Jonathan Cottam

The Unrequited Zombie Jonathan Cottam

'Zombie' is written in a very violent and gratuitous way which some readers might find disturbing. Niether is it meant to shock, which would be both a pointless exercise in the modern world and easily accommodated by modern capitalism creating consumer demands for everybody and extrapolating its most violent and individualistic principals.'Zombie' is written the way it is because the author ,partly in surprise at himself, was unable to extricate his creativity from the violence that had made up the greater part of his life, so instead came to celebrate them. 'Zombie' with its quasi poetic and descriptive style, is a book that is deliberately gratuitous even in its self indulgence. The characters suffer from the sadistic excesses of the author . Portrayed in what happens to them and the imagery that controls them and the author. The characters only respite is that they do what they would do, but their character has already been set to play out what is desired. In a world where we have no control over our lives, the only way to gain control is to surrender all self control. The main story and greater part of the book has a simple enough plot, boy meets girl, boy gets surgically turned into zombie