Customer Reviews

Vampire Haiku

5 star:		(8)
4 star:		(1)
3 star:		(2)
2 star:		(0)
1 star:		(1)

 

 

Ryan Mecum's Vampire Haiku mixes humor and poetry in diary form for vampire William Butten, who was turned in 1620. He falls in love with a beautiful woman on the Mayflower named Katherine, who turned him into a vampire. Soon he's parted from his love to roam America on his own and make his own friends. There are tales of some well known historic figures from Davy Crockett to Amelia Earhart and famous events in history like the Civil War and Woodstock.

Readers may initialy be attracted to the cover haiku, which also appears on page 37:

"You know that your drink
is down to the last few sips
once the toes curl up."

Butten has a twisted sense of humor, but readers will enjoy is little anecdotes about becoming a vampire and bumbling around learning how to feed, etc. Mecum uses his linguistic and historic knowledge to create fun and witty haiku. Although they are not precisely haiku in the traditional sense, they mostly adhere to the form's syllable count. It is fun to see Butten reveal insider knowledge about the deaths of Davy Crockett and other major historical figures. In some cases, the poems will have readers cringing in disgust.

"Discarded band-aids
are rare unexpected treats.
My version of gum." (page 113)

There are even moments in the book where the vampire makes fun of the modern vampire crazes from the goth kids to the latest vampire movies. One of the best haiku in the book is about the Twilight movie:

"Those were not vampires.
If sunlight makes you sparkle,
you're a unicorn." (page 117)

Will Butten ever find his true love, Katherine, or will he stop searching for her and settle down? Overall, those interested in humor and vampires will find Vampire Haiku to be a treat.

I was fascinated with the idea of a vampire documenting bits of his prolonged life using Haiku, but I was truly awestruck with how well it was done after I had finished it. For a quick read (and I do mean quick - my only complaint), this one will have you giggling shamelessly with every page. I bought this book thinking it would be kind of a documentary-type read ("My Life As A Pilgrim Vampire" or something) with little shards of wit and humor to keep you interested; Mostly a new and creative version of how adjusting to a vampire's life (or..death? un-life?) is hard. I just didn't know you could turn all that into a comedy. This book should be on every reader's shelf. Even if you don't like vampires, if you know just one or two of the many common vampire stereotypes and/or ever heard the name Stephenie Meyer, you'll be in stitches.

Who would have guessed used Band-Aids would be the best vampire inside-joke of the year?

There's a lot of vampire dreck being produced in the world today, a great deal of which has taken its cue from certain very popular juvenile fiction products and films. It's hard to do vampires these days without attempting to redefine the parameters in either implausible non-traditional ways, or to simply produce something overly clichéd and hackneyed.

This book manages to stay within the pretty standard expectations of the vampire genre, and yet the most unique thing about it is not the treatment of vampires, nor even the story (despite its ingeniousness at many points), but instead the medium itself.

It might be a stretch to imagine that an early seventeenth century Pilgrim would be writing a journal in haiku (since wide Western familiarity with that poetic form wouldn't have been a reality until the late nineteenth and early twentieth centuries), and yet the charm to this poetic form as a narrative vehicle is intrinsically appealing. Traditionally, individual haiku often have a sense of timelessness in their capturing of a single moment, transitory and yet eternal. What better medium, then, to narrate the life of a vampire, a being who lives through many ages and the changes they inevitably bring, and yet remains essentially beyond change himself? While the occasional haiku in the book is hypermetrical, this can be easily forgiven, particularly in one case, when onomatopoeia is involved.

The opportunities for humor in this book were endless, and yet tastefully exploited. Much fun is had at the expense of vampire fiction and film of the past, including using two syllables with the word "sparkle" in one particular jab at the recent Twilight franchise, and a masterful incorporation of Joss Whedon into the storyline. Wonderful stuff! Some of the other ways in which William Butten (the main character--based on an actual youth who died en route on the Mayflower) incorporates himself into American history are less subtle, and somewhat disturbing (particularly the fortunes of post-vampiric Davy Crockett; and a certain serial murderer in 1970s New York), but nonetheless intriguing.

