Customer Reviews

I Am Legend

5 star:		(5)
4 star:		(2)
3 star:		(0)
2 star:		(0)
1 star:		(0)

 

 

My husband is a Richard Matheson fanatic and when I said I wanted to see the Will Smith movie of the same title, he told me to read the book instead. So I read his tattered 40-cent Bantam paperback and now I won't see the movie. They can't do it justice (besides Will Smith is not a blonde of German descent). Richard Matheson is a master storyteller, I could not put this book down. With his words I could feel the suffocation that Robert Neville felt being alone all the time, fighting for his life. He drank a lot but still managed to be very productive and never feel sorry for himself. He was a hunter, doctor, scientist, judge, jury and executioner. He somehow avoided the infection that killed or mutated everyone else, but then that became his downfall because the others saw him as the danger. The ending is incredible, Robert Neville becomes legend. This book is a must-have for any sci-fi or suspense fan.

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.

Contrary to common belief, I Am Legend is not a vampire novel. What this book is in reality is a series a short horror stories written by Richard Matheson that range from the 160 page long story I Am Legend from which the book gets its name to a three page story called The Near Departed. Although I must admit that I Am Legend, the first and longest of the stories, is far and away the best, only talking about that one part does a disservice to the other ten incredible stories that are collected here. I will do a short review on each story in this book.

I Am Legend, 5/5, 160 pages. WAY better then the movie.

The new movie I Am Legend, staring Will Smith, takes place in New York City after a "cure" for cancer mutates and turns the worlds population into flesh eating zombie/vampire mutts that can only come out at night. the movie was unimpressive, the book is outstanding.

Everyone knows the basic plot of this story, there is only one man left alive in a world full of vampires, but despite what you might expect from a plot like that this isn't an action novel. In fact there is very little in the way of action or suspense and for the most part in moves a slower pace. What makes this book amazing is the attention to detail that author Richard Matheson put into his post apocalyptic tale. Main character Robert Neville starts out about 3 months after last seeing another human being, held up in his house at night as thousands of undead vampires call for him to come out. every day is a rigid routine, fix the houses defenses, throw the dead corpses he finds on his lawn every morning into a fire, hunt for vampires, make stakes to hunt more vampires, and then back inside before nightfall and drink himself to death. As time goes by he starts to learn how to deal with the vampires, how they live and how they die; what they are and why the act the way they do. He conducts experiments, for instance why do vampires fear crosses? Why does garlic repel them? Why do only stakes kill them? Does said stake need to go though the heart to kill? These are all fascinating questions and we get answers to them all.

But what makes this story a true masterpiece is the ending. I will not spoil it for you who haven't read the book yet (and I encourage you to do so as soon as possible) but lets just say that it is truly amazing. If you've seen the movie, brace yourself for a shock. I am very confused as to why any writer would want to tamper with such an amazing ending, why would anyone touch this gold?

I Am Legend has been made into three motion pictures from the original The Last Man on Earth to The Omega Man to this years blockbuster I Am Legend. Not only that, but horror master George Romero said it was the inspiration for his horror classic Night of the Living Dead. Truly I Am Legend is one of the most influential horror stories in history.

Buried Talents, 4/5, 8 pages. An interesting story.

Right off the bat I expected another short story that takes place in the I Am Legend universe, but the rest of the stories are completely independent and have nothing to do with one another. Do not go into this story expecting to read more about Vampires and garlic.

Buried Talents is a curies piece indeed. At only 8 pages this story brings up a lot of questions but never answers them, allowing the reader to come up with their own conclusions. In this short, a carnival man runs a booth where players try to throw ping pong balls into a fishing bowl to win a prize. No one seems to be able to do it, until a mysterious man walks up and lays down his quarters. He hits every shot, making the balls go into the bowl without so much as bouncing on the bottom, and then makes the two others land right next to them in the same fashion. He keeps this up for the whole story until the very end when the carnival man tells him to leave. Doesn't sound interesting right? Sound stupid? You'd be wrong. Once again, the ending is what makes this story good. Until the very last paragraph this story isn't anything special, but the last two lines make this a story to remember.

The Near Departed, 3 pages, 5/5. Short and to the point.

