Rating: Summary: I was a teenage serial killer Review: Ms. Oates attempt at telling the story from the point of view of the killer is not without it's flaws. The story fits nicely into the serial killer genre, but offers few new insights. It moved along quickly, but it is a bit brief. As far as the drawings go, I feel, the real thing in Killing For Company by Brian Masters creates more of a chill.
Rating: Summary: Gripping and Intense Review: Now, I am a Joyce Carol Oates fanatic - I have yet to read something that she has written that has disappointed me. Zombie continues in this tradition. Zombie is a terrifying look at a psychopath - a molestor. Oates takes us inside his thought process, so that the reader can not separate themselves from the insane. In an intense, introspective, and very short novel, the reader sees Quentin (the psycopath) justify his actions to himself and the reader hears the voice of insanity. Oates does here what she does best - capture human extremes. With terrifying accuracy and real-ness, the reader is introduced to the grotesque
Rating: Summary: Captivating and Disturbing Review: Oates has the uncanny ability to embody every lead character she creates. In Zombie, Q__P__, is another of those lead characters we are eerily fascinated with. While I read Zombie I don't know if I like the book tremendously or hate it tremendously, all I know is I just want to keep reading. Every time you're done with reading a couple of these short chapters, you shake your head and are a bit sickened. That is both a testament and show of ability that Oates certainly encompasses. The end result of the novel is that it was neither tremendously great or tremendously unpredictable, but it was as captivating as any other novel you'll find. Like Poe, every statement, every word has signifigance in this story. Q_P_ is most certainly sick and disgusting, but even more so because he is NOT foreign to our thought patterns to a certain extent. The first-person novel is fast becoming my favorite (a la "Catcher in the Rye", "Crash"), and Oates seems to be the contemporary master of this craft ("Collector of Hearts"). A must read for any fan of the novel genre, not just Oates fans.
Rating: Summary: wonderfully subtle investigation into a very sick mind Review: oates puts aside her past styles and simply innovates in this work. and the innovations are fantastic. the absolute disconnection of the subject from basic social norms makes itself felt in the completely understated tone of the narrative voice. fantastic. it reads very true, sounding quite like the journal fragments law enforcement officials have found among several serial killers' possessions. quentin is the center of the world and his pleasure justifies any and all atrocities, which are acted out without much passion since others are simply objects to be used. the essence of the sociopath is distilled onto the page.
Rating: Summary: Into the Mind of Madness Review: Oates really drew me into this novel with her compelling and on-target first person narrative. ZOMBIE is a nightmarish portal into the mind of a serial killer. Quentin wants nothing more than to have a companion - someone who won't stray or betray, someone who will live only for him. He decides to "create" his own zombie by kidnapping adolescent boys and performing frontal lobotomies on them --- scrambling their brains until they can see only Quentin. Unfortunately Quentin has never performed a lobotomy before and is doing them primarily in his bathtub! ZOMBIE is gruesome, graphic, gripping, with an amazing knack for getting "into Quentin's skin". ZOMBIE is compelling literature and a neo-classic of horror literature....and needless to say it is NOT FOR THE SQUEAMISH.
Rating: Summary: Sick writing for some sick reading Review: Oates virtually becomes a serial killer as she tells this gruesome tale in first person. We read the random inner thought patterns of the character as he contemplates his deepest desire, to create and sustain a zombie for his twisted gratification. The story meanders along while offering recurring accounts of his past attempts and their horrifying results. Zombie is by far the most brutal, chilling and creepy book I have ever read. At times, I dreaded reading for fear of what the next page would bring. In terms of impact, Oates hits a home run for this little book will certainly haunt you. It left me asking some troubling questions; Why would a person write this book? Why did I read this book? Perhaps because, at some base level, we cannot deny the fact that we are somehow fascinated by the evil that people can do. Oates knows this all too well
Rating: Summary: A book worth reading Review: QP has a dream. He hopes someday to create a wholly loving and giving sex slave by means of an amateur lobotomy. In pursuit of his dream he has his frustrations, but he cherishes a little something from each effort.Perhaps just enough genetic and environmental factors are presented to make understood the behaviour of one of natures' more extreme cases. It makes me think about the difference between the natural behaviour of animals or planetary bodies and what is considered human behaviour. Perhaps Ms. Oates reconciles these matters for herself by her art, rendering unto Caesar the things that are Caesar's and to God the things that are God's.
Rating: Summary: this was supposed to be deep? Review: The idea was good: getting the reader into a serial killer's mind. Not accomplished at all. When I bougth the book I thought it would connect me with the killer as to even understand his thoughts and logic. Not the case. The book is short (thanks God) and the only thing you get from it is that the serial killer wants to find a sex slave. I always thought a serial killer's mind would be more complex. The story is nothing you haven't seen on TV. Not deep at all. Besides, what's the point of using "&" instead of "and" in every page? This is the first book by Jyce I read and it will be the last.
Rating: Summary: Zombie Review Review: The reason Joyce Carole Oates wrote this book, I have no clue. This book was so gruesome and yet so exhilerating. I felt chills when I read it. Her detailed work in this book was so awesome, it made her seem like the serial killer herself. I mean it's hard to believe someone could come up with this story and possibly stay normal. The grammer and punctuation, and also the style she used, to write this book was something I have never seen before. In most books the way it's written is very exact and correctly done. I liked this book because she made the reader feel like Quentin was sitting there telling you his story word for word. I really loved this book because it was very different and would recommend it to anyone.
Rating: Summary: Zombie Review Review: The reason Joyce Carole Oates wrote this book, I have no clue. This book was so gruesome and yet so exhilerating. I felt chills when I read it. Her detailed work in this book was so awesome, it made her seem like the serial killer herself. I mean it's hard to believe someone could come up with this story and possibly stay normal. The grammer and punctuation, and also the style she used, to write this book was something I have never seen before. In most books the way it's written is very exact and correctly done. I liked this book because she made the reader feel like Quentin was sitting there telling you his story word for word. I really loved this book because it was very different and would recommend it to anyone.
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