Customer Reviews

Never Slow Dance with a Zombie

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3 star:		(1)
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When I first started reading Never Slow Dance with a Zombie I sighed in dismay..... another story about a girl who dreams of being popular. You know the slightly pudgy dark headed girl with a skinny blonde nemesis. The nobody who wants to be the somebody. I was even tempted to just close the book and set it on my pile of TBR, near the bottom where other books would pile atop it, and it would disappear between 'similar' and 'a million other books used that plot'. Then Margot went to school and found that it was overrun with zombies.

This was when the book took a hilarious and interesting turn. Instead of reporting this massive zombie outbreak to the authorities or even running away and telling their parents, Margot and Sybil talk to their principal. Ok, you're thinking, he's an authority figure right? Wrong he enlists them to help keep the school running smoothly despite the 'mmmmmphhhgrwwwwwl'-ing zombies at the school. Guess what? The thought of being the queen bee and able to be head cheerleader (oh and prom queen) hits just the right note and Margot ploughs ahead full force.

In order to survive high school you have to find your pack. (are you goth zombie or emo zombie?) Not be an individual, everyone wants to be popular right? (oh and zombies hate non-zombies, so try to fit in!) And have a gaggle of adoring wannabes behind you. (do hungry chomping zombies count?) Point is E. Van Lowe made a unique and quite funny connection between teenage/highschool angst and living with the undead. The heroines of this book aren't perfect, in fact one of them has a dark little voice inside her head telling her to be selfish and mean. These girls are real in a way Bella never could be. It's an easy humorus read, just get through the first 1/4 filled with empty thoughts of popularity and on to the zombie party!

Margot Jean Johnson and her best friend Sybil Mulcahy are nobodies. Amanda Culpepper and the Twigettes (her mindless followers) are the bane of their existence. All Margot wants is everything on her high school manifesto to come true: be more popular than Amanda Culpepper, have a boyfriend, be invited to parties, and just eight more things she hasn't attained yet. This all changes after the school carnival when all of her classmates have turned into zombies, except Sybil. Principial Taft convinces them to pretend that eveything is ok and coexist peacefully with the zombies. Who is behind the outbreak? Should Margot try to figure out what's going on or bask in her newfound popularity?

This book is a fun, light read. It's like a mixture of Mean Girls and Night of the Living Dead. E. Van Lowe captures the voice of a teenage girl very well. Not many males really know how girls interact with each other, so this is an impressive feat. Like in Mean Girls, girls are really not nice to each other. He shows how girls can tear each other down with just words. He also shows the weird dynamic between friends, both when they get along and when they don't. The popular crowd is full of false relationships and Margot, because she idolizes those "in" people, used this model in her relationship with Sybil. At first, she is kind of petty and jealous towards Sybil (who is nice to a fault). I think it takes talent to create a likeable character who does unlikeable things. The zombie situation makes her grow as a person.

The book was filled with funny moments. I laughed out loud when one of the defenses against the undead was to rap them on the nose with a rolled up newspaper. Also, the fact that they could get used to going to a school filled with zombies is just hilarious to me. The dynamic between Margot and her zombie boyfriend Dirk is creepy and funny. Even the fact that the principal practically begs Margot and Sybil to go along with his plan and they go along with it is pretty amusing.

Although on the surface, the story is funny and light, but there is a serious and important undertone. The girls are forced to blend in and not call attention to themselves to survive in the midst of zombies. To save the day, they have to break out of the cliques and do what's right. The message of the book is to do what's right for you and ignore what's cool or in. I think we need more teen books like this.

I have never read a zombie book and I don't recall watching any zombie movies so I knew very little about zombies. This book was a whole new experience for me. E. Van Lowe sent me a copy of his book, Never Slow Dance with a Zombie and I read it in a few nights.

The book follows Margot and Sybil, two best friends in high school. They are forced to survive high school after most of the student body turn into zombies! They turn to their principal for help on how to survive. They realize they must on their own. Principal Taft gives them full authority to run the school events and order around school. Sybil chooses to be head lunchroom monitor. Margot volunteers to head the school events, including the dance and holiday pageant.

Margot wants to be popular, the center of attention, and have a boyfriend. Sybil just wants to be Margot's friend and keep the peace. She wants to support Margot and helps her through her journey to popularity. Margot and Sybil help each other survive their high school full of zombies.

Margot and Sybil also learn so much about themselves, their friendship, and what is really important in life.

I loved reading Never Slow Dance with a Zombie. Fun and easy book to get into.

The premise is simple: Margot & Sybil return to school one morning to discover the student population has become zombies. Instead of running away screaming, the two girls set out to make themselves the "queen bees" of the school.

Margot wants to be the most popular girl while Sybil simply wants everyone to get along. With the help of Mr. Taft, the school principal, the girls spend seven weeks with zombie classmates.

While the premise is original, Lowe really fails to execute the story effectively. Most of the storyline was predictable, but it was still a fun read. I would recommend saving it for a time when you just want to read a bit of light fluff.

I felt a bit embarrassed to be looking at books in the Young Adult section of my local library, but I had heard that Never Slow Dance With a Zombie by E. Van Lowe was hilarious. It was pretty funny and I even laughed out loud a few times while reading - something I rarely do.