There really isn't a lot I can say about this gem of a story, not without giving away any spoilers. Think of this story as a joke, a three page joke and nothing more. Once again, the last paragraph of this story is simply amazing.

Prey, 15 pages, 5/5. Chuckey's inspiration?

Its inconceivable that one book, or rather a collection of short stories, could not only be the inspiration for Night of the Living Dead, but also for a little film called Child's Play this that might just be the case. Prey is a nail biting thriller about an African doll called "This is he who hunts" comes to life and starts attacking its owner. Although I don't know for sure whether or not this story inspired Childs Play, it is very safe to bet that the director of that film must have read this book and used it in some way. Although there are parts in this story that just don't make much sense (how can a doll overpower a full grown woman?) it is none the less a very entertaining read. If you liked Childs Play, you'll love this gem.

With War, 7 pages, 3/5. Huh?

Now this is a strange one indeed. Matheson goes for the surreal and the supernatural in this story even more so then previously, but in the end this story is just too off the wall to be taken seriously. set in an alternate world (or possibly WWI, its hard to tell) Witch War starts off with seven cute little girls talking happily with each other about, well, girl stuff. Gossip, cloths, hairstyles, stuff like that. Then a soldier enters the room and informs them of an upcoming attack.
"Oh my, here we go again," one of them says.

Outside in the rain a group of soldiers, supported by trucks and tanks, are attempting to attack the city the girls are supposedly in. Out of nowhere lightning starts to strike, lions and tigers jump out of the rain, the tanks blow up in huge fireballs and the mud starts to consume the troops as they run; you know, friendly stuff like that. Although this is an interesting story, I can hardly say it's up to the high standard set by previous entries.

Dance of the Dead, 19 pages, 3/5. Leaves too many questions unanswered.

I know I know, I said the same thing about Buried Talents and still gave that story a 4, so why not this one? Well, because this story tries to be a little more ambitious. For one thing it's longer and has room to expand and answer some of the questions it raises, and for another it creates a whole different world that is never explained or elaborated on. Set, I guess, some time in the not so distant future, the government is in a weakened state in the aftermath of a devastating war. four teenagers go on a trip to the city to see what they call the "Loopy Dance." a Loopy, apparently, is a dead corpse that reanimates because of some chemical and does a strange kind of dance. Although the dystopian future intrigued me, nothing really happens of interest during this story, and that's the main reason for the lower rating.

Dress of White Silk, 6 pages, 4.5/5. What just happened?

That was my immediate reaction after reading Dress of White Silk. What happened? What did that ending mean? Although I have my guesses, there really is no way to know for sure that I'm right or wrong (don't worry, I won't spoil it for you). Written in the head of a young girl, maybe 7 years old give or take, this story is very simply written to say the least. Here's an example of the kind of writing you can expect.

Pg , 213. "When I pretend I brush my hair long. But I only use my own brush from my room. I didn't never use mommas brush."

Although this kind of writing can be a little hard to get though, it is very appropriate for the kind of story being told. It's told though the mind of a very little girl after all, so this incomplete writing is very nice to see and shows the versatility of Matheson. The ending is what truly got me hooked on this. It seems that almost every ending in this book is brilliant.

Mad house, 72 pages, 5/5. Inspiration for Monster House?

Yes, once again, Matheson delivers another inspiration for another movie, this time the kids film Monster House (Widescreen Edition), although the book itself is anything but kid friendly. Mad House is about struggling writer/professor whose life is leaving him and can't seem to control his anger. The angrier he gets, the more accidents he starts to have around the house. A rug slips out from under his feet, a pencil points break off and sticks into his finger, his chair falls down, ect. His friend warns him that he's afraid that if he doesn't control his anger, his house might actually turn on him, which of course is exactly what happens.

This is one of the longer stories in this book, and also one of the best. The story makes the main character is sole focus, diving into he mind and fleshing out what kind of person he really is. Along with Robert Neville from I Am Legend, the main character from this story (I can't remember his name right now) is probably one of the best characters in this book. The story really is about him, at least up until Matheson gives us yet ANOTHER killer ending. My God, how many can be pull off?

The Funeral, 10 pages, 3/5. My least favorite.

