what made this happen. Before they could tell if zombies were in fact unstable, dangerous, diseased, whatever. The way this book is structured, it seemed like the author thought it really was feasible that the scientific community would collectively shrug and let these kids go about their afterlives.

I'm not saying I can't suspend disbelief about zombies in the first place, because that's the fun of it--it's just that since the book was written in a non-humorous, otherwise *realistic* fashion, it seems to be trying to frame how society really would react to dead people joining "our" ranks, and yet it misses some of the basic fibers of human nature.

For an example, let's look at America's embarrassing history when it came to equal rights for blacks. When black and white schools were getting integrated, so many white people were furious that their kids had to go to school with blacks that they withdrew their children, and the black kids had to be escorted to school and protected by policemen, frequently holding back crowds of whites who yelled and threw things. And this is how they acted when the kids were actually protected by the law! Zombies, in this book, have no rights. They would fare far worse. Even in this supposedly enlightened era. Dead coming back to life is a LOT more of a fundamental change than learning next to someone with a different skin color. There would be upheavals on scales that are nearly inconceivable. But here are these kids facing some prejudice and physical danger but going largely unmolested to school shortly after waking up dead.

And . . . how are they in school, exactly? They're not citizens. It's said they can't get driver's licenses or vote. But I suppose somehow they're able to be enrolled in school? No law can be requiring them to go (so one wonders why some of them are even there if they don't "have" to go), but even if they wanted to . . . would they really be allowed? I know visitors who aren't students sure had to jump through hoops to even be allowed inside the schools I worked at in college. Laws don't acknowledge these poor dead kids, so I find it hard to figure out why for no reason whatsoever some laws do seem to apply to them and some don't, depending on if it's convenient for the story's situation.

It's stuff like this that made the world "feel" wrong to me. I did like the slice of life the author chose to portray. Phoebe and Adam's relationship was VERY well-done--their adolescent confusion was believable, and most of the character interaction was convincing; I think character-building is this author's strong point. Another good example was that prejudice existed on both sides; there were some zombies who didn't trust the "traditionally biotic" and treated them badly, so it was refreshing to see zombies were not just a bunch of sad, maligned, defenseless creatures who never did any hating of their own. But I was pretty disappointed in the worldbuilding.

It would be obnoxious of me to demand that every question be answered, but it wasn't so much that the questions weren't answered that bothered me; what bothered me most is that there were several aspects of the story that made it seem impossible or improbable (even while suspending disbelief for kids coming back to life, of course), and no attempts were made to address these. Sorta like the author wanted to skip over some of the realistic ramifications of undead teens and skip right to the part where dead kids are an oppressed minority whose rights are only recognized by PC progressive types (three years after they started existing in the first place), complete with cheesy slogans on tee shirts.

Stuff I'm not sure the author thought of:

Zombies are repeatedly said not to breathe. How are they talking? I'm cool with it if there is a good explanation--like that they *can* breathe but don't need to to "live," or they're talking some different way. But nobody ever tells you.

Why would their eyes and skin lose pigment within a few minutes or hours of being dead? That doesn't happen to people who actually die. They don't suddenly become pale and lose their eye color. So why does it happen to zombies? I'm not saying it can't happen in the story, just that I would like some understanding of why besides "it just does, because that's what zombies look like."

Why do their hair and nails grow? They don't actually grow after death. That's a myth.

I guess my bottom line here is to say that I would see the events in Generation Dead happening more realistically in *micro* if some of the *macro* issues had been thought through a little better. They wouldn't have had to be focused on--just either addressed peripherally or insinuated to have been. The author pointed out several times that the scientists don't have any clue what allows zombies to "live" and why zombiism only occurs in American (or Canadian!) teens--but saying no one knows how it works doesn't do it for me. The ramifications of the laws of physics and biology being violated in an otherwise rational world is not examined at all. Scientists would freak. Society would freak. And not calm down for a very long time. If they don't find the answer, you've got to show what happens when they don't find the answer.

And if, somehow, the zombie phenomenon did NOT cause a widespread panic, and eventually things settled down to the point that they could begin to pursue their rights and enroll at your school, I think it would only be after there were a lot more answers. Look at how schools and society handled the concept of living with students who had AIDS when it was first showing up. The reaction was something like "OMG what are the rules, can I get it from touching him, what if he bleeds on me, isn't AIDS a GAY DISEASE, hey wait you want MY KID to go to school with THAT?" Now try multiplying the height of THAT by fifteen or so and you'll have the attitudes and reactions that'd be caused by walking, talking dead people. I don't demand that the zombie thing make scientific sense or anything; I just ask that the world depicted in a book is internally consistent, and I ultimately could not reconcile the concept with the reaction in this book.

