I Am Legend book review
Here’s something I didn’t know when I bought the book I Am Legend: it’s a short story collection. I Am Legend is only the first 159 pages and then the rest of the book is all additional short stories by Richard Matheson. Nowhere on the front or back of the book does it say that. The only way I even knew was once I started reading it and saw the odd table of contents. Why does it matter? Because most of the other stories were kinda crappy.
As good as the story of I Am Legend is, it’s not as strong as the legend the book itself has become. Richard Matheson’s writing does not age well. The namesake story was written in 1954 along with about half the other stories in this book. And it reads like someone from the 1950’s wrote it. It is hard to future proof any creative work of course but for those people under the age of about 30 will probably have a hard time understanding many things in this book. For the baby boomers out there, you will be right at home.
The reason I say this is because in the “future” of 1976, the protagonist must deal with Willys station wagons with 3-speed manual transmissions and a choke. What’s a choke you ask and what does it have to do with cars? Then stick to the updated Will Smith movie, you will probably be disappointed by the original story. The other stories in the book fare no better and there are some glaring problems with continuity and editing even in this re-release of the legendary story so I can only assume that these are Matheson’s actual mistakes at this point and no one will ever correct them.
The story of I Am Legend is good. It’s extremely dated and the pacing is slow and deliberate but it’s good. Most of the rest of the book is fluff that was probably written for various low-rent magazines at the time of their writing. One stand-out is the story called Prey which if you’ve seen the classic 1970’s movie Trilogy of Terror, you will recognize right off. The story of the homicidal Zuni fetish doll is much better in print than the version in the classic movie.
I’d still recommend reading I Am Legend if only for the namesake story but with the caveat that you may not be old enough to get all the outdated references and terminology. If that sort of thing doesn’t bother you though and you don’t mind a few confusing edits here and there then by all means pick up a copy and read it. It may not age well but it’s still potent enough.
Tags: Books, I Am Legend, Movies, Reviews
April 12, 2008 10:41 pm 3 Comments
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By Colin Brooks, April 12, 2008 @ 11:53 pm
I should read more books. I’m way behind and my Amazon wishlist isn’t getting any shorter…
I’d have thought that I Am Legend would be a whole book too. How odd.
By Livingdead, April 13, 2008 @ 3:00 am
Legend is the prototype of the Zombie Genre, so I did my duty and read it. I liked it.
I have issues with Will Smith being attached to book properties.
By jason, April 13, 2008 @ 11:30 pm
I wish I could read more, but with a two-year-old in the house, it’s impossible.
Thanks for the review.