Breathers

Note: A few spoilers are contained in this review, sorry!

Breathers is a newly-released zombie book by S.G. Browne who takes license to give new life to the undead genre of fiction.

Also tagged as A Zombie's Lament, Browne gives the main character, Andy, complex emotions such as love, disgust and fear as he figures out that after the accident that killed him and his wife, he came back as the undead while she did not.

Andy is never able to reveal himself to his still living daughter for fear of rejection (it's an anti-zombie society; the living frequently throw food at the zombies) and is stuck living with his parents in their basement. Andy's father is disgusted that his son is a zombie while his mother still tries to relive normal moments such as baking cookies with him. Neither of these tactics work with Andy as both parents ultimately end up chopped up in the freezer to be eaten at a later time.

Andy finally meets an undead love interest, Rita, who is addicted to formaldehyde as it helps preserve her failing shell of a body. His love for her spurs him to take on society and their zombie fears because all he wants is a normal life with Rita. You'll need to read the book to find out if Andy succeeds against bias and prejudice.

For me as a zombie fan, I did like the book but had to put it down on more than one occasion due to its graphic content. It takes a lot to make me queasy but my stomach rolled a couple of times in several different scenes. I also liked the romantic take on the predictable zombie story which shows yet again that love conquers all, undead or not.

I hear that there may be a movie in the future with Diablo Cody as producer. I'm not sure who I see playing Andy and Rita, but I hope that they can pull off a convincing shuffle-walk technique.

By the way, you're in luck because S.G. Browne will let you read Chapter 1 for free.

Breathers was published in 2009 by Broadway Books, an imprint of the Doubleday Publishing Group which is a division of Random House in New York.