Some Love for “Warm Bodies”

I wanted to take a moment and share my thoughts on this wonderful debut novel. As a whole, zombies never held that much of an interest to me. However, Warm Bodies explores the concept so much more than your typical horror story. While grotesque at first, the novel’s protagonist, “R”,  takes us on a tour of what his daily life is like. Lots of brain eating, and even more groaning. But then we slowly start to discover that R is different than the rest of his undead race. He can mutter chains of up to four syllables and he longs to know anything about the life he once had as one of the Living. During one of his hunts to feed on human lives, he devours the brain of a young man, which allows him a view into that man’s past- his hopes, his memories, his pain, his love. In short, R witnesses a brief look at what humanity is.

The girl this young man loved becomes a hostage of R’s, but he promises never to hurt her, instead studying her intently. She teaches him that he doesn’t have to allow the plague to control him and that he’s more than just a zombie, at least on the inside. As he grows closer to this girl, fueled partly by glimpses of her boyfriend’s memories of her, R slowly understands the true meaning of what it is to care for somebody else.

The novel dwells on the theme that humanity in its simplest form is something to be cherished, which is then threaded around the meaning of life itself. When we lose our concept of humanity, the plague takes over inside of us, creating something ugly at our core, which in Marion’s novel is symbolized by using zombies. This was a fantastic novel, one that I read within two days because I literally could not put it down. The writing reads in such a well-written poetic way and my eyes devoured each and every word of it. Truly a masterpiece of its own merit, Warm Bodies is a standard by which other novels should be compared to. Simply beautiful and breathtaking, it will be a long time before I stop thinking about this wonderful book.

Getting Serious

Since this month starts a brand new year, I’ve decided that I need to stop simply dreaming and make things happen. My first step is becoming a member of a local community of fellow writers, The Greater Lehigh Valley Writers Group. By joining, for the first time ever I will be surrounded by people who actually comprehend that euphoric feeling of cracking open a new book (or even an oldie, but goodie) and the excitement that churns in our chests when we’re on a creative roll, sitting in front of our laptops. In short, I’ll be able to talk to people who just get it.

This group of writers meets one a month to discuss common writing pitfalls, share inspiration, and offer critiques on works in progress. Moreover, at the end of each months are workshops dedicated to improving your writing and sharing a wealth of knowledge on the world of publishing. I’m greatly anticipating this month’s upcoming workshop on self-publishing. This is my Plan B if I struggle in the traditional route so I’m excited to learn more.

Lastly, but certainly not least, the group holds an annual writer’s conference which last two full days and consists of multiple workshops for writers of all levels. Between a well-known key note speaker from a distinguished publishing company, to opportunities to network with other authors and meet potential literary agents, this will be an experience I know will kick-start my ambition to become a serious author and possibly, for the first time in my life, make those distant dreams something to actually strive toward. After all, you can do anything in this world, if only you believe that you can.

M. McKnight