Just one more note: The book had a higher than average language glitch score (which isn't good). Editors and fact-checkers, please put on your glasses for the next edition. I caught "peoples'" instead of "people's," a possessive used incorrectly with respect to someone's house, "Badger's" instead of "Badgers," "fifteen minute" instead of "fifteen minutes," and "sight" instead of "site," and the first time I saw the word "retina" used when the author meant "iris" it startled me. Then he did it again later, which means I guess he thinks the colored part of the eye is called the retina. Retinas are on the inside of eyeballs. Really weirded me out when I thought we were seeing a zombie's retina, until I realized it was just a mistake.

Most people who don't overthink everything and aren't as picky as I am will probably still enjoy this story, so read the other reviews and decide for yourself. Like I said, it's entertaining in micro and the characters are well-written while the concept is entertaining. I just think it could have been thought through a little better, and I have a sneaking suspicion that part of the reason an unrealistically short amount of time was allowed to go by was so we could still get these zombies into the schools when they weren't too much older than when they died. Since reality is skewed to make the premise work, I lost respect for it early on and that upset my ability to enjoy the book.

I'm 12 3/4. I really LOVED this book. I found it very funny, a bit scary, and very suspenseful. It was a love story and a scary story too. I give this book 5 out of 5 stars because I was addicted to this book. The cover was intriguing as well as the title. I though it was really cool when Tommy Williams, a differently biotic or zombie, said he had a website. I went to go see if the website was real and I was astonished to find it was really his web page! I think this book would more interest girls than guys, but then again I don't know. I though this was a sad book too at some parts.
There is a lot of death involved. I think this book has opened up my mind more. Generation Dead really makes you think about what would happen after death and how would it feel if you came back. The book also says "Cool your different form other high school students. Be different, stand up, tough it out, and be there for the ones you want to protect." I think Generation Dead was such and amazing book that it should be a whole school reading book. I loved it that much. I wish there was a sequel.
So Generation Dead is about this goth high school girl named Phoebe. Phoebe is attracted to a differently biotic (zombie) boy named Tommy Williams who lives with his normally biotic (not a zombie) mother Faith Williams who helps him all the time. Phoebe thinks Tommy is really brave for trying out for football. Phoebe learns to trust Tommy. When Faith learns that Phoebe's parents don't know and Tommy asks her to prom... What will Phoebe's parents think when they learn... Also what about her best guy friend Adam. Adam likes Phoebe more than a friend, but still hasn't told her. Or what about Margi Phoebe's other best friend. Will she feel sad when Phoebe starts to hang out with Tommy more than her, and what about how Margi feels about zombies? Margi and Phoebe had a friend who died a summer or two ago, and now she's come back is Margi alright with this and what about Phoebe? Will Margi loose it and drop out of the 'club' that talks with differently biotic kids? Ever since the differently biotic teens have been coming back there are a mysterious white vans about killing differently biotic kids again, every where from Springfield Massachusetts to the coasts of California. Will one of Phoebe's friends be a target to some cruel people or will Phoebe be the one hurt in the end???...
Read the AMAZING, OUT OF THIS WORLD, FANTASTIC BOOK Generation Dead by Daniel Waters to find out.

I think what the synopsis fails to mention is that the group of people who don't want the 'living impaired' (or 'differently biotic') kids at their school are extremely violent. I think anyone who had to read To Kill a Mockingbird in English class or had to sit through a 'sensitivity' meeting at their schools can understand what it must be like for Phoebe and her friends. A lot of what the teachers and advocates for the Differently Biotic (DB) were saying I remember hearing when my school first started to allow gay or lesbian couples to attend the Prom or Homecoming Dances together. Or after 9-11 when we had a mandatory school assembly to talk about the recent violence committed against the Muslim students in our school.

The story itself is a little drawn out I think and that makes it a little stilted to read at times. Its told in third person limited for the most part, though it seems to branch into third person omniscient at times too. For instance the section will be following Phoebe around, exploring her reactions and such and then suddenly, in the same section without breaks, cut to what Adam was thinking. It got a little confusing at those times.

I think that the world is well built--its pretty much the world we live in, but with DB's running around. Its not as 'cool' to be a goth and you won't be finding too many people calling each other 'dead-heads' (which was a term for druggies when I was in HS) and George Romero has been elevated in status, but otherwise its no different from my town.

