Helpful Score: 7
Creepy look into the mind of a serial killer. The whole book is written from the killers point of view. The killer is a bit child like, but still very deadly. Very good read, just like anything Oats has written.
Helpful Score: 2
Very dark. Lots of similarities to Jefferey Dahmer. Written through the eyes of the serial killer who prays on men and boys. Interesting ending.
Helpful Score: 1
A horrific story...a serial killer tells his story in first person. A lot of stream of consciousness, it is like being inside his mind. It is written so matter-of-fact without the gratuitous titilation you might expect from a book about a serial killer. I think that's what makes it so chilling. It is a short book that can be read in one sitting but will leave chills down your spine for days. Joyce Carol Oates strikes again...and yes, I liked it but then I like books that are just left of center...
Helpful Score: 1
This was a nauseating look into the brain of a sadistic serial killer. It was one of the most uncomfortable things I have ever read and literally gave me nightmares. That said, it was a good book, but you need to have nerves of steel for this one!!
Crazy Creepy a little to real! This guy could be anybody and it scares the hell out of you.
First person perspective from the mind of a serial killer. Nothing really horrifying here but eerie nonetheless. His quest to make an obeying zombie through the use of a home performed pre-frontal lobotomy is weird but also reminiscent of Jeffrey Dahmer.
This was one of the most frightening, disturbing, disgusting looks inside the mind of a sexual deviant/serial killer, and I could not quit reading it. I tore through it in one night but the effects linger for days.
Very interesting look into a twisted mind.
I'm *NOT* an Oates fan. But I thought this book was awesome. Maybe I'm just weird like that. You can't help but put Dahmer's face on Quentin; and that makes it an even better read.
Quentin is a pedophile and serial killer; but his family thinks he's just mixed up and isn't guilty of the horrific crimes he's been accused of. He's been "trying" to make himself a sexual zombie by performing lobotomies on his victims. Can he keep his secrets safe from Grandma? Can he get ahold of the little boy who mows the lawn? Can he make the perfect Zombie?
Quentin is a pedophile and serial killer; but his family thinks he's just mixed up and isn't guilty of the horrific crimes he's been accused of. He's been "trying" to make himself a sexual zombie by performing lobotomies on his victims. Can he keep his secrets safe from Grandma? Can he get ahold of the little boy who mows the lawn? Can he make the perfect Zombie?
Joyce Carol Oates always delivers a great book. This one is from the viewpoint of a serial killer...and fascinating.
Well-conceived and written, if rather unpalatable subject matter.
This was a real page-turner for me, a single afternoon read. It's written in a diary style from the point of view of a very believable childlike predator. I read a lot of true-crime and consider myself well-versed in criminal psychology, and I thought that the restraint practiced by the author in terms of only recording things from the sophomoric emotional state of a stunted and sad murderer. Remarkably well-executed.
Joyce Carol Oates continues to amaze me with how she is able to actually get into the minds of her characters. Zombie was written in 1995 and is loosely based on the life of Jeffrey Dahmer. Oates delves into the consciousness of the very disturbed serial killer, Quentin P. who tries to create a sex zombie out of unsuspecting young men by attempting to lobotomize them so they will do his bidding. His attempts all end in failure and his victims die after being raped and tortured. Quentin keeps mementos of his crimes but has no regrets or empathy for the victims.
The novel is told in a stream of consciousness style with Oates presenting the acts of Quentin in a very real and frightening way as the psychopath plots to satisfy his deviant urges. This was really a disturbing novel yet Oates is able to tell the story to make it very believable. Oates does use some very graphic details in her narrative including Quentin's attempts at performing lobotomies but she doesn't go overboard in the descriptions like in such novels as American Psycho. It's really how Oates is able to access the mind of the killer that provides the scares in this slim novel.
The novel is told in a stream of consciousness style with Oates presenting the acts of Quentin in a very real and frightening way as the psychopath plots to satisfy his deviant urges. This was really a disturbing novel yet Oates is able to tell the story to make it very believable. Oates does use some very graphic details in her narrative including Quentin's attempts at performing lobotomies but she doesn't go overboard in the descriptions like in such novels as American Psycho. It's really how Oates is able to access the mind of the killer that provides the scares in this slim novel.
