I Am Legend by Richard Matheson
With the new movie coming out starring Will Smith, I Am Legend was previewing in theaters several months ago. Trying to be the studious person I am, I decided this would be a good time to start reading stories before I see them in theaters – especially since I hardly go to the movies anymore, I’ve got plenty of time to read before they open.
I enjoyed this book. It’s much different than I expected, in fact, I didn’t really know what to expect since I’d never heard of the story until I saw Will Smith on the big screen. Let me start off by saying this story was written in 1954. So it isn’t like it’s a new thing. And after a little research, I found several movies were based off this story, but after several interviews with Mr. Matheson, they apparently never stuck to his story. I’m real excited about this film. I hope it’s as good as the book. Let me talk about the book – I’ll save the move review for later (when it comes out in December 2007).
The book is very short – I finished in just under a couple of hours (including interruptions). The all knowing Wikipedia says 317 pages, but I thought it was only 100-something. I’ll check.
Please note: Spoilers below!
The book begins in the then future 1970’s. Robert Neville is the protagonist and the first few pages describe him going through mundane tasks of patching up his house and ‘resetting’ it with garlic and other items before nightfall. He’s the only ‘person’ alive. No family, neighbors, or anyone else is alive around him… apparently. The book really plays on the loneliness he experiences. There was an Apocalypse of sorts not too long ago and he survived… sort of. He’s human, just like you or me, but every night his house becomes surrounded by vampire-like creatures. They moan, call to him, and the women try and seduce him, all to try and coax him outside so they can devour him. His old neighbors and strangers alike roam his front lawn. During the daytime, when the creatures hide in the shadows and darkness of abandoned homes, Neville ventures outside to gather supplies, restock, fix up his house, and even kill the sleeping vampires.
This is very important to the story. He eventually realizes that his staking them through the heart isn’t necessary – he learns that while they act like vampires, they aren’t necessarily subject to the stereotypes that vampires receive from folklore. The book really focuses on his struggle, not only with the creatures, but himself. He often drinks himself to sleep and goes stir crazy from the vampires calling his name. He’s alone, misses his family, and doesn’t really serve any purpose except to survive. But why? There’s a part of him that still has hope. Over time, Neville decides to research the cause of society turning into these creatures. He discovers it’s bacterial – nothing like the folklore he thought. This is an awesome point in the book. It’s where we discover Richard Matheson taking this horror story with a traditional character – vampires – and making them into something believable. They weren’t turning into bats and flying away. Not living in coffins or wearing capes. They were normal people that were exposed to a bacterium (during the apocalypse before hand, the world was engulfed in war and biological weapons were used – thus being the cause). So the author takes a an unreal character and makes it real.
The ending is phenomenally brilliant! Basically, Neville ends up finding another person. A woman that’s just wondering around looking lost. It’s the first person he’s talked to in years. She ends up being a ’spy’ for the ‘others’. A group of humans that were effected by the bacteria storm Neville’s neighborhood and take him hostage. Robert Neville finds out there are two kinds of ‘vampires’ out there – the ones roaming his front lawn – they’re disseased and take on the charactaristics of vampires (Neville’s theories were that they kept the stereotypes in there minds when they were affected by the bacteria, so they ‘act’ like vampires) and then there were those that took him – almost normal people, except they grew an immunity to the disease by taking pills that subdue it’s reaction. The last paragraph describes Neville looking out the window of his captors’ hospital window and seeing a crowd of people look up at him in fear. He was the “creature.” He was the one everyone feared. It’s an awesome role-reversal . They saw him as the thing that crept in the daytime killing their family and friends.
He was the Legend.
Not neccessarily a feel good story, but great if you like horror, emotional stories. I give it four heebie jeebies out of five.
