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tromatojuice's review against another edition
adventurous
funny
fast-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Plot
- Strong character development? No
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? It's complicated
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
3.5
kitttycatcait's review against another edition
Main character seems like a super pretentious obnoxious man...
charlotteg0a807's review against another edition
2.0
Maybe 2.5 well I finish this. I had thought the concept of this very intriguing similar to pride prejudice and Zombies and the like, I had seen a review on YouTube I do believe about Halloween/October reads and thought it sounds good, unfortunately as I'm in a strange place with my reading this fell short of the mark as I wrote in a update of progress this book was Slow
mariarhianne's review against another edition
2.0
I really couldn't get into this book. I tried really hard to like it, too.
favoritetinysad's review against another edition
3.0
Funny. Premise had so much promise. If it weren't for the douche of a narrator I would have loved it.
jessa_sage1996's review against another edition
3.0
This is a complicated decision. At certain points of this book I was amused. At certain points of this book I was entertained. Yet at the same time, I couldn’t wait to be done with the book so I could move on. I don’t really know how I feel about it. There were a ton of pop-culture references, which I enjoyed but Jack claimed he, in his living life, believed himself to be above. Jack was a hypocrite. I don’t want to assume what the author did but it felt intentional. Ever seen the movie Warm Bodies? This was like that in many ways minus the romance. Jack kept thinking himself as sympathetic and pitiable as Frankenstein’s monster. The author probably meant for him to not be at all similar, despite Jack not seeing it that way. Is it weird to say a zombie struggled with grandiose ideas?
Overall, I don’t regret reading the book though I probably won’t find myself reading it again.
Overall, I don’t regret reading the book though I probably won’t find myself reading it again.
catherine_maria's review against another edition
adventurous
funny
hopeful
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? It's complicated
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated
4.5
I’m so glad this book caught my eye in a used bookstore! It is such a witty, funny take on a zombie apocalypse. I loved seeing everything from the main character’s cognitive zombie perspective. I didn’t expect to really fall in love with this found family of zombies and be rooting for their escape, survival, and success over that of the humans. It reminded me a bit of the movie Warm Bodies. I would love to see Brains turned into a movie or series. This was the perfect funny Halloween read.
ladypalutena's review against another edition
3.0
I picked up this book on a whim at 2nd & Charles a few months ago. Since then, it’s lived under my bathroom sink. It’s taken me a few weeks to finish it, but now that I have, I find that it was…interesting.
Becker’s premise is that some of the zombies, after they turn, are not just mindless monsters. There’s an entire underground, presumably, but the only one we know of right off the bat is our narrator, former professor Jack Barnes. When Jack turns, he knows something is different. He can think, and he pities those who are simply surviving. While he can’t talk, he can write, and he uses his writing ability to get out of a few early scrapes.
Barnes sees himself as a god, as the one way to help the zombies achieve their ultimate goal of ruling the world, at least in the beginning. As he shambles along the world, he gathers his own little family, the majority of them “specials,” like him. There’s Annie Oakley, the sharpshooter; Guts, the super fast child; Saint Joan, the nurse; Rosencrantz, the wisecracking talking former soldier; and two who are not so special, pregnant Eve and Kapotas. Eve was the first one Jack turned; Jack did turn Ros, and later Annie, but found everyone else.
This relatively short novel follows the aftermath of humanity’s destruction: the humans have lost the war, and the zombies are the ones in the majority. Becker takes pains to make sure that we know Jack is special, because s/he inserts so many things like “T.S. Eliot’s cruelest month” and “The best laid plans of zombies and men.” The arrogance of Jack makes me want to go ahead and blow out his zombie brains. I understand it’s his character, but it took me so long to finish the book because I just couldn’t stomach Jack’s arrogance.
I found this new take on the zombie apocalypse to be slightly refreshing, despite my hatred of our main character. The novel’s short, only at 182 pages, something easily read in an afternoon. If you’re an English major, you’ll appreciate all the not-so-subtle nods to other “great” works of literature (for real, though, Becker really tries to stuff it down our throats). If you’re not, well, I’m sure you’ll appreciate the violent zombie action.
This is a tale of redemption, at its gory heart. It asks the question, “What if the zombies weren’t all stupid, and we were killing a sentient being?” That’s truly what separates man from beast: we know what we’re killing. The zombies don’t care. (Unless they’re “specials.”)
