Zombie

This is NOT a typical Zombie book. There are no shuffling semi-dead people eating other people. Instead it is a very in-depth look at a young man who is raised in the best of families but is hiding a horrible secret from everyone. The story is told from the "Zombie's" point of view and his POV is horrific, and violent, and altogether extreme. Ms. Oates is a very, very talented writer and she never fails to pull me into her books; be they short story collections of True Crime or straight up fiction. This is NOT for the faint of heart, but if you have a strong constitution, by all means get this book.

From the viewpoint of a serial killer. There are parts of the book that are disturbingly descriptive but that’s why I loved the book.

I knew I was a fan of Joyce Carol Oates after being forced to read her by an English prof in college. She has a perspective and a skill with prose that really impressed my impressionable bachelor's degree mind. I'll grant, however, I am not a big reader and don't keep up with Oates' complete catalog. It was about a month ago when I ran across this title and thought, "Wow, Joyce Carol Oates is doing her take on the latest zombie phenomenon? I need to check this out." Dumb a**. Of course, she's not writing about zombie zombies. But that's kinda what I thought when I started reading it. I didn't know anything about it, much less that this book was originally published more than a decade ago. I think coming into it virtually blind made the book a more intense experience for me vs. someone who has read the reviews, synopsis and so on. (Kinda like how I enjoyed "The Blair Witch Project" more than most because I went into it blind and believing.) For that reason, I'm not sure how much I actually want to say about the story. When I got the book, I began reading it right away just because I was in a reading mood. Then I couldn't put it down. I wanted to, though. I felt like throwing up at least four or five times while reading it. I wasn't finished with the story when I had to put the book down to go make a living. After I'd put it down I was reluctant to pick it up again. I'd pass by it on the bookshelf and give it the stink eye. Then, finally, the other night all the circumstances collided making it the right time to finish this book. It's a slim read, practically a novelette. But it's a testament to Oates' abilities. She knows just how to turn a phrase, flip syntax, reroute a time line - like a puppet master pulling at the threads of your emotion. It's so funny how unassuming she seems in person, her lady-next-doorness. She's pretty damn brilliant. Despite that, I cannot recommend this book to anyone I know because it is just too damn creepy. It would be like recommending rape or something. That's it. My mind has been raped! Okay, well, it's not that bad. Well, sorta. I don't know. I mean, it's basically the journal of a sociopath who describes in calm self-righteous detail his gruesome and terrifying deeds. It got me to thinking about how a lot of people are like this, maybe everyone. Not the horrifying sadosexual acts, but just that sociopathic drive to get what you want - trudging a path to a self-serving goal without a thought to those hurt along the way. Yet Quentin is hurt by those he hurt. He finds ways to be offended and victimized by his own victims as he stalks and tortures them - completely insane. In the end you realize, really, Quentin is the zombie - dead inside, a soulless automaton on a path of destruction. I so desperately wanted to reach through the pages and stop him. But I couldn't. I could only read on, paralyzed. The horror. That night, after I'd put the book down, I got ready for bed, got under the covers and turn

"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."

True crime fans of that genre's reigning doyenne Ann Rule will love this grisly and in-your-face penetration into the mind of a brutal sex criminal and serial murderer. I find it very disturbing how intensely accurate and psychologically sound author Oates can write of her twisted and entirely weirded-out protagonist. Such is indeed the gift of an incredibly talented, virtuoso, and versatile literary artist. Never forget that Oates is a consummate stylist and that her characters, plots, and settings are always vividly and aptly imagined and that her writing is always the literary equivalent of cream (sometimes fraiche; sometimes ice, sometimes whipped, and sometime sour, but cream nonetheless!). However in this short novel, her experimentation with odd slangy sentence fragments, bizarre punctuation and ungainly capitalization are absolutely Faulknerian. Certainly, there is much here to remind of THE SOUND AND THE FURY, especially the similarities in communications between Benjy Compson and Oates' own Quentin. An amazing book for Oates fans and I really hope the true crime crowd find their way here too.

always the author who plunges into the darker aspects of middle-american life, joyce carol oates chose jeffrey dahmer as the subject of her novel "Zombie." her novels and short stories tend to sordidly dig into the dark psychological turmoils of those who live in a "normal" household. to oates, dahmer could not have been a better subject on which to base a novel. he was from a typical family and spent most of his childhood living in smaller ohio towns. oates manages to successfully show the transformation from troubled boy to serial killer. this is a superb book if anyone cares more to learn about the psychological churnings inside a serial killer's mind than to learn about the tabloid details of dahmer. oates subtly shows america its own scars (particularly in the aspect of sexuality) in "Zombie." she attempts to show our poisons and how this can affect an unstable boy into becoming a man that we fear, a man one would label "a monster," as we tend to over-simplify. however, oates makes it clear that there are no monsters, only products of a dying society. definitely one of her better novels, "Zombie" urges the reader to re-think about the ways american society works. "Zombie" also helps him gain a better understanding of the progression from "innocent boy" to "monster." she does this with ease, as it is obvious that oates researched psychological studies on serial killers in order to better write her novel. she understands many subtle keys which make QP (the character based on dahmer) a believable serial killer. QP obsesses over "squirrel" (the code name he has given to a young boy), who, in turn, bears striking similarities to an old love of QP. (many serial killers will stalk someone who reminds them of someone from the past. for example, ted bundy killed women who mostly resembled his fiancee.) QP's actions follow most other serial killer's M.O., down to donald j. sears' widely accepted 13 poi! nts of a serial killer. QP also seems to go through joel norris' seven phases through which serial killers pass as they murder. (for more information, i recommend "serial killers- the insatiable passion" by david lester, PhD.) in order to retain artistic integrity and keep QP a believable character, oates obviously did much research before penning her powerful novel, "Zombie." written in oates' trademark eloquently simple, yet eerily disturbing prose, "Zombie" is definitely worth reading. it is an especially complete package with the equally simple drawings QP has created for his reader, letting him fully understand his obsessions and tantalize him with his wit. what causes an unstable boy to become a serial killer? oates outlines many points, from sexual abuse, a feeling of unwantedness, to an over-whelming feeling of guilt and unacceptance. her character QP is believable and is not the typical paper-cut character one has grown to expect in modern novels. using QP as her puppet, oates manages to convey her theories on what psychologically i