Why is that? Well, because it's a not so funny comedy about vampires and goblins and such. a man tries to run a funeral home when a vampire walks in and say he wants a funeral because the one he had in real life wasn't that great and now he wants to make up for it. What follows is a somewhat humorous tale as all his vampire friends come for the ceremony and try to eat the poor owner. Overall a nice story but nothing great.

From Shadowed Places, 25 pages, 4/5. Warning, graphic content ahead.

This is, far and away, the most graphic of all the stories in this book. Naked people galore, African voodoo, more naked people, lots and lots of sexual content so if that's not your cup of tea stay away. The story itself really isn't half bad. A man is being tortured by some African witch doctor and is slowly dieing a horrible death. When his fiancé calls for help, they get their friend Dr. Howl, a woman who just happens to have been taught all about African voodoo while on a trip to the Dark Continent. But the only way she can get the voodoo out of him is to, uhh, get naked and pretend to be having sex with him, no kidding. Still a very good read.

Person to Person, 23 pages, 5/5. The second best.

After I Am Legend, Person to Person is my favorite story here. When a man starts hearing a phone in his head, he tries to find a way to make it stop, but to no avail. When he gets the bright idea to answer the phone (in his head of course) a mysterious stranger starts talking to him on the other end. Who is this man? A government agent testing a new way of communication? An inventor using him as a guinea pig? His long dead father? His uncounsis mind? Every time he "answers" the phone, he gets a different story. Little does he know that this voice in his mind has sinister plans for him. This story also has one heck of an ending. I'm surprised no one has made this story into a movie or something.

OVERVIEW.

You must read this book, whether or not you are a fan of the movies. This horror classic inspired so many movies and books it's not even funny. It inspired Romero's Night of the Living Dead, which inspired every other zombie movie every made, enough said. No horror fan can afford to be without this classic book. Do yourself a favor and buy it now.

Re-read value; high.

Unfortunately, I did not know there was even a short story called I Am Legend before I saw the movie. I thought the movie was so-so, but now that I have read Matheson's awesome story, I hate the movie for not staying true to the book and missing the mark. Shame on you, Hollywood. This story is intense, gripping, and unique. The main character, Robert Neville, is a likable character who I became invested in quickly. My only semi-complaint is that the scientific talk went over my head, but I didn't feel like it made me appreciate the story less. I love Matheson's take on the vampires and the imagine of "Neville, come out!" was absolutely haunting. It had good twists and I loved the ending. It seems like in today's society every vampire story(or scary movie)is pretty much all the same. Originality is hard to come by these days. It's interesting that a story written in the 50's is more fresh and solid that anything I've read (or seen) in quite awhile. Bravo Matheson!

Works created with the intent of bending genres can prove instructive, if not uniformly entertaining. Some never manage to overcome inherent tensions and break apart. Others end up squiggly and shapeless, more exercises in frustration than anything else. Still others try to twist together wildly divergent ideas, the pieces never quite meeting no matter how hard the author tries. Then there are narratives -- rare and wonderful ones -- that shift from element to element so easily you wonder why no one has tried their particular combination before. Richard Matheson's I Am Legend is one of these.

Robert Neville is the sole survivor of a plague that killed his wife and daughter, the inhabitants of the city where he lives, and (as far as he knows) the world's entire population. By day he scavenges, digging up necessities such as food and water and wooden dowelling. Mirrors, too, if he can get them, and garlic. Because while might be the last man alive, he is not the last man on earth. When darkness falls, the plague's victims come out, transformed into viscous, blood-drinking vampires by ... By what, exactly? Neville doesn't know, but he'll do everything in his power to find out.

Post-apocalyptic, horror, hard SF and myth -- there's genre divergence if ever you saw it. But Matheson twines them into a single story with a contortionist's grace, leveraging commonalities to make the styles meet. Anyone who has experienced a catastrophe of some kind knows that such things hold hands with horror. And melding science and superstition isn't too much of a stretch, either. Indeed, Matheson's naturalistic re-imagining of vampirism is one of the novel's high points. The same can't be said for its dour ending. While downbeat conclusions are fine and good in their place, the close of Neville's struggles strips them of significance through no fault of his own. A disappointing turn on an otherwise excellent piece.

It arrived on time in the condition promised. I was glad to find several short stories included with I am Legend.

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 which demands to be read. Read it. You will not be disappointed.