Zombie

Rating:
Summary: Inside the mind of a serial killer
Review: "Zombie," the novel by Joyce Carol Oates, is narrated in the first person by Quentin P___, the son of a distinguished professor. On probation for an incident involving an underaged boy, Quentin becomes obsessed with a horrific plan: to kidnap and lobotomize another human being, thus turning him into a "zombie" sex slave.

"Zombie" is a gripping, suspenseful read. Oates' superbly crafted prose really brings you into a mind that is cunning and methodical, yet strangely childish. As Quentin narrates his bloody efforts to create a zombie, he also recalls formative events of his past.

"Zombie" contains many graphic scenes of horrific violence and sex. It is a story of psychological horror that reminds me of some of the work of seminal master Edgar Allen Poe. Oates' horror here is not supernatural, but based in the real phenomenon of the obsessive-compulsive serial murderer. The book is unsettling; what is Oates trying to say? How are we supposed to understand Quentin? But I think the troubling ambiguity is part of the brilliance of "Zombie."

Rating:
Summary: WOW.....DISTURBING!
Review: A) It's concise.
B) It's excellent.
C) Better than a Thomas Harris novel, but a totally different sort of story.
D) You can read it in a day or two.

Rating:
Summary: Very disturbing
Review: I had to read this book in a contemporary lit class for colege this year and it was one of the sickest books i have ever read. Anyone who would read this book for enjoyment is very sick and twisted. Things like this go on every day, that is the sadest part. Definetly could have gone through life without reading this one.

Rating:
Summary: Zombie: Not a Beach Read, but a Good Read
Review: I was warned that there are people out there who find Zombie by Joyce Carol Oates far too disturbing a read to manage. So of course, I had to have it sent in from the library immediately. I wanted to test my true mettle as a committed reader of the Gothic. Zombie is narrated from inside the disjointed and painfully grotesque mind of a homosexual serial killer who truly isn't out to kill, what he really wants is to transform the male of his choosing into a devoted zombie who will fulfill his every desire. His desires are pretty simple: sex, cuddling, intimacy, and the occasional household cleanup. His method of getting these needs met is the horror, as he kidnaps the men and then tries to lobotomize them. I won't give away the ghastly climax (forgive the pun, those who have read it), but it's painful to read.

The real genius of Oates, in this and so many other of her books, is her ability to get inside a character and force us to sympathize with them, whether we want to or not. I found myself repeatedly hopeless over Quentin's prediciment, screaming at the book for him to PLEASE take his medication before matters got worse. But alas, they got worse anyway.

Oates, well traveled in academic circles, also creates in Quentin's father a character that is an ironic representation of academic approaches to the madness of human passion. The father is a respected scientist and professor, embarrassed by his son who has been convicted of a sex offense, but at the same time always willing to help him, to push him toward achievement. He perpetually steps close to seeing the true nature of Quentin's madness, but always backs away, unwilling to see the truth. Quentin sees his father as having a "corderoy face" and "pink a***ole mouth" and the reader cannot help but feel the utter ineffectuality of the father's worldview. This is highlighted when the world famous Nobel Prize winner that he so admires is posthumously discovered to have been conducting Nazi-like experiments on the mentally challenged. The father quietly takes down the photos he had of himself with the Nobel Prize winner but defends his honor saying there is no way such a thing could be true. Again, the father who is supposed to be scientifically minded, is the least oriented toward fact.

Although Zombie hardly makes good beach reading, it is an infintely worthwhile read

Rating:
Summary: At times boring but mostly interesting
Review: It is lacking in genuine action but makes up greatly in the psychological aspects. It's one of those stories that makes you think about your own life. In parts of the story, I was unable to get into the "novel." It was quite disturbing with its use of stereotypes, which makes one think how close to reality this story really is. All in all, it was a fast read and a story I will always remember.

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: 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.

Rating:
Summary: Oates takes on Dahmer
Review: This is not Oates's finest work, but it is still a good read and an interesting psychological case study. We are put into the mind of a serial killer--a particularly demented one--and given his story in stream-of-conscious. Very disturbing.