Zombie

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.

Rating:
Summary: portrait of a monster
Review: what i found in this book was a style andcharisma all its own. although the random grammar and odd punctuationtake some getting used to, i believe it only helps to achieve an ideal setting in the mind of a disturbed man. those who have reviwed before me speak of lack of depth in the main character. i feel that the way in which the serial killer is allowed to narrate his own twisted tale is essential to highlighting the truly depraved and void of feeling nature that he posesses. i dont think that this book is meant to target stereotypes or promote perverted acts of desperation. it serves only to introduce one to an innovative way of telling a story. in reference to another review i read, i believe that it is stereotypical in itself to assme that all criminal minds are calculated and complex. i found this book entertaining. recommended if you can stomach the often graphic violence. indeed worthwhile.

Rating:
Summary: Diary of the 'American Psycho' perhaps?
Review: Wow. I must say that Joyce Carol Oates did a spectacular writing job. Seems like this book was a bit out of the ordinary for her and so I was EXTREMELY impressed. The book was, basically, the diary of a psychotic man and his obsession with wanting to make himself a 'Zombie' of his own. Someone to be his mindless male sex God. This book was chilling and it made you angry and sad and quite emotional. 'Zombie' gets right into the head of a serial killer and his thoughts and his dimentia. I was very impressed. The only reason I did not give it 5 stars is because the ending was kind-a dissappointing. I know, I know, call me old fashioned, call me boring, but when did he get his??? He deserved it for the horrible crimes he committed, but he did not. I dunno, add a little scene where he gets tortured or raped as deserved, and I definitely would have given it 5 stars.

Rating:
Summary: Gruesome but compelling
Review: Zombie repulsed me. The narrator, Quentin P., is loathsome, sick. But in Oates' hands, the brutal serial killer becomes someone we almost know. Oates plunges us into Quentin's world and forces us to acknowledge that his madness is not without its own twisted logic. You see, all Quentin wants is someone in his life he can love and control completely. Zombie's horror is not so much in what Quentin does, but in how he recounts it: He describes his crimes the way my son might talk about his day at school. Zombie is short and taut, more like the novels Oates pens under her pseudonym, Rosamond Smith, than like her longer works. Gruesome, yes, but a compelling read.