The romance between Phoebe and Tommy is sweet--Phoebe doesn't completely understand her feelings towards Tommy, he interests her and at first I think a lot of that interest is tied up in her trying to come to terms with seeing one of her best friends come back as a DB. I think as she starts to see them as separate people and less like a horde of zombies, her interest turned more romantic. But like anything during the teen years she's confused--she has her best friend Adam who has suddenly developed into a mature version of the guy she pal'ed around with as kids, her best friend Margi, who is (at best) neutral about the DB's and freaked out by Colette's re-birth and then she has society at large saying its wrong, its immoral, its indecent and disgusting.

I mostly wanted to know more about what Margi has to feel so guilty about Colette's death--she opens up in starts and fits as Phoebe becomes more insistent that she talk to her. Pete, the biggest racist this side of anywhere (I can easily see him as White Supremicist in the South), has his own issues tied up with Phoebe and the DB's and a past relationship that he has pretty much raised to Sacred. He's a bully and a brute and jerk that's more violence then planning.

I look forward to reading the second book, Kiss of Life! And if you want more interactivity check out Tommy Williamson's Blog My So-Called Undeath, where 'Tommy' posts (in the book he has a blog as well, that he uses to reach out to other DB's across the nation to help them adjust to their new Undeath).

To summarize Generation Dead, by Daniel Waters in one word- Clever! Daniel Waters resides in Connecticut with his family. Generation Dead is his first young adult novel.
All over the country an unusual phenomenon is happening. Some teenagers who die are not staying dead. Isolated strictly to the United States and to teenagers, these young adults are labeled differently bionic or living impaired. All they are trying to do is fit into a society that doesn't want them and doesn't understand. The kids at Oakvale High School are no different. They don't want to eat with them, talk to them, or sit in class with them. They just want them to disappear. Phoebe has never been part of the popular crowd, not with her goth looks and attitude. So when she falls for Tommy, leader of the dead kids, no one can quite believe it. Margi, her best friend, has a fear of the living impaired which is rooted to an incident from their past she'd rather ignore than face. And Adam, her next door neighbor and star of the football team, has recently realized his feelings for Phoebe go much deeper than the girl next door he always thought she was. But what if all Adam can do is protect Tommy to make her happy?
I only have two criticisms for the book. One, there were a few errors, but I had the advanced reading copy which is not the final publication draft. And two, I was sad when it ended, as I wanted more.
Generation Dead, by Daniel Waters is clever, witty, and downright genius. How on earth he came up with this idea I'll never know. But I am so very glad he did. He was able to get into the minds of teenagers and know what they are thinking, feeling, and their reactions to the world around them. Targeted for young adults ages twelve and up, I think parents and adults would benefit from this read, as they just might finally get into their teenagers psyche. From the star of the football team, to the cheerleader who seemingly has it all, to the lost soul who hides in the corner... every character is believable and convincing. The plot flowed well and was exceedingly difficult to put down. In my opinion, the greatest part of this story was the way Daniel Waters was able to throw out any and every notion we have about zombies. You won't find flesh eating monsters and gore beyond nightmares, but rather a brilliantly funny adaptation of what a world might be like should this phenomenon every occur. Impressive, very impressive!

Kelly Moran,
Author and Reviewer

You've heard of Generation "X" and Generation "Y." Get ready for Generation Dead -- Generation Dead being known for its, well, undead. Science can't explain it, and no one really knows why it happens, but American teenagers are coming back to life. Known to the living as differently biotic or the living impaired, these zombie teenagers try to "live" their undead lives, but as with any group of people that vary from the norm, there are always prejudices.

Phoebe, a Goth girl, finds herself unexpectedly drawn to one of these so-called living impaired students, Tommy Williams. Her best friend, Margi, thinks she is crazy, but Margi's feeling for the undead are more complicated than a general dislike. Then there is Phoebe's neighbor and childhood friend, Adam. Adam has finally realized his true feelings for Phoebe, but he still can't find the courage to tell her. Of course, it doesn't make the situation any easier when he discovers Phoebe is crushing on the dead kid.

Phoebe talks Margi and Adam into joining a work study at the Hunter Foundation, which is centered around the undead phenomenon. Unfortunately, not everyone tries to be as open-minded. There aren't any laws protecting these teens, and they are being singled out and sometimes killed again. When a student makes a personal vendetta to take out the living impaired and anyone associated with them, the situation can only end in tragedy.

