Breathers: A Zombie's Lament
by S. G. Browne
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Book Summary Information
Author: S. G. BrowneEdition: Paperback
Audio: English (Unknown); English (Original Language); English (Published)
Published: 2009-03-03
ISBN: 0767930614
Number of pages: 310
Publisher: Three Rivers Press
Book Reviews of Breathers: A Zombie's Lament
Book Review: You'll laugh at the absurdity of it all
Summary: 5 Stars
Andy Warner died in a car accident with his wife. Forty-eight hours later he reanimated, but life is not what it used to be. He spends his days alone in his parents' wine cellar watching reruns, drinking expensive wine he can't appreciate and ignoring his father's threats to send him to a zoo or body farm. To break up the monotony, he attends an Undead Anonymous meeting (UA for short), which brings only minimal solace considering the accident left him speechless with a gimpy leg and rotting. He shuffles around with a dry erase board hanging around his neck, his only means of communication besides the occasional grunt and frantic hand gesture, which only reinforce the zombie stereotype. Needless to say, things aren't going well for him in his post-life state.
Fortunately for Andy, the UA meetings become more interesting when Rita, a suicide, begins attending. The equivalent of an undead playmate, except pastier with a penchant for devouring cosmetic products, she livens up the meetings for Andy. After one such evening, Andy, Rita and Jerry, another UA friend with a porn addiction, decide to seek out a few newly reanimated corpses to bring to the next meeting. They meet Ray, a zombie who appears to be very well-preserved and even healthy. They all become fast friends and fans of Ray's Resplendent Rapture, preserved meat that Ray claims is venison.
Feeling emboldened by his new friendship and a budding romance with Rita, he begins a campaign to enlighten the general public about the zombie cause. He starts slowly with a sign in the front yard and works his way up to a petition for civil rights, which he sends to his representative. His new interests give him a lot to look forward to, but events conspire to land him in the SPCA. Along with regular animal strays, the SPCA also houses the undead waiting to be claimed by their human guardians.
Miraculously, Andy finds he is healing, and Rita, now his girlfriend, confirms his suspicions, and not just about his recovery, but about what they believe is in Ray's Resplendent Rapture. Realizing they are eating breather, the zombie term for the living --- and enjoying it --- they decide to test their healing theory out on UA members.
Dark and morbid, BREATHERS is a real treat. Browne creates characters the reader can sympathize and commiserate with, all the while laughing at the ludicrous nature of their existence. In Andy's case, you understand his depression over the loss of his wife and shirk at the way his parents treat him. His father wishes he had stayed dead and his mother finds him repulsive, only touching him when wearing industrial-grade gloves and spraying him with room deodorizer to combat the smell.
Browne never lets you forget his characters are dead, reminding the reader at every turn about stitches, hanging flesh, and the need for formaldehyde to stave off decay. He provides his audience with a very entertaining peek into what life would be like for a newly risen corpse.
You'll laugh at the absurdity of it all and, at the same time, feel as if you're getting a glimpse into an alternative lifestyle. Yes, BREATHERS concludes in a blaze of glory that is preposterous, but then you remember you're reading a book about zombies fighting for civil rights and you know it's the only way it can end.
Summary of Breathers: A Zombie's Lament
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.
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