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Sean Barrs 's Reviews > I Am Legend
I Am Legend
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This is a hard book for me to rate. On one hand it’s a gritty and harrowing exploration into the mentality of extreme loneliness and isolation but on the other it’s an almost cartoonish horror that actually made me laugh when it was supposed to be haunting.
Now let me try to explain a little: there’s just something overwhelmingly ridiculous about naked vampires lurking outside Robert Neville’s house trying to lure him outside with the prospect of sex. They try to tempt him with their bodies, so they can drink his blood when he has left the safety of his home. It just seemed too comical. And to be honest, it is quite a clever move on behalf of the otherwise moronic vampires. It shows that they are cunning and manipulative; yet they still cannot figure out how to get into his house by force. It makes little sense.
Realistically it is not that hard to break into someone’s home. So, this did not sit well with me considering how ordinary and dull Neville is. His house is not fortified with any real defences. He frequently goes outside to tackle a mob of vampires with nothing but a basic pistol and somehow survives some insanely close encounters. It just took way some of the realism. And that is one of the key concepts behind the book: it is supposed to feel real.
This is not some Hollywood blockbuster. It is not about the action. It is about survival. And it’s about a degrading and miserable mind faced with the complete annihilation of society. These elements were powerful and even moving. I felt for Neville because he was so ordinary. He’s just a normal guy in a terrible situation and his skillset is very limited. He has somehow managed to survive like this for months when everyone else seems to be dead. As the book begins it is clear he is unhinged and this only gets worse, but the vampires themselves let the story down.
For me, this is one of those books made popular because it has a fantastic concept behind it, but for the horror elements need a bit of work.
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You can connect with me on social media via My Linktree.
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Now let me try to explain a little: there’s just something overwhelmingly ridiculous about naked vampires lurking outside Robert Neville’s house trying to lure him outside with the prospect of sex. They try to tempt him with their bodies, so they can drink his blood when he has left the safety of his home. It just seemed too comical. And to be honest, it is quite a clever move on behalf of the otherwise moronic vampires. It shows that they are cunning and manipulative; yet they still cannot figure out how to get into his house by force. It makes little sense.
Realistically it is not that hard to break into someone’s home. So, this did not sit well with me considering how ordinary and dull Neville is. His house is not fortified with any real defences. He frequently goes outside to tackle a mob of vampires with nothing but a basic pistol and somehow survives some insanely close encounters. It just took way some of the realism. And that is one of the key concepts behind the book: it is supposed to feel real.
This is not some Hollywood blockbuster. It is not about the action. It is about survival. And it’s about a degrading and miserable mind faced with the complete annihilation of society. These elements were powerful and even moving. I felt for Neville because he was so ordinary. He’s just a normal guy in a terrible situation and his skillset is very limited. He has somehow managed to survive like this for months when everyone else seems to be dead. As the book begins it is clear he is unhinged and this only gets worse, but the vampires themselves let the story down.
For me, this is one of those books made popular because it has a fantastic concept behind it, but for the horror elements need a bit of work.
___________________________________
You can connect with me on social media via My Linktree.
__________________________________
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Reading Progress
February 2, 2021
–
Started Reading
February 2, 2021
– Shelved
February 2, 2021
– Shelved as:
sci-fi
February 15, 2021
– Shelved as:
2-star-reads
February 15, 2021
– Shelved as:
darkness-horror-gothic
February 15, 2021
–
Finished Reading
Comments Showing 1-5 of 5 (5 new)
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Ostrava
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Feb 02, 2021 10:44AM
I've always heard good things about the book when compared to the movie. The only thing that I remember from the latter were a couple of scenes here and there, and the ending, which was awful.
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The movie is a great depiction apart from it destroys the whole point of the ‘I am legend’ message and the ending of the book is subsequently changed. It was obviously too deep for Hollywood who demanded a simpler ending in regards to what is good and bad, which is why it’s unsatisfying. I also didn’t like that they changed the Robert Neville from a regular Joe to a scientist in order to get the ending they wanted. However they did get the loneliness and mental health aspects spot on and I liked that the relationship with the dog was more drawn out, and of course Will Smith was superb. I just wish they had the guts to run with the book all the way as it would have been a cult classic. Apparently in all three adaptations Robert Neville has been played as a genius.
Strongly disagree. A slow burning mental breakdown. Loved it.
I didn't mention this in my own review, because it was long enough - but HARD agree that the vampires are a little cringey and silly. They don't even act like vampires; you could easily set this book in the Purge universe, with nary a mention of vampires, and it would still work almost as well! They basically just act like normal people; so it doesn't make sense that they're too dumb to figure out how to get inside his house. Neville himself even SAYS something to the effect of "the obvious solution is to burn the house down" - which to me, speaking as a writer myself, reeks of Matheson himself realising that this was a problem with the story, and being too lazy to fix it properly; so he just applies the standard band-aid fix of "let's just have the hero point out how ridiculous it is, to try and get ahead of the criticism". The problem is that once he noticed that that was a problem, he really should've rewritten the book to fix it.
It's hard, isn't it? Because there's so much potential inside this book! There's so much that's genuinely good; but it's kinda ruined by the flaws. When the main hero's an a-hole and the monster isn't a serious threat, it makes it hard to enjoy the good parts.
