“Can’t you stay?” Ellen shouted, regaining composure.
“Why?”
Why? Was this chick for real? Was she so shattered by the world she couldn’t even be horrified by it any more? It was possible. It was certainly possible. Around her, for the first time in months, the zombies’ barely functioning brains were engaged, and they didn’t like it. The bounty in the building above tantalized them, out of reach. For a moment Ellen wondered if the zombies were as hungry as she was. The girl was clearly abhorrent to them. Inarticulate confusion and chagrin reigned, displayed in a chorus of guttural grunts and thick, phlegmy hissing. In direct contrast, the girl stood there, calm as a mink at a PETA rally.
(from Pariah, page 156 in the ARC)
Pariah by comic book writer and artist Bob Fingerman (to be released by Tor in early August) is set in an apartment building in New York City during a zombie plague. The book follows an assortment of characters, neighbors who must join forces — despite personality clashes — in order to survive. There’s Ellen, who is grieving the loss of her husband and baby; Alan, the artist with whom she seeks comfort; Abe, an elderly man who survived a trek outside with the zombies; his wife, Ruth; Karl and his porn stash; Dabney, who lives on the roof and entertains himself by throwing pieces of brick into the zombie crowd, killing a few here and there; and Dave who has a thing for his roommate, Eddie, who is a complete psycho.
They are starving, subsisting only on whatever food they’d managed to stash before the plague reached apocalyptic proportions. They can see a supermarket in the distance, but with scores of zombies roaming the streets and congregating under their windows, leaving the building for food would mean certain death. But one day, they spot a teenage girl in the crowd — and the zombies haven’t attacked her. If they can get her attention, they might survive after all.
I snagged a copy of Pariah at Book Expo America for my husband, as zombies are more his thing than mine. However, I made the mistake of shipping all of my BEA acquisitions home, and I had nothing to read after I left NYC for Connecticut to visit family for a few days. I had to do laundry at the hotel, and I needed a book to keep me occupied while I waited for the clothes to dry. Pariah was the only book available, and I figured I would flip through it — but I never expected to start reading and not be able to stop.
There are several gory scenes in Pariah, but for the most part, the zombie action is more comedic than stomach-turning. While I prefer dark comedy over non-stop gore, the book was disturbing in other ways — sex scenes that were too descriptive for my tastes and violent acts associated with psycho Eddie. I found it hard to put the book down because I really wanted to know the origins of the zombie plague, whether all or none of the characters survived, how the plague ends, why the zombies have no desire to tear apart the girl, and why the girl is so apathetic about a dire life-or-death situation. However, the plague wasn’t explained in a way that satisfied my curiosity, and the characters and their whining started to get on my nerves. I know it wasn’t easy for them to stay cooped up in their apartments (I’ll be the first to admit that I’d go insane if I was in their shoes), but the book seemed to drag at points. Sometimes it was hard for me to keep all of the characters straight, probably because I didn’t really like any of them and didn’t really care about their fates.
Still, I thought Pariah was an okay book, a quick, entertaining read that didn’t require me to pay too much attention. Fingerman is a talented writer who strikes the right balance between comedy and despair, and even manages to add a little romance to a situation that is so far from romantic. It made me think about how I would react if the zombies descended upon my home and at the same time made me laugh at the absurdity of that notion.
Disclosure: I received a copy of Pariah at Book Expo America 2010. I am an Amazon associate.
© 2010 Anna Horner of Diary of an Eccentric. All Rights Reserved. Please do not reproduce or republish content without permission.
I have not read any zombie books as yet!
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Other than P&P&Z and Dawn of the Dreadfuls, this was my first zombie book. I brought home a few others from BEA for my husband, and I’ll give those a look.
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Ugh, zombies! Not my cup of tea, they scare me
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Zombie movies scare the heck out of me. 28 Weeks Later is the first one that comes to mind, but my husband loves those movies!
I haven’t read any scary zombie books yet, only ones that are supposed to be humorous in some way.
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I like Zombie books, but this one just sounds like it has a cast of annoying characters.
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I can see why they would be annoying, that was understandable (minus Eddie, he’s a whole other topic), but it seemed that the book could have been a bit shorter, possibly making them less annoying.
I think you should still read it. You tend to like these kinds of books more than me, and I thought this one was pretty good.
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Is it me or are zombies going to start taking over vampires? 🙂
I am not much of a fan of zombies even though I did just read a book that had some in it. This sounds kind of neat though and actually I really like that cover. Thanks for the review Anna!
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You wouldn’t believe how many zombie books were at BEA! There may have been a lot of vampire ones, too, but I really wasn’t paying attention to those. LOL
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oooh! I want this one!
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I hope you get a chance to read it!
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I bet my son would like this one – he’s a zombie fan.
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I’d love to hear what a zombie fan thinks of these books. This is the first zombie book I’ve read, aside from those Jane Austen ones.
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Did the electricity still work? Did the toilets still flush?
Did the people break into other apartments to get food?
Did they sleep together in one unit or stay in their own units.
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I don’t remember if toilets were mentioned, but the electricity had been off for awhile. It seemed as though the residents were willing to share what little the had as necessary — they had known enough in advance to stockpile some supplies, but things are running out because they’ve been cooped up so long. For the most part, they stayed in their own apartments.
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Sounds a bit like the movie, I am Legend, except that Will Smith and his dog went out during the day to get food.
He ate a lot of canned foods.
The zombies roamed NYC during the night. But he had to lock himself in very well. They wanted un-zombie meals.
Did these zombies roam all the time?
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You know, I did think about I Am Legend when I was reading this. The zombies seemed to be always roaming, always below their windows. They had to fortify the entrances to the apartment building, or they would get in and wreak havoc.
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Anna did a good review.
The rapist is the central character.
The people are 1-dimenentional (flat), all whiney and easy to confuse with eash other. The whole book is centered about 1 character’s raping…
%%%%%%%%%%%%% spoiler $$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$
Last 5 pages are:
the rape of the “pariah/savior” by the book’s rapist
he gets eaten.
“pariah/savior” get’s saved
The other women in the book decided not to have an abortion.
slock
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Thanks, Belinda. That character definitely was disturbing.
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[…] Beth Hoffman 46. Sense and Sensibility (Marvel #1) by Nancy Butler, illustrated by Sonny Liew 47. Pariah by Bob Fingerman 48. The Last Leaf by Stuart Lutz 49. Hitler’s Canary by Sandy Toksvig 50. […]
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