Breathers: A Zombie's Lament (Paperback)

~ (Author)
Key Phrases: zombie population, refl ection, empty mason jar, Social Security, Santa Cruz County, Sigma Chi (more...)

Editorial Reviews

From Publishers Weekly

Starred Review. Browne's black comedy debut brilliantly reinvents zombie culture for the 21st century. Andy Warner reanimates after the car accident that kills his wife, but is too mangled from his injuries to talk. He lives in his parents' wine cellar, occasionally attending a zombie support group and struggling to rejoin a society that offers the undead no rights, bans them from working and doesn't even punish those who destroy them. When Andy and his fellow zombies—notably Rita, a sexy suicide victim with a lipstick fetish, and Jerry, a Playboy-obsessed stoner—learn why they're so driven to consume human flesh, the repercussions are both tragic and hilarious. Browne neatly mixes humor and extreme violence with a surprisingly tender love story, some witty social satire and an extremely strong narrative voice. (Mar.)
Copyright © Reed Business Information, a division of Reed Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.

From Booklist

Andy’s life is a mess. A newly risen zombie, he’s forced to live in his parents’ basement, attend Undead Anonymous meetings just to get out of the house, and endure abuse of all kinds from the living. To make matters worse, he can’t even talk, though that’s because his mouth was sewn shut prior to being embalmed. Things begin to look up when Andy meets Rita, a gorgeous zombie who slashed her own wrists and throat; nebbish, vegetarian Tom, whose arm was stolen by a pack of drunken frat boys; and Ray, an undead renegade who introduces the gang to the wonders of eating “breathers.” Some die-hard horror aficionados may find this take on zombies too full of shtick (e.g., the running joke that falls flat by its second appearance), but Browne confidently balances a love story with ample amounts of gore and gags that should win over fans of George Romero (Night of the Living Dead et seq.) and fans of Shaun of the Dead, too. A welcome deviation in zombie lit. --Carlos Orellana

See all Editorial Reviews

Product Details

• Paperback: 320 pages
• Publisher: Broadway; First Edition edition (March 3, 2009)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0767930614
• ISBN-13: 978-0767930611
• Product Dimensions: 7.9 x 5 x 0.9 inches
• Shipping Weight: 8 ounces (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 4.1 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (85 customer reviews)
• Amazon.com Sales Rank: #102,438 in Books (See Bestsellers in Books)

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

19 of 19 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Zom-Rom-Com Anyone?, March 23, 2009

By	Jennifer Wardrip (Central Illinois, USA) - See all my reviews (REAL NAME)

BREATHERS was an impulse Amazon buy, recommended when I purchased a separate zombie anthology. I don't usually give in to impulse buys (I have too many must-haves on my reading list as it is), but I'm so glad I decided to give into this one!

This book has it all - the blood and gore of typical zombie fare, but also romance (who wouldn't love a twenty-something hottie, even with the stitches at her wrists and throat, who happens to eat lipstick like it was going out of style), humor (I'm sorry, but breather disguised as venison is pure genius), murder (the opening scene is a husband-wife body part freezer bonanza), and an undead support group (yes, they even have field trips).

It's a quick read, and it is just so, so good. Andy, the main character, simply wants his life back, even if he is a member of the undead. As a member of society who now has absolutley no rights whatsoever, it's a lot more difficult than it sounds.

But if you've never had to drink VO5 shampoo (and sometimes conditioner) to get your formaldahyde fix, or had your arm ripped out of its socket only to be beaten over the head with it, or been shot in the face by a Social Security Administration guard, or been traumatized by frat boys in a cemetery, then you probably wouldn't understand what I'm talking about.

Seriously, just go buy it.

9 of 9 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars "There's a lot of prejudice against the undead.", March 14, 2009

By	mellion108 (Michigan, USA) - See all my reviews

(What's this?)

Andy Warner is a 30-something who lives in his parents' basement, drinking their wine and not contributing to society. This isn't so unusual except for the fact that Andy is a decomposing, smelly, zombie who reanimated following a fatal car wreck that killed him and his wife. He spends most of his time watching his skin slough off, listening to his father complain about the smell and hassle of housing a zombie son, shuffling his way back and forth between sessions with an overly Botoxed therapist and his Undead Anonymous (UA) support group, and chugging as much formaldehyde-laden products as he can to slow down his decomp. He develops a heavy crush on Rita, a fellow UA attendee, but how do you charm an undead suicide when your voicebox is crushed? On top of all that, Andy and his undead friends can't even take a walk without Breathers throwing insults and food items at them or drunken fraternity pledges ripping off their body parts. In Andy's world, the undead have no rights and can be abused by any of the living at any time.

It's hard out here for a zombie.

Then Andy and his pals meet Ray, a self-sufficient zombie who hunts for his own food and lives as far away as possible from the Breathers. They all bond over booze and good food, and Andy begins to see a possibility of a better unlife, one with civil rights, a job, a social security number, and possibly Rita. He stages some protests, gets pelted with a variety of fast foods, and has to be bailed out of the SPCA by his sputtering father on more than one occasion.

But he's making progress in his quest to secure equal rights for the undead and love for himself.

Browne delivers a funny little zombie novel with a more light-hearted approach than the standard undead fare. This is much like many of the down-on-their-luck stories telling the tales of society's castoffs. I thought the story was good, and it kept me reading long into the night. I really liked Jerry, the brain-exposed, porn-loving zombie, and my mind kept picturing him as a younger Jeff Anderson. I thought the ending took a turn not in keeping with the tone of the rest of the book, but that's a minor complaint, and I would happily pick up the sequel once it hits the shelves.

All in all, this is an entertaining novel, and although some might try to read in deeper cultural and societal meanings in the satire, I think it's just one of those books that you read for fun.

8 of 8 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars Zombies, Gotta Love 'em, March 11, 2009

By	Zachary Hackett (Reno, Nevada) - See all my reviews (TOP 1000 REVIEWER)    (REAL NAME)

(What's this?)

Andy Warner was happily married to Rachel with a little girl, but then he was in the accident. Rachel died. He did too, but he came back and now he's in therapy. He goes to a zombie support group too. And before long he's got a zombie girlfriend. He doesn't feel pain, but he can't taste his food either and wine doesn't do for him what it once did. Still, he's better off undead, than dead. Or is he?

In Andy's new world zombies are not exactly welcome. They're second class citizens, worse, they can be mutilated, destroyed, almost anything can be done to them. They have no rights. Frat boys often seek zombie arms and legs as initiation rights. Zombies are always looking over their shoulders, always ready to run. Andy's got a bad zombie leg so he hides.

Zombies can't vote, can't get jobs. Nobody wants them around. They need to be licensed like animals and if they get out of line Animal Control picks them up and they're held in cages. If a breather (a live person) doesn't claim them, they can be used as crash test dummies or sent to medical institutions for experimentation.

For all intents and purposes Andy's un-life should be worthless, but once he figures out he can have a purpose, this story really takes off. This books is billed as a zombie romance novel and that it is. There is love here, but I'm not going to go there, for that you've read the book, but I'm telling you as sure as I live and breathe you're going to love every word of this story, you really will, you breather you.