R is a zombie who feels something missing in his undead life when he meets Julie, a living human, and realizes he wants to live and love again. He and his zombie friends join forces with the humans to defeat the Skeletons who rule their destroyed world. R is a zombie with no identity or memory of his past, all he has is the first letter of his long forgotten name. His only companion is another zombie named M, but even their conversations are restricted to grunts. R, realizing he has nothing to 'live' for, marries a zombie woman and adopts two zombie children, but has no real emotional connection to them.
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One day, R and M decide to leave the airport (where they live with 100's of other zombies) to go hunting in the city. They find a party of humans and attack, looking forward to eating their brains. To the zombies, the brain is the best part because they can feel the memories from their victims and remember what it was like to be alive. R kills and eats the brains on a man, and inherits his memories and love for a girl named Julie. Julie is also on the patrol, and instead of eating her, R protects and hides Julie from the other zombies, smearing her with his blood.
R brings Julie with him back to the airport and keeps her hidden in a deserted plane. Julie reminds him she needs fed, and together, they venture out to one of the airport's cafeterias, where they encounter M. During her captivity, Julie learns that R likes music and doesn't know how to drive, so she teaches him. R also slowly begins to recover his speech and begins to speak simple sentences and one evening, Julie admits she's not angry over her boyfriend's death, which gives R hope for a future with her. But R has a secret; he's starting to dream again, and have conversations with her dead boyfriend--something that has never happened before.
Julie eventually tries to leave and would have been eaten by zombies had R not showed up in time and convinced them to leave her alone with M's support. Julie also has her first encounter with the Skeletons or "Boneys" as R refers to them, but he keeps her safe. Although his heart has begun to "wheeze" for her, they decide it is time for her to go home. Together, they head into the city and take shelter in an abandoned house. The next morning, Julie takes the car, leaving R and a polaroid picture of herself behind.
R continues to dream of and have conversations with Julie's dead boyfriend until he's convinced that he should seek her out. M help R become more 'human', and a group of his friends chase him as if they were chasing a living person. R's ruse works, and he is let into the human compound, and quickly forgotten in light of the zombies coming after him. Feeling mostly human, he finds Julie, who instantly takes him in hand and puts makeup on him so he looks alive. Julie's friend Nora is also in on R's true identity, and thinks he's way cool. R and Julie continue building their relationship and R keeps having 'conversations' with her dead boyfriend, which Julie is now aware of. For some reason, as each day passes, R is a little less zombie and a little more human. But one night, he kills a man and an alarm is sounded, signaling a breach.
During the lockdown, M calls R and tells him a lot of the zombies want to live again, like R, and are gathering...changing the way R is. Reviving. Together, Julie and R run away to meet with M and his people. Following them is a small army of humans and eventually the humans and zombies combine forces to destroy the Boneys. They begin to realize the plague is more like a curse from a "deeper place" and able to be broken. The undead have the ability to rejoin the living. When R finally kisses Julie, he becomes fully living again, only to have Julie's father order them both shot for becoming infected. However, her father is killed by a Boney before his oders are fulfilled.
Julie realizes part of the curse is from human kind's lack of wanting to live. But, because R valued life and HAVING a life to live, he was able to break out of his zombie state and become alive again.
Together, Julie and R reintroduce the zombies to the world of the living and begin the recovery process.
Best part of story, including ending:
I loved the allegory, and how the entire story is a giant metaphor for human kind. The novel seems to make a point that people aren't living the life they should, becoming "zombies", and will doom themselves, unless they embrace life and love. Also, the humor is spot-on, making this book fun to read as opposed to heavy and preachy.
Best scene in story:
I enjoy the scenes when Nora first meets R. She asks all the questions we want to know, but are too polite to ask (like what does it feel like to be dead? do you have emotions? etc.) Very fun scene.
Opinion about the main character:
What I like most about R is how he is able to show emotions and thoughts despite him being a zombie--especially at the beginning. He could be such a boring character, but his personality, cynical nature, and desire to live makes him a very interesting character.
