Robin Becker (2)

I was expecting something fun and witty. An easy read, and fun escape into a zombie world. Instead, I got a pedantic and self-congratulatory mess of a book that had no clear direction of where it was headed. It meandered like a zombie sorely in need of a bullet to the brain.

The overall premise of the book had potential, and it would have been refreshing to look through the zombie trope from a different lens. However, our main zombie character, Jack, is such a revolting douchebag that show more anything interesting that happens throughout the story is tarnished from his opining over it. Jack is your stereotypical YT with a PhD, and you won't for a minute forget it because he spends most of the book telling you he's a professor and as such above the masses, those plebs.

The lack of self-awareness Jack shows would probably be hilarious, but it quickly becomes apparent that Becker genuinely thinks her character is wry and arrogant, and not just your run of the mill asshole. Because of his pedigree and PhD, he sees himself as savior and messiah to the zombie population, and goes on to essentially see himself as the Moses to his zombie brethren.

The closest we see to Jack getting any character development is when he finally gets to meet the creator of the virus, zombie daddy Stein, who proceeds to tell Jack that there will never be a human-zombie peace as Jack had hoped because zombies can never override their base desire of eating brains. Jack then eats him. Because he has will and choice, and chooses to eat brains.

The writing of the book is chock full of puns, and attempts at witty one-liners, but it quickly loses its charm. Its also funny that Jack spends most of the book deriding anything remotely popular, "popularity proved inferiority, not worth," when Becker makes of point of using several pop culture references via book classics, authors ranging from Poe to Tennessee Williams, and pop culture icons like Oprah (without naming her).

I wanted to like this book, but the narrative style and self-congratulatory feel that Jack, and by extension Becker, exudes throughout this book was too much.

1/5 zombie treatises show less

Brains: A Zombie Memoir by Robin Becker was brilliant, to say the least. It was edgy, refreshing and totally unlike anything I have read lately. It was a quick read, at only 192 pages. I only wish it would have been longer- but the author was clever leaving it as she did. I don't know if I will get to visit the courageous and cunning Jack Barnes again- though I would be the first one in line to buy a second book if there ever was one.

A scientist, Stein, has been trying to mold the perfect show more person. But, just like it should- it all goes wrong when they release the virus before it is ready. This leads us to the endearing college professor, Jack Barnes, and his wife being surrounded by infectious people. Zombies. He inevitably contracts the foul zombie virus that has been eating the country. Along with his newly decaying body he has found a new passion: Brains. He says it better than anyone, "...beautiful, bountiful, bubbly, bewitching, bedazzling brains." I am in love with the way this book is written. It made me laugh, cringe and hope. Hope for zombies? Who would have thought. I was utterly torn, do I want the zombies to get slaughtered?! Do I want them to survive to brutally eat more humans!? Geesh, I still don't know. But I DO know that I loved Jack Barnes and his little entourage of special zombies. Jack goes on an adventure with his fellow zombies to find their God, their creator... the reason this all started. Stein. I mean, he must appreciate their existence, right? He'll help them survive among humans.... right?

This is what I love about Jack- when you look into his eyes, they aren't vacant and glossed over like the majority of the undead. No, he is self aware. He can read. He can write. And he is smart enough to realize there are others like him. He finds Guts, Joan, Annie, Ross and Eve. All with their own individual zombie super powers. They will fight for equality, or die (again) trying!

I highly suggest this book to anyone- if you don't mind some serious flesh eating. The book is written in first person, which is why it is so much fun. Who doesn't want to be present for the thought process of a self aware zombie? I'm going to be reading this book more than once, and recommending it to all my guy friends. Can we have another, Ms. Becker? show less

A guilty pleasure. Clear, concise, and quick-witted take on the Zombie Apocalypse. Narrated by an English professor who retains the ability to think critically and quickly takes charge over a group of shuffling, talented (by undead standards) zombies. Undead Oprah makes an appearance. What's not to love?!

Robin Becker's "Brains" was a fairly satisfying zombie novel, and with that accomplishment it broke the mold of most zombie long fiction. I love zombies, I've always loved zombies, but to be honest the majority of zombie novels on the market are a huge disappointment. I was more than a bit wary of Becker's effort at first, seeing as it based its narrative on a 1st person perspective, dependent upon personifying zombies and allowing them human characteristics, thus necessarily taking them show more beyond the genre as I saw it, but I was in for a surprise. Becker's personality actually suits a zombie (No offense intended dear, but I call it as I see it). Whether it's her writing skill or her actual personality, the sense of humor, the alienation from humanity, the predatory nature exhibited in the zombies she describes actually works. The jokes her primary zombie character engages in remind me of some of my friends, and even of myself. Upon reading the book, one may either find this fact hilarious or deplorable. I make no apologies, and I suspect and truly hope that neither does Becker. And there you have it... I was so enraptured by the ability of the writer to personify the zombie point of view that I was quite unable to objectively judge any other aspect of her writing style. I think there were a few things that annoyed me, a few failings here or there, and her excessive praise for Max Brooks' "Zombie Survival Guide", which I found imbecilic and could bear no more than a brief moment's examination of, certainly grated a bit... but the main thing that carries this book isn't technical detail, isn't necessarily literary skill, it's personality. "Brains" has it. In spades. I recommend it strongly to those aching for a taste of brains... it may not be the holy grail, but it's certainly entertaining and given what's available on the market you may not get much better anytime soon unless your eyes glaze over and you crack open a skull yourselves. show less