GENERATION DEAD went above and beyond what I was expecting. Sure, it is about the dead, but there are so many underlying messages in this book. Prejudice is something that is very apparent, and is something that we deal with in reality on a daily basis. There is a part in the book where they have a guest speaker in their undead studies program. Basically, they are discussing how they can acclimate the undead into society. I have to say that the dialogue of the speaker totally blew me away. I think I read it maybe three or four times, and I just kept thinking, if only acceptance and change were and could be that easy, the world would be a better place.

As for the rest of the story, the characters were beyond three-dimensional. I felt like I knew these kids, and they continued to develop throughout the entire story, I mean literally up until the last page. I loved it! The plot was totally original and kept me turning pages until the late hours of the night. I love Mr. Waters' writing style, as it's engrossing yet simple. The story was full of wit and humor, and I was totally captured!

Obviously, I really liked/loved this book!

Reviewed by: The Story Siren

Phoebe and her friend Margi are used to being stared at and made fun of because of their unconventional Gothic style. But the tables are quickly turned and they are considered normal when certain teenagers throughout the country come back to lif e they don't breathe, eat, or function quite like normal teenagers, but they're alive nonetheless. And Phoebe's small town of Oakvale is becoming a haven for them, and a brewing pot for animosity, discrimination, and violence.


Things only get more and more tense when Phoebe bravely decides to befriend the "ringleader" of these living dead, Tommy Williams, dragging her friend Margi, whose reluctance to associate with any of the "differently biotic" kids has to do with the guilt and fear surrounding their friend Colette's death...and reappearance, and Adam, the football player who is head over heels in love with Phoebe. Their decision to do this isn't a light one, that's for sure, and they'll have to face far more than just petty discrimination: together with their differently biotic friends, they'll have to try to change the way their society thinks in a world where the differently biotic have absolutely no rights.


Generation Dead is one tremendous read. Phoebe is one brave, intelligent, and extremely admirable character. Waters's writing and imagination is gripping and engaging. Each reader will find themselves wrapped up completely in this unique and original story that is controversial and will challenge your thinking, and question what it means to be alive. Faced with adversity on nearly every side, this lively group of teens (no pun intended) will courageously face the new world in which they live, with an engrossing ending that will leave readers indignantly demanding more. Generation Dead is a profound, descriptive, and sensitive read that is sure to make waves in the young adult genre.

[...]

I wanted to like this book... I've been waiting for some good zombies-taken-seriously fiction and I thought the good reviews on this boded well but no.

No.

If no one was a zombie the book would be just a really slow and boring version of the OC (or, what I assume the OC is like.) The zombies just trick you into reading on, hoping for a better future, and I fell for it!

To be honest, it wasn't sure how a zombie romance was going to work out but I picked up the book and I couldn't put it down. I love the characters, Phoebe the goth girl, Tommy the heroic zombie, and Adam the lovable boy next door, along with many more. The romantic aspect of the story will keep you on your toes and the mystery behind the entire story of the teenagers who are coming back to life is so different yet so well written. I breezed through this book and would HIGHLY recommend this one.

Phoebe, the heroine of the story, is a goth girl with a major crush...on a zombie. In this era, which seems to be set slightly in the future, saying the word "zombie" isn't PC--the current favored term is "living impaired" or "differently biotic."

Not that Phoebe's fellow schoolmates want, or accept, these "living-impaired" students, which are flocking to Oakvale in increasing numbers. And unfortunately for these new students, there aren't any laws that protect the rights of these teens who have come back from the dead (oh, and for some reason, it's only American teenagers who are returning).

But Phoebe can't help but feel drawn to the mysterious zombie, Tommy. Which is unfortunate for Phoebe's football jock friend, Adam, who's crushed on Phoebe forever. Nor is it accepted by fellow goth friend Margi.

And there are others out there who want to get rid of all zombies...permanently.

I read this novel in one day. It was addictive--the dialogue and banter was quite funny and spot-on, but there were surprisingly dark moments in the story that gripped me, as well. It wasn't as gross as I thought it was going to be--the zombies weren't trying to eat brains or anything.

The story actually had a lot of heart and romance, and the subplot revolving around the rights of the zombies was quite emotional and gut-wrenching to read. I liked seeing how the first zombie came about and how society is trying to deal with their existence.

The bad guy in the book is soooo cruel, but very fleshed out and realistic. I loved to hate him. And the end of the book really threw me for a loop--I was NOT expecting it, but I really liked it! The ending also left some questions that I expect may be resolved in book 2 of the series--Generation Dead: Kiss of Life. I believe that one comes out in May 2009.

I'm eager to pick up the next in the sequel (and it doesn't hurt that I looove the covers)!! Mr. Waters has written a fantastic story. Even if you're not into zombies, I hope you give it a chance.