Warm Bodies

After reading Warm Bodies, written by Isaac Marion, I was left unsatisfied due to the ending. I enjoyed Marion's message about humanity. He introduces to the reader a medicine-less "healing" of zombies, basically saying that being a zombie is a state of mind. The reader sees this when R chooses to connect with people and soon he is able to regain his humanity by force of will. Underlying the plot is Marion's commentary on people dehumanizing each other and isolating themselves through technology. This is a real epidemic of people losing their ability to relate to one another, resulting in a state of mind in people in society that is ultimately destructive. What I did not enjoy was Marion's use of the Romeo and Juliet metaphor because the plot is essentially two lovers on different sides of a conflict. I also saw a lack of characterization of the protagonists as the story progressed. R is only interesting because of his circumstance: a zombie who does not want to be a zombie anymore. His character does not develop beyond this fact. Julie is no different. Her character seems contradictory and on another note, there is truly nothing about her as a person that really draws R to her.