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Digital Cameras - Camcorders - I Am Legend
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List Price: $14.95
Our Price: $3.25
Your Save: $ 11.70 ( 78% )
Availability: Usually ships in 24 hours
Manufacturer: Orb Books
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Average Customer Rating:  
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Binding: Paperback
Dewey Decimal Number: 813.54
EAN: 9780312865047
ISBN: 031286504X
Label: Orb Books
Manufacturer: Orb Books
Number Of Items: 1
Number Of Pages: 317
Publication Date: 1997-09-15
Publisher: Orb Books
Studio: Orb Books
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Spotlight customer reviews:
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Customer Rating:
Summary: YUCK.....
Comment: Book is much better than the movie, but the ending sucks. The solitude of the main character was interesting, especially for the decade this was written. But it falls short on a lot of explaination. There were a lot of opportunities to really explore the psychological aspects of an isolated man left dangling.
The short stories (most of which were featured on the twilight zone) inserted at the back of the book by the publishing company were a lot more enjoyable than the main story. Save yourself a headache, rent the movie, or wait for it on cable.
Customer Rating:
Summary: Not quite what it should be
Comment: I read this because some science fiction critic said it was "better than Robinson Crusoe."
Not quite.
"I am Legend" is a pretty compelling metaphor for isolation (and isolationism), but the author lets a lot of that tension run to waste by devoting the middle portion of the story to a bogus Freudian/science-fictional explanation of where the vampires came from, why crosses repel them, blah blah blah...
I suppose it's an important contribution to the evolving vampire mythos (though I'm not sure that's a good thing if "Twilight" is what we get from it), but it could have been something even better: a truly atmospheric story throughout. That, to me, would have been even more valuable.
Customer Rating:
Summary: A classic benchmark
Comment: The 'I am Legend' compilation is a fabulous book and must be taken on it's own merits and not on one's enjoyment of the 3 subsequent movies (good or bad). The fact that it was written in 1954 can only make the reader more impressed with Matheson's scientific references and the way in which he weaves mythology with the "modern". Although there are other definite classics included, I felt less of an affinity with some of the other short stories until I again reminded myself of the vintage of these tales. A short story like 'Prey'(1969) falls foul of numerous 'Chucky' type 80's horror flicks, the memories of which now permeate ones imagery during the reading of such a story and needless to say, ruins it.
But to harp on the negative is futile when the 170 pages of 'I am Legend' are magnificent. The ending, the very final line, outshines anything that movies have done with this work. I would however, recommend a viewing of the three movies, 'The last man on Earth', 'Omega Man' and 'I am Legend' as something of interest after reading this book. That's not to say there's not an absolute lemon in there, but it is interesting to see the treatment of the material from the 1954 text through to 2007.
Customer Rating:
Summary: The movie was better. . .
Comment: Stephen King (whom I think is overrated but whose opinion nevertheless carries some weight) says, "I think the author who influenced me the most as a writer was Richard Matheson. Books like "I Am Legend" were an inspiration to me." According to Dean Koontz (whom I love, even though some of his recent works have descended into schmaltzy moralizing), "I Am Legend" is the "most clever and riveting vampire novel since Dracula." While it certainly is better than anything that hack Stephenie Meyer could ever come out with, I was nevertheless left feeling . . . let down. Anticlimatic. Sort of.
One of the things that morbidly draws us to post-apocalyptic literature is, I think, not only that terrifying concept that modern civilization can collapse into chaos, but also that same haunted quality that draws people to ponder crumbling cities among the riotously overgrown jungle, or the stark beauty seen in the remains of ancient Rome under the blue sky. There is a poem by Wallace Stevens called "Sunday Morning," in which he reflects on the notion that "Death is the mother of beauty; hence from her / Alone, shall come fulfilment to our dreams / And our desires." One of my English professors used it to discuss "The Iliad," but I think this idea of terrible splendor is an old perception. It's long been a part of the aesthetic of Gothic literature going back to Horace Walpole's "The Castle of Otranto" (1764); you also see it, for example, in Poe's depiction of the ill-fated House of Usher and his evocation of "the dim and decaying city on the Rhine" in the oppressively atmospheric "Ligeia." I remember reading somewhere that Europe's eighteenth-century aristocracy was fond of including fake ruins in their estate gardens to give them precisely that ambiance. Part of the attraction of the recent "I Am Legend" film with Will Smith, as well as Danny Boyle's "28 Days Later," was precisely their convincing on-screen portrayals of New York City and London emptied of human habitation and bearing the scars of catastrophe and corrosion.
I hate to say it, but this really is one of those rare cases where the movie is better than the book. (I mean the Will Smith movie - I haven't seen either of its two predecessors.) First of all, Matheson's use of vampires *could* have worked out, if only he hadn't included all those hokey clichés like the fear of crosses and death by wooden stake. Yes, I know that he attempted to legitimize the stuff by having protagonist Robert Neville uncover scientific and psychological explanations for it and reminding us that the "strength of the vampire is that no one will believe in him." But still, none of it could quite convince me to sufficiently suspend my disbelief, especially since the pseudo-Freudian psychology seemed hopelessly outdated (the book was first published in 1954). Apparently, vampires' aversion to crosses is the result of their subconscious. But I will say this: the scenes where Neville lays in bed at night in his barricaded house while the vampires scream and bang around outside were very well done.
But despite moments like that, "I Am Legend" still didn't really give me that sense of atmosphere, an element that I think is especially vital in post-apocalyptic literature. It's not enough to keep the reading running along with fast-paced action or perched on the edge of their chair in moments of suspense. There are plenty of cheap crime thrillers to do just that. Again, what you need is that vision of modern society as a ruin. In other words, I think I mean to say that the prose felt flat. I think that was it. I would speculate that a lot of the book's appeal came from the novelty of its plot and the provocative twist at the end. The last human on earth becomes a "legend" to the previously fabled beings who have now taken over. It's a pretty neat concept, and I'm not surprised that things really picked up as the story wound to a close and Neville began to identify with the undead vampire whom the living ones had set out to ruthlessly exterminate.
The novel then ends on a very poignant note that almost makes up for a rather ho-hum story. So did I like "I Am Legend"? Not really, but it is nevertheless an intriguing book and obviously there other readers will strongly disagree with my assessments of it. You have to read it yourself.
Customer Rating:
Summary: Decent
Comment: Just finished the I Am Legend story in the book. Pretty good. I was not aware that the story was only half of the book. I was thinking I was halfway through a pretty good book when I was actually at the end. Nothing like the movie. The ending kept me hanging a little, but that's only because I had seen the movie and kept expecting the book to at some point pick up the movie's storyline. Other than the title and the name of the lead character there is no semblance to the movie. All in all I did enjoy the read.
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Editorial Reviews:
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Robert Neville is the last living man on Earth...but he is not alone. Every other man, woman, and child on Earth has become a vampire, and they are all hungry for Neville's blood.
By day, he is the hunter, stalking the sleeping undead through the abandoned ruins of civilization. By night, he barricades himself in his home and prays for dawn.
How long can one man survive in a world of vampires?
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