![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
juushikaTitle: I Am Legend
Author: Richard Matheson
Published: London: Millennium, 1954 (1999)
Page Count: 160
Total Page Count: 32,491
Text Number: 94
Read For: my own enjoyment
Short review: Following a worldwide plague, Robert Neville may be the only man left alive. His family is dead. All the surviving humans have been transformed into vampires that surround his house very night in an attempt to break in or entice him out, attack him, and drink his blood. Holed up in his home, which he has converted into a safe house, Robert struggles with his despair and his outsider status, the constant need to seek shelter, food and protection, and the desire to discover the cause and possibly the cure of the plague. A combination of science fiction and horror, I Am Legend is an atmospheric, stark survivalist text with a truly brilliant central concept: the scientific conception and explanation of a vampire. The book is short and difficult to put down, well paced, both intelligent and frightening, and had a huge literary impact on authors in both the sci-fi and horror genres. I highly recommend it, and I consider it one of the most interesting books that I have ever read.
This read through of I Am Legend was my first time coming back to it since I read it in high school (now almost four years ago). The story has stayed very fresh in my mind over the intervening years—or, more precisely, the science of Matheson's conception of vampires. Coming back to the text, it is now very obvious to me why those aspects would stick with me so strongly. For the most part, this narrative is a method of conveying Matheson's sci-fi concepts—perhaps like any true SF author, he puts scientific concept ahead of character, and the most important aspect of the characters is not their personality or emotions but rather then impact that the story's scientific concept has on them. In the case of I Am Legend, that concept is a scientific and (mostly) logical explanation for vampires. And it's a wonderful, brilliant concept, more than unique and interesting enough for me to remember it in detail over the years. I still feel like the final development to this sci-fi idea and its repercussions happens too quickly and in limited detail, making the end of the book feel a little too fast—nonetheless, the concept is a great one, and very interesting to read about.
The flips side of that situation, however, is that the book lacks characterization and emotion. Those aspects aren't entirely absent by any means. Robert, the protagonist, has a back story, goes through emotional phases, and is greatly impacted by the apocalyptic survival setting that he finds himself in. He's realistically faulted and in many ways admirable. Nonetheless, these personal characteristics and even his interactions, past and present, exist primarily to move towards, expound on, and explain Matheson's scientific point, his conception of the vampires. In some cases, this is obvious: Richard's memories serve to build his character, but they also serve to lead him, and thus the reader, to a better understanding of the vampires. At a mere 160 pages, Matheson could have chosen to give greater emphasis to character—not so that it overwhelmed his SF ideas, but so that it provided a counterbalance to the emphasis on plot and idea found throughout the rest of the book. The lack of realistic and independently meaningful character makes those sections of the book unmemorable and makes the book as a whole a little bit too fast and too simple as a result.
Despite these thoughts and critiques, I greatly enjoy this novel and highly recommend it. Matheson achieves an incredible atmosphere in I Am Legend, one of constant paranoia and terror that never grows stale or overblown. His SF concepts are detailed, intelligent, and truly absorbing. The book combines horror and sci-fi in a way that I have never seen anywhere else and find greatly enjoyable to read. I highly recommend the text, and it's a good one to own—although short and easily readable, it's wonderful to come back to and reread. It also makes a great atmospheric yet intelligent horror/Halloween text.
Review posted here at Amazon.com.
Author: Richard Matheson
Published: London: Millennium, 1954 (1999)
Page Count: 160
Total Page Count: 32,491
Text Number: 94
Read For: my own enjoyment
Short review: Following a worldwide plague, Robert Neville may be the only man left alive. His family is dead. All the surviving humans have been transformed into vampires that surround his house very night in an attempt to break in or entice him out, attack him, and drink his blood. Holed up in his home, which he has converted into a safe house, Robert struggles with his despair and his outsider status, the constant need to seek shelter, food and protection, and the desire to discover the cause and possibly the cure of the plague. A combination of science fiction and horror, I Am Legend is an atmospheric, stark survivalist text with a truly brilliant central concept: the scientific conception and explanation of a vampire. The book is short and difficult to put down, well paced, both intelligent and frightening, and had a huge literary impact on authors in both the sci-fi and horror genres. I highly recommend it, and I consider it one of the most interesting books that I have ever read.
This read through of I Am Legend was my first time coming back to it since I read it in high school (now almost four years ago). The story has stayed very fresh in my mind over the intervening years—or, more precisely, the science of Matheson's conception of vampires. Coming back to the text, it is now very obvious to me why those aspects would stick with me so strongly. For the most part, this narrative is a method of conveying Matheson's sci-fi concepts—perhaps like any true SF author, he puts scientific concept ahead of character, and the most important aspect of the characters is not their personality or emotions but rather then impact that the story's scientific concept has on them. In the case of I Am Legend, that concept is a scientific and (mostly) logical explanation for vampires. And it's a wonderful, brilliant concept, more than unique and interesting enough for me to remember it in detail over the years. I still feel like the final development to this sci-fi idea and its repercussions happens too quickly and in limited detail, making the end of the book feel a little too fast—nonetheless, the concept is a great one, and very interesting to read about.
The flips side of that situation, however, is that the book lacks characterization and emotion. Those aspects aren't entirely absent by any means. Robert, the protagonist, has a back story, goes through emotional phases, and is greatly impacted by the apocalyptic survival setting that he finds himself in. He's realistically faulted and in many ways admirable. Nonetheless, these personal characteristics and even his interactions, past and present, exist primarily to move towards, expound on, and explain Matheson's scientific point, his conception of the vampires. In some cases, this is obvious: Richard's memories serve to build his character, but they also serve to lead him, and thus the reader, to a better understanding of the vampires. At a mere 160 pages, Matheson could have chosen to give greater emphasis to character—not so that it overwhelmed his SF ideas, but so that it provided a counterbalance to the emphasis on plot and idea found throughout the rest of the book. The lack of realistic and independently meaningful character makes those sections of the book unmemorable and makes the book as a whole a little bit too fast and too simple as a result.
Despite these thoughts and critiques, I greatly enjoy this novel and highly recommend it. Matheson achieves an incredible atmosphere in I Am Legend, one of constant paranoia and terror that never grows stale or overblown. His SF concepts are detailed, intelligent, and truly absorbing. The book combines horror and sci-fi in a way that I have never seen anywhere else and find greatly enjoyable to read. I highly recommend the text, and it's a good one to own—although short and easily readable, it's wonderful to come back to and reread. It also makes a great atmospheric yet intelligent horror/Halloween text.
Review posted here at Amazon.com.
