Rating: 
Summary: Eerie but predictably so
Review: These days, when picking up any novel tracing the exploits of a serial killer, one immediatetly assumes three things: 1) the killer is male; 2) the killer's sexuality is muddled in light of society's standards; 3) the novel itself is bloody. Oates' ZOMBIE lives up to all three expectations. While there are some classic, excrutiating moments in the text--quite enjoyable to read--the novel itself does not live up to literary standards in the least (or to the standards Oates' has set for herself in previous novels). I only wish she had developed some of the novel's themes a little better, and without being so obvious. At the same time, though, there are many pleasurable passages throughout; the book itself will not bore you. Just don't expect this novel to differ greatly from any biography of Jeffry Daumer.
Rating: 
Summary: An interesting book
Review: This book certainly isn't lacking in pseudo-psychological complexity, with the death of QP's childhood friend and the father's subtly authoritarian persona and pretensiousness weaving together throughout the story. However, I found the author's attempts at stream-of-conscious narative to be gimmiky and occassionally awkward. An amalgamation of "Lolita" and "Ulysses", this book doesn't display the genius of either, although one can hardly expect such a lofty aim to reach fruition.
Rating: 
Summary: Intense...riveting...disturbing
Review: This is a fabulous book that I have read more than once. I first heard of Joyce Carol Oates because she graduated from my alma mater, Mount Holyoke College, and I saw her play "I stand before you naked" performed. I decided to read some of her work, and this was the first book I picked up. Now I am completely addicted!! She is a fascinating, uninhibited, prolific writer. This book is very well-written and easy to read. I read it in one sitting...I was so captivated. A definite must-read!!
Rating:
Summary: WOW.....DISTURBING!
Review: THIS IS A GREAT BOOK....A: BECAUSE IT'S SHORT SO IT DOESN'T RAMBLE ON ABOUT NOTHING... IT GETS TO THE POINT. AND B: BECAUSE IT IS DARK AND DISTURBING. ITS ABOUT THIS 30 YEAR OLD MAN THAT WANTS TO MAKE HIS OWN ZOMBIE (BY WAY OF LABOTOMY) SO HE CAN HAVE A SLAVE. HE IS VERY TWISTED WITHOUT REALIZING IT. YOU WON'T BE ABLE TO PUT THIS BOOK DOWN...READ IT!!
Rating:
Summary: Hmmm. Did boxing, now what? I know--serial killers!
Review: This is literary slumming. Not enlightening, not demanding, not scary, not particularly inventive. As usual, thorough research yields accurate depictions of therapies, procedures, aberrant psychology. But to what end? Bigshot author puts in two cents on serial killer phenemon. Recommend pass.
Rating:
Summary: Oates takes on Dahmer
Review: This is not Oates's finest work, but it is still a good read and an interesting psychological case study. We are put into the mind of a serial killer--a particularly demented one--and given his story in stream-of-conscious. Very disturbing.
Rating:
Summary: Graphic, shocking, deeply disturbing, couldn't put it down.
Review: This novel is written from the killer's point of view. I found this a totally fascinating book as I felt I was actually looking from the inside out of the killer's twisted brain. Not a bad guy really, I mean, he never meant to hurt anyone, he only wanted someone he could call his own. But unfortunate circumstances (like an ice pick through the brain) kept hindering his plans. I believe that the warped thought process of the killer was fairly accurate based on documentaries I have seen. This novel is not for the faint hearted but highly recommended for those interested in the subject of serial killers.
Rating:
Summary: Addicting - One of a kind!
Review: This was the first book I picked up by Joyce Carol Oates. At first I was disturbed by it, but that's what fascinated me. I couldn't put it down, I looked forward to going home just so I could read it and now I recommend it to my friends. Oates accomplished exactly what she meant to. Whoever says it wasn't deep, doesn't really know what "deep" is, you have to be "deep" to write the way Oates has here. Zombie is terrifying, disturbing - a book about a serial killer nobody else could have duplicated. After reading this book, I am addicted to Joyce Carol Oates. Her work is fantastic!
Rating:
Summary: Good Book and Easy Read
Review: Though it did not start out as good as it ended, the short chapters (an average of two pages... the smallest chapter being two lines long) with large print on small pages makes it a quick and easy read. By the end of the book, the characterization has come full circle, and you really feel for the wantings of the protagonist (a psychopathic serial killer in want of free love). His last stated kill is his most powerful on the readers emotions because it is such a major and built up eliment in the plot. I like the rambling style in which Oates wrote the book. This book manages to do something that so few other books can do to me, and that is to disturb me. The only thing I disliked about the book is that the serial killer was gay, and that many readers may be likely to stereotype all gay people as having the mindset or perversion of this killer (with no small credit to various Chrisian leaders and organizations, and the far right). My only hope is that Oates is not of that mindset herself and her character just happened to be gay for variety. I'm also hopeful Oates didn't use the characters sexuality to exploit society's general views for disturbingness factor of the book.
Rating:
Summary: The grimmest and grittiest
Review: True crime fans of that genre's reigning doyenne Ann Rule will love this grisly and in-your-face penetration into the mind of a brutal sex criminal and serial murderer. I find it very disturbing how intensely accurate and psychologically sound author Oates can write of her twisted and entirely weirded-out protagonist. Such is indeed the gift of an incredibly talented, virtuoso, and versatile literary artist. Never forget that Oates is a consummate stylist and that her characters, plots, and settings are always vividly and aptly imagined and that her writing is always the literary equivalent of cream (sometimes fraiche; sometimes ice, sometimes whipped, and sometime sour, but cream nonetheless!). However in this short novel, her experimentation with odd slangy sentence fragments, bizarre punctuation and ungainly capitalization are absolutely Faulknerian. Certainly, there is much here to remind of THE SOUND AND THE FURY, especially the similarities in communications between Benjy Compson and Oates' own Quentin. An amazing book for Oates fans and I really hope the true crime crowd find their way here too.
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