Book Review: Zombie by Joyce Carol Oates
Jul. 16th, 2015 03:55 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
juushikaTitle: Zombie
Author: Joyce Carol Oates
Published: New York: HarperCollins, 2009 (1995)
Rating: 2 of 5
Page Count: 192
Total Page Count: 164,354
Text Number: 480
Read Because: personal enjoyment, ebook borrowed from the Multnomah County Library
Review: The diary of a serial killer set on creating a lobotomized love slave. Disappointing, as Dahmer retellings go. If there's one thing that Zombie does well, it's that the messy murders remove any idealization or justification. But the truth is, there's not much to begin with. Quentin's obsessions are more redundant than compelling, in a book which should be too short for repetition. The voice (and why is the narrative so stylized, complete with doodles, if he explicitly keeps no record?) grows wearisome, the end is abrupt, and the book is problematic but in no meaningful way—most especially that both protagonist and narrative elevate the murder of a white boy over many victims of color. I'm the ideal audience for Zombie, yet it left little impression on me and I don't recommend it.
Author: Joyce Carol Oates
Published: New York: HarperCollins, 2009 (1995)
Rating: 2 of 5
Page Count: 192
Total Page Count: 164,354
Text Number: 480
Read Because: personal enjoyment, ebook borrowed from the Multnomah County Library
Review: The diary of a serial killer set on creating a lobotomized love slave. Disappointing, as Dahmer retellings go. If there's one thing that Zombie does well, it's that the messy murders remove any idealization or justification. But the truth is, there's not much to begin with. Quentin's obsessions are more redundant than compelling, in a book which should be too short for repetition. The voice (and why is the narrative so stylized, complete with doodles, if he explicitly keeps no record?) grows wearisome, the end is abrupt, and the book is problematic but in no meaningful way—most especially that both protagonist and narrative elevate the murder of a white boy over many victims of color. I'm the ideal audience for Zombie, yet it left little impression on me and I don't recommend it.
