The novel Warm Bodies is a very intriguing story that I recommend to both teenagers and adults because of its unique message of living and death, and what is important of living. I personally believe that this book is very enigmatic about its purpose or message, because usually a specific moral or a message can be located pretty easily by the time one finishes a book. However, even after finishing the book in November, and having reread several parts of it, I still haven’t been able to determine what the exact purpose is. Nevertheless, in general, I believe the book itself is worth reading because of its message, albeit not transparent.

Warm Bodies is categorized as ‘zombie romance,' or horror, or just plain romance with the zombie element as an addition by various sources. However, the plot runs much deeper than a simple love story. R, a zombie more intelligent than the others, describes his tale of saving a living person, and the events following his actions. The introduction basically consists of him explaining the basics of a configuration of zombies and the life of zombies in the abandoned airport. During his “hunt” for humans, he come across a boy named Perry and his band of hunters, and saves a girl named Julie after consuming the brain of Perry and acquiring the memory of her. Feeling the urge to protect her, R takes her back to him home and, although wary at first, she eventually opens up to think of him as something else, not completely a zombie. Along with their struggle through the plague, their feelings develop as well, giving the readers a wrong impression of a typical romance plot. The story itself takes place in a dystopian future setting, where the dead rise again as zombies of the brain is not removed. Usually, this type of setting is quite cliche?, with the main character being the hero who defeats the zombies, but the main character being a zombie and quite literally being the hero was definitely against my expectations. Being in the point of view of R adds to that.

The message of the book seems to be, at least to me, what it means to live, and what makes us alive. This message is conveyed by the musings of R about life, death, and whether ?he deserved to love Julie or not. In this book, almost every scene contains a crucial lesson that brings about his final resolution of wanting to live forever and the growth of that resolution. In the airport, R has been just like the others; wandering, killing, eating, then occasionally sleeping. However, when Julie enters his life, it changes everything. To kill time in R’s airplane, they mainly listen to music and chat, building intimacy. Finally, R decides that if he was allowed to, he would live forever, with Julie. In this case, I would say he found his motivation to keep living, or in this case to become alive, instead of indifference. I believe that this message speaks to people now especially, since in this modern world where it is common for people to live in lethargy, people need to identify their motivation. Living without a goal or a general direction in life not only would diminish the quality of life people are having, but also decrease the efficiency of whatever work people have to accomplish.

Also in this book a message of the definition of living is completely redefined, and all previously known boundaries have been blurred and redrawn. When we usually think of a living organism, it means its heart is beating with its body temperature warm, something of a physical status. On the other hand, when we think of a dead organism, we picture it as lifeless, lilting body that is not capable of performing any tasks or making a difference. In Warm Bodies, though, ‘living’ seems to mean having feelings, having the desire to continue existing and making a difference in the world, just has R did. Naturally, a ‘dead’ would mean lack of that spark, lack of emotions and understanding, and ultimately lack off motivation to keep living. This message is successfully shown throughout the course of the plot by the actual characters. For instance, R, at first sight, is hardly a dead; although his body is decaying, his mind is as good as any living person, if not better. Conversely, General Grigio, who apparently began to change when the family came to the Stadium, was almost completely dead by the time the skeleton consumed him. Even in the descriptions the General seems to lose human features and become more and more like the dead. “His face is ashen, the skin dry and flaky... I can see the shape of his teeth under his pursed lips... His face is empty now, expressing absolutely nothing. Just skin stretched over skull.” (page 224) The author’s description clearly shows that the borders between the living and the dead had become faint due to the plague. It also gave me an understanding of what it means to be alive. Even if we are physically well and alive, if we have lost that energy, the non-physical living power we possess, as the author illustrates, we might as well be dead and decaying.

Overall, I would give this book a grading of 4.5 stars out of 5 because it does a very good job of portraying and delivering the message of life and death. That message is not cliche? like others, who simply express that life is good and death is bad, but shows that you could walk a fine line between the state of living and dead. It is true that this topic is ambiguous in the sense that we cannot ever have a correct definition. However among those many possible meanings, wondering what represents the living and the connotation of life and death are the vital points that the author intended to deliver to the readers, in my opinion. To apply that message to real life, it would be best for people to have motivation and the support, to continue living, and live with a purpose.