If you'd like a fascinating, but short, read (truly, a rarity--substance and depth of nearly epic proportions in a form that can be read in the time it would take to read a short story), and a beautifully produced book, and if nothing else an enjoyable and funny diversion, I'd highly recommend picking this one up. I'd be interested to see Mecum's previous work, and to see what might be next--need I speculate aloud..."Werewolf Haiku"? ;)

They're simple - five syllables, seven syllabes, five syllables - like this one from the book:

Though I don't eat it
I often display a box
of Count Chocula

Try writing one, and then try writing enough haikus to fill a book, a string of haikus that tell a story and are simultaneously clever and witty. It isn't easy, but Ryan Mecum has done it and hit a vampire home run. I bought this book on impulse after seeing it in a local bargain store. The haiku are entertaining and fun, while the illustrations and page "decorations" just add to the fun and the mood.

Cheapskate that I am, I liked this book so much that I even ordered Mecum's Zombie Haiku book from Amazon. Vampire Haiku is a book to enjoy more than once and a book to share. I close with a couplet of homemade haiku inspired by the author.

Vampire haiku book
Incredibly creative
I thought it would suck

Critics criticize
Don't appreciate talent
What do they want? Blood?

Twilight what? This here is a true vampire book, told with haiku. Very clever and quite a fun read. If you enjoy book, or the haiku in general, you should also try Werewolf Haiku, Zombie Haiku: Good Poetry For Your...Brains, and the geektastic Fanboy Haiku

Including some some very clever comedic moments, on the whole this is a beautifully tragic story of a creature's search for his love and not to be missed for any vampire fans or poetry lovers. Very enjoyable read.

I really liked this book. It was a great quick read. I would recommend this book and the other book "Zombie Haiku" from the same author. Great Books!

A cute little book of haikus. If you are a vampire fan, this book will bring a chuckle or two. I am forever quoting it to my friends for a quick laugh!

Vampire Haiku is an excellent follow up to the author's previous book, Zombie Haiku. Due to the book's medium-small size and water resistant qualities, it is a great companion for me when I travel on boats or on foot. Great buy for the holidays!

Andrew L.
English
Carson High School,
Carson, Ca
Thirsty For Vampires!

The book I chose to read is Vampire Haiku by Ryan Mecum. I chose this book because I liked the cover. It looks so interesting with a vampire girl's bloodthirsty mouth. The other reason I was interested in this book is because I like vampires and how the only way for them to survive is by killing and drinking blood. Lastly, I scanned through the book and found all the pictures in there, unbelievable. The book looks like a real-life, antique journal with a lot of bloody-looking paintings, cartoons, and finally, distressed, artistic, black and white photographs.
In the beginning of Vampire Haiku, a man named William Butten falls in love with a beautiful vampire woman named Katherine Carver. They spend time together for a while. Then, one day, while they are kissing, she goes down to his neck and kisses his neck. However, he does not realize that he is bleeding until later on that night, as he lies there, dying. After he dies, he comes back to life and turns into a vampire. During this time, Katherine disappears. For the rest of the book, William goes around searching for her and finds her one day in a crowd on Independence Day. She says, "It's called Independence Day. Maybe try next year." This means that since it was Independence Day, that Katherine wanted to be independent. However, from then on, when he tries to find her, he is never able to. Following this, he goes around drinking people's blood in order to survive on his journey to find Katherine.
I like how the book has two purposes. It tells a story about vampires and at the same time, it educates us about American history. This book has both good and not so good aspects. Something good about this book was that it reminded me of a novel named Twilight, because in that novel, there is also a vampire that loves a girl and would do anything for her. For instance, the men in the both novels would die for these women, and if they themselves died, they would feel like have no reason to continue living. The thing I didn't like about Ryan Mecum's writing was that some of the statements and comments he mentions do not make sense to me. Most of the time, I did not even see how they related to the big picture. One example is from page 118, where it says, "Batman and Robin was not Joel Shumacher's worst: He made The Lost Boys." For me, is an unnecessary statement that doesn't have anything to do with the story.
I think what Ryan Mecum is trying to tell us, is that you should always chase after the one you love, never give up no matter what the odds are, and lastly, that is nothing is impossible. Mecum writes so incredibly that it makes you eager to find out how Vampire Haiku will end. I would recommend this book to anyone who likes literature about vampires and/or American history. Something else that is interesting is the fact that this novel was written in haikus, makes it just as good as if it were written in regular novel form. In addition to this, the eye-catching pictures plus all the twists in the writing blew me away. Vampire Haiku deserves a five out of five stars because it was an amazing book. I look forward to reading more literature about unexpected events having to do with vampires.