Breathers: A Zombie's Lament | S. G. Browne

5 October 2016


One of my friends bought this book. They began to read it and then handed it over to me, exclaiming "This is way more your thing than it is mine."

And I am so glad she did.

This novel is funny, touching, heart-warming, engrossing and any other positive adjective you can possibly think of. The concept, to me, is quite original because other than Warm Bodies (which I also would recommend), I have found it hard to find any zombie comedy books. Don't get me wrong, I love your guns-blazing World War Z-types, but it is just so much more of an enjoyable read to have comedy laced through 'horror.'

So. The plot.

For fans of Max Brooks’s The Zombie Survival Guide and zombie aficionados everywhere, a hilarious debut novel about life (and love) after death.

Meet Andy Warner, a recently deceased everyman and newly minted zombie. Resented by his parents, abandoned by his friends, and reviled by a society that no longer considers him human, Andy is having a bit of trouble adjusting to his new existence. But all that changes when he goes to an Undead Anonymous meeting and finds kindred souls in Rita, an impossibly sexy recent suicide with a taste for the formaldehyde in cosmetic products, and Jerry, a twenty-one-year-old car-crash victim with an exposed brain and a penchant for Renaissance pornography. When the group meets a rogue zombie who teaches them the joys of human flesh, things start to get messy, and Andy embarks on a journey of self-discovery that will take him from his casket to the SPCA to a media-driven class-action lawsuit on behalf of the rights of zombies everywhere.

Darkly funny, surprisingly touching, and gory enough to satisfy even the most discerning reader, Breathers is a romantic zombie comedy (rom-zom-com, for short) that will leave you laughing, squirming, and clamoring for more.

Without giving too much away, the ending has been criticised by some. Personally, I really loved the escalation of what a person(/zombie) can be pushed to do when not given the respect they deserve and when it causes a loved one to come to harm. I truly rooted for Andy throughout the entire book and felt satisfied by the pay off. I really would recommend this film if you are looking for something slightly darker to make you laugh and something that is incredibly easy to read. 

I would also really love this to be a film but from what I can tell, that seems to have halted. 

Overall I bloody loved it. 

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