Despite my struggle to get through this book, I feel like the ending redeemed it somewhat, but also left it open for Becker to write a sequel, should she feel like doing it. (Although that begs the question, how long can zombies last, once they’ve started decaying? Max Brooks, author of The Zombie Survival Guide, puts their life expectancy at anywhere from a few months to a few years, depending on the environment.) I’d recommend this book if you’re a fan of the genre, at 3/5 stars, but don’t expect anything much beyond the narrator’s god-complex. It was interesting and different, but not enough for me to pull it out of my bathroom sink and sit down and read until I finished it. (If you haven’t guessed, I put books I’m unsure about under the bathroom sink, so I have reading material at specific times.)
Becker’s premise is that some of the zombies, after they turn, are not just mindless monsters. There’s an entire underground, presumably, but the only one we know of right off the bat is our narrator, former professor Jack Barnes. When Jack turns, he knows something is different. He can think, and he pities those who are simply surviving. While he can’t talk, he can write, and he uses his writing ability to get out of a few early scrapes.
Barnes sees himself as a god, as the one way to help the zombies achieve their ultimate goal of ruling the world, at least in the beginning. As he shambles along the world, he gathers his own little family, the majority of them “specials,” like him. There’s Annie Oakley, the sharpshooter; Guts, the super fast child; Saint Joan, the nurse; Rosencrantz, the wisecracking talking former soldier; and two who are not so special, pregnant Eve and Kapotas. Eve was the first one Jack turned; Jack did turn Ros, and later Annie, but found everyone else.
This relatively short novel follows the aftermath of humanity’s destruction: the humans have lost the war, and the zombies are the ones in the majority. Becker takes pains to make sure that we know Jack is special, because s/he inserts so many things like “T.S. Eliot’s cruelest month” and “The best laid plans of zombies and men.” The arrogance of Jack makes me want to go ahead and blow out his zombie brains. I understand it’s his character, but it took me so long to finish the book because I just couldn’t stomach Jack’s arrogance.
I found this new take on the zombie apocalypse to be slightly refreshing, despite my hatred of our main character. The novel’s short, only at 182 pages, something easily read in an afternoon. If you’re an English major, you’ll appreciate all the not-so-subtle nods to other “great” works of literature (for real, though, Becker really tries to stuff it down our throats). If you’re not, well, I’m sure you’ll appreciate the violent zombie action.
This is a tale of redemption, at its gory heart. It asks the question, “What if the zombies weren’t all stupid, and we were killing a sentient being?” That’s truly what separates man from beast: we know what we’re killing. The zombies don’t care. (Unless they’re “specials.”)
Despite my struggle to get through this book, I feel like the ending redeemed it somewhat, but also left it open for Becker to write a sequel, should she feel like doing it. (Although that begs the question, how long can zombies last, once they’ve started decaying? Max Brooks, author of The Zombie Survival Guide, puts their life expectancy at anywhere from a few months to a few years, depending on the environment.) I’d recommend this book if you’re a fan of the genre, at 3/5 stars, but don’t expect anything much beyond the narrator’s god-complex. It was interesting and different, but not enough for me to pull it out of my bathroom sink and sit down and read until I finished it. (If you haven’t guessed, I put books I’m unsure about under the bathroom sink, so I have reading material at specific times.)
kilcannon's review against another edition
1.0
Devoid of wit or charm, or even a consistent narrative voice. By turning her narrator into Mr. Allusion, the author has saved herself the hard work of characterization, and by being compulsively meta, she has saved herself the hard work of originality. But the book has the word "ontology" several times, so it must be intellectual.
mzdeb's review against another edition
4.0
When “Brains” begins, the zombie apocalypse is already underway. It even reaches the door of Jack Barnes, literally, and so when he’s bitten by a zombified neighbor who crashes through the living room window (Barnes is distracted while bickering with his wife), the transformation begins. An English professor at a small college in rural Missouri, Barnes fares better than his mindless cohorts in that he remains sentient, and so he begins to focus on the two goals in his life: find others like him, find Dr. Howard Stein, the creator of the zombie virus, and find brains to eat. (All right, THREE goals.) Barnes can write but can’t speak, hence the book we are now reading. His pop culture and literary references (including, of course, George Romero) keep coming rapid fire, even in his undead state, making this a wry and witty read. At 182 pages, I devoured this book (pardon the pun) in one day. If the squeamish can keep some of the more graphic and disturbing passages out of focus (as a parent, I try not to envision the passages of Barnes and his “super” zombies eating the occasional child), they can even find themselves smiling and feeling some empathy. I can’t wait to see what Becker comes up with next.