Despite my ‘hipster Wolverine’* exterior, I am a geek at heart and find it hard to fault anything of the Science Fiction (S.F.) genre whether it’s a book, film, graphic novel, game or whatever you can think of. Therefore the book ‘I Am Legend’, developed for film back in 2007 starring Will Smith, intrigued me.
A friend of mine read it at university and claimed that the film was: ‘Alright… it gets loads wrong and the book is ten times better’. But we’ve all heard this before and I thought I had consumed the story through a tense and well-produced movie, so there was no need to read what I had already seen.
Until I saw this (No. 6 – Beware, it’s full of spoilers!)
http://wegotthiscovered.com/movies/10-good-films-ruined-terrible-twists/
Well, time to hit Amazon I reckon and buy Richard Matheson’s masterpiece that supposedly invigorated the S.F. genre when it was stagnating back in the ’50s and re-invented a stale, overly-prevalent ‘bad guy’ in the form of vampires.
After reading the foreword supplied by Stephen King, I was eager to get started and see what the fuss was about.
My takeaway
I don’t want to give much away, but the ONLY thing I think the film got right was the commentary of Robert Neville’s (protagonist/antihero) struggle with loneliness.
This theme is blindingly apparent from early on and expertly woven into the novel, forcing the reader to think about how you would fare when presented with the same situations. Matheson uses some well crafted language to excite, disgust and entice curiosity all at the same time.
You could argue there are some other parallels plot-wise between the executions, but film is an entirely different medium that uses its own black magic to make you want more and I believe that we should (where possible) give both variants airtime and see what they can bring to a story.
Why read it?
With critical reception varying, I relied on the age-old ‘how fast did I read it?’ scale – the verdict being it’s a real page-turner!
- Fascinating exploration of how a man deals with loneliness
- Exciting, disturbing and heart-warming imagery throughout
- The ‘slow’ sections make you want to devour the book
- GREAT final paragraph
- Apparently gets better each time you read it
Rating
I’d give the book 4 out of 5 and would highly recommend it whether you are a S.F. fan or not!
As Edmund Wilson said: “No two persons ever read the same book” so I’ll let you make up your own mind. Get stuck in and pass it on.
*Not a self-appointed title by the way. I don’t look anything like Hugh Jackman, nor am I as ‘cut’ as him, but I’ll take the compliment…