Margot Johnson is the typical teenage outcast: a chubby brunette with a skinny blonde enemy and dreams of being popular. In middle school, along with her best friend Sybil, she devised a manifesto for high school, setting goals to become the most popular girl in school and to have a boyfriend. When the student body turns into zombies - with the exception of Margot, Sybil, the principal and the gym teacher- Margot uses it to her advantage, achieving her goals. With no other girls around, she becomes the "queen bee" of the high school and lures popular zombie jock Dirk into being her boyfriend. Coexisting with zombies goes great until Margot and Sybil realize that someone is trying to turn them into zombies.

From the first page of this novel, I was transported back to high school. Being an outcast myself, I too had a crush on a popular jock, hated (some of) the snooty popular girls, but still dreamed of being popular. I'm shocked that this book was written by a man because he gets into the head of a teenage girl so well.

The main character, Margo, was well-written and I could see myself (or at least me when I was in high school) in her. But her selfishness and her tendency to whine got on my nerves. And the book was told from her point of view, making some of the characters seem flat since we are only given her one-sided opinion.

The zombies didn't make an appearance until about 1/4 into the novel. Up until that point, the book is just about Margot trying to score a date with Dirk. But once you get through that part, the novel becomes hilarious with the zombie interactions and the principal's "Rules for Surviving a Zombie Uprising".

Overall, this was a pretty funny read, but probably more enjoyable if you're a teenage girl.

I really loved this book, especially after coming off of Zombie Blondes, which I didn't like, to this one was wonderful! I really enjoy satires, books that go over the top to make their point. This book did not disappoint. We have Sybil and Margot who discover that all most all of their classmates have been turned into zombies. What does Margot want to do? She wants to be the most popular girl in school (though, she is the only one not undead!). While Sybil just wants to get the zombies to "declique" from their cliques! As Margot strives to rule the school and stay safe from the zombies her and Sybil slowly grow apart. Can they keep their friendship, cure their classmates, discover the culprit, and survive high school? These are the themes I experienced in high school. How to hold onto the good friends I've got and not worry about what the popular kids say, etc. How to make a difference in school? How do I survive? Granted, I never had to fight off zombies and live among them, but don't we all have a bit of zombie in us?

I picked this book up for my niece because she loves all things zombie and opened it casually thinking I'd just read the opening paragraph. Well, I was hooked. It was so fun to read about this crazy canvas of characters. I felt like a YA all over again.

Would make a great movie, no doubt about it.

Great job E. VanLowe.

p.s. This made me think that about "The Book Thief"- another supposed YA novel that adults soon found and loved. This certainly doesn't have the heavy topic that book has but it has the wit.

In high school, Margot remains a failure when it comes to popularity especially her fantasy of having Dirk ask her to the carnival. Her BFF Sybil says she has it under control as she will ask Dirk out for Margot. Sybil hides her attraction to Dirk from Margot. Meanwhile making matters worse for Margot is her most hated enemy Amanda Culpepper is dating Dirk. Whereas Margot does not go to the carnival, Sybil does but leaves early as she had no one with her.

The next day the pair expects to hear how everyone had a good time and by implication they are losers. Instead they find their classmates have become zombies, but remained with their pre zombie subculture. Instead of fleeing screaming Margot and Sybil mount a coup d'etat taking over as the new kids on the block in charge. They instigate the anti zombie laws while converted Dirk remains a stud muffin albeit a bit slower than before the carnival.

With a nod to chick lit lits and principal rules, NEVER SLOW DANCE WITH A ZOMBIE is an amusing tale as Margot the magnificent and her bud work the high school. The story line uses student stunts to provide some sense of realism, but this young teen urban fantasy focuses on how to lead the in crowd when your school is overrun (bad term as zombies don't run) by zombies and your hunk gives off hunks of epidermal parts.

Harriet Klausner

Never Slow Dance With A Zombie is a super cute *arghhh* (sorry that was supposed to be a zombie growl, but it sounds more like a pirate hehe) zombie novel. E. Van Lowe's writing is funny which makes it a fun, fast paced read. I liked most of the characters, except with the exception of one. The main character Margot starts out being a self-centered brat that only cares about being popular, being invited to parties and getting a boyfriend. It seems like her whole life revolved around a manifesto list which she created that includes those wants and more. My favorite character would have to be Sybil, she is a sweet, caring girl that wants nothing more than her best friend Margot to be happy. If only Margot could see that right, or does she?...hmmm, don't want to give that away. To sum it up a little...one day Margot and Sybil go to school and pretty much 90% of the student body are turned into zombies for the exception of a few classmates, the principal and gym teacher. At first I was a little confused because their was no explanation to why this occurred, but as I read it all the answers were eventually revealed. I also enjoyed how E. Van Lowe used different, unique names for his characters instead of the cliche names found in books today. Overall, a very cute read and I definitely recommend it if you're a zombie lover! Grrrargh...is that more zombie like?

I don't know what I was thinking picking this book up. I had a great run with Zombie books so far, but this one was so horrible I found myself wondering why I was bothering to flip through the rest of it at all. This book isn't rooted in any kind of reality your brain will recognize and the romance is so bizare and shallow I hardly see why it's in there at all. This is not an author I intend on following. The voice was, to be brutally honest, zombie boring. Read at your own risk.