Handling the Undead [Kindle Edition]

John Ajvide Lindqvist has picked out a stunning idea for this novel. Have a zombie book where the normal conventions are played about with, namely the focus of the story is on the grieving done by those families who have to see their recently deceased loved ones rise from the dead, just as many of them have come to terms with their passing. And a subtler one, that the survivors in this 'zombie story' aren't a small group of the living holed up somewhere, they are a small group of zombies themselves facing greater numbers of the living.

Personally I'd been yearning out for a story taking an angle like this, as the genre of zombie films and books had, pardon the pun, gone a bit stale. To the point that zombies have started to run now!? I mean what's that about?
So I was quite happy when I stumbled across this book while I was looking at Lindqvist's other major work, Let the Right One In.

Now one thing to clear up right at the beginning is some of the marketing for this book, which I think is one of the reasons for the poor reviews on the site:

Firstly the cover on this edition has been made to fit in with Let the Right One In, keeping the creepy distorted type face and reversing the colours so the background is blood red rather than dark blue. This to the casual browser gives the impression that this is a typical zombie book, when to be honest I'm not sure that the Dead in this book can be called zombies at all and are quite some way away from the creatures of films like 28 Days Later and the Dawn of the Dead remake. So some people come into this book looking for something different than what it actually is.

Secondly the quotes attached to the book continue the horror comparisons saying it compares to "Stephen King at his best", which in one way is totally accurate. The writing style is very Stephen King, down to the inclusion of news reports, harking back to Carrie, and the detailed third person take on the story. This sets up a horror slant on the book, which doesn't really fit the book. Neither does it fit Stephen King to well either as I would say most of his books and Lindqvist's aren't typical horror genre books, they're just horrific books.

Thirdly it should be made illegal for publisher to put quotes like "A masterpiece-SFX magazine"on the front cover of their books, it only sets up a big fall for books when people often quite rightly see the book as not a 'masterpiece'.

This book isn't a masterpiece by any stretch of the imagination, but it is a very good book and will please people looking for a fantasy book with a bit of emotional depth to it, as well as some very interesting ideas about death and what that means for people on the receiving end and their loved ones. But I would guess you'd have to have an open mind when it comes to what horror can do beyond scare you, and a strong stomach to go with it.

Some reviewers have complained about the structure of the novel too, particularly that it starts of well and then around the last third falls apart. Well I'd have to agree at some level, because there is so much potential here for new ideas, I could see this premise working well as a long form t.v series like Heroes or Flashforward where there is room to spread out ideas and concepts. But the book doesn't really do that it, it just feels like around page 250 the story is moving to a finish that doesn't come for OVER a hundred pages. This long period just feels kind of baggy, as you know something is going to happen and you're waiting for it and waiting, only to not really feel like the wait was worth it, only for the characters and not for the reader. It's just a case of some more careful editing of the book to trim down some sections and some of the characters.

P.S I have to give praise to the translators, as many books not originally written in English often feel awkward in descriptive sections, like their getting the literal meaning but not the author's meaning, whereas here I didn't get that feeling at all.

"Handling the Undead" is a zombie book. But not the typical gory, horrendous BRAAAAAAINSSSS-craving type. Instead John Ajvinde Lindquist slowly weaves together an intelligent, philosophical look at what would happen if the dead were to unnaturally rise from their graves... and the only flaw is that the middle section of the book is so SLOW.

Something strange is happening in Stockholm -- the weather is oppressive, electrical glitches are everywhere, and everybody has a headache.

But when the strange conditions vanish, everybody who has died within the last two months rises from the morgue, funeral homes, and even their coffins. The "reliving" wander back to their old homes, mute and seemingly unaware, shocking their loved ones. And of course, the government quickly rounds them up and confines them, until they can be sure what dangers the "reliving" might pose.

In the days that follow, Lindqvist follows five people whose loved ones have come back -- a comedian sunk deep in denial about his wife being gone, a wannabe-rebel teen, a grandfather and a young mother trying to help her undead son "recover," and a widow who believes that she has a mission from the Virgin Mary. But something else is approaching Stockholm, bringing unexpected effects in its wake.

"Handling the Undead" doesn't really focus on the zombies themselves. Instead, Lindqvist conjures up a simple scenario, and examines how people would react to it -- we see hysteria, suicide, denial, dismissal, religious fervor, and a delusional belief that the zombies can simply go back to their old lives. And he brings up a number of philosophical questions with no easy answers.

The biggest problem with this book is that it should have been much smaller. Lindqvist spends most of the book's middle section spinning his wheels, with nothing really happening. And we never really find out WHY the dead rose, just that it is somehow an error.

Fortunately the beginning and ending are filled with subtle, creeping psychological horror (the whole scene with the grotesque drowned zombie is nauseating), as well as the painful scene where David and Magnus meet Eva again. And there's an exquisite metaphysical edge, which implies that there's more out there than just zombies -- think an elusive, benevolent figure with fishhook fingertips.

Lindqvist also fleshes out his characters beautifully, giving each one a backstory that shapes their current reactions. And he handles each one with compassion, even if they're delusional or twerpy. Among the best are David (desperately clinging to hope and unable to grieve), Flora (a rather annoying a teen who thinks she's an iconoclast), and Anna (whose son Elias has "come back") -- and even some of the zombies show a glimmer of personality.

"Handling the Undead" is a deeply flawed book -- the entire middle section is bogged down. Yet it's still a beautiful, affecting read.

'Let the right one in' also by John Ajvide Lindqvist is one of my favourite reads of this year, a remarkable story, not just a vampire story but so much more. 'Handling the Undead' is just as good, another amazing story from John Ajvide Lindqvist.

'Handling the Undead' begins in Stockholm on a night when the weather is heavy and everyone can feel that something is about to happen and it does, in the worse way imaginable, people who have been dead for two months are returning from the dead, the government are not sure what to do, the families of the 'reliving' (as they are eventually called) are at a loss of what to do or how to feel about it?

'Handling the Undead' is a book that makes you think, what would you do? So much happens once the 'reliving' return, the government find themselves making the wrong decisions, how do you handle people who are technically alive but not alive, do they have rights? Do they have a place in the world? Can they return to their families?

'Handling the Undead' is more than a story about life after death, what do you do when you lose someone and they come back from the dead? All the characters in the story are conflicted, they have lost someone in some way and now they have returned but the 'reliving' are different, they are not the people they once were, they are a shell of what they were but at the same time there is a faint glimmer of the person they were.

All of the relationships are strong relationships, you can feel the strength as you read, and you feel their pain and their loss, their confusion, coming to terms with a loss and then their happiness when their loved ones return.

I found 'Handling the Undead' to be a powerful read, so many questions are raised and so many social problems are brought forward, you will get very engrossed in this story, there is so much to this book that you will find enjoyable, enlightening, scary and most of all make you look at the world around you.

A must read.