amaalosman

I avoid most zombie fiction since there’s such a glut of it now, but Pariah is actually a nice addition to the genre. Like Robert Kirkman’s ongoing comic book series, The Walking Dead, Pariah focuses more on the living’s struggle to survive than it does the shuffling corpses trying to eat them. Fingerman’s portrayal of ten sweaty New Yorkers trying to cope with boredom, depression, insanity, starvation and dehydration during the dog days of summer feels very real, but doesn’t have the same level of bleakness as say, Cormac McCarthy’s The Road. Imagine a less screwball version of the Seinfeld cast trapped in Jerry’s apartment building for six months without utilities. Then imagine them horribly emaciated and miserable while George’s mother wanders around naked and everyone lives in fear of the moment Puddy starts raping the women, and you have the comedic tone of the book. It’s sort of like if John Landis had directed Schindler’s List, but instead of Nazis, it was zombies that kept everyone trapped in the Warsaw Ghetto. The appearance of a young girl that zombies avoid like the plague is a fresh idea and adds an element of mystery to the story. For a genre that’s quickly being driven into the ground, this was a captivating read and further proof that surviving the apocalypse is not necessarily a good thing.

2022-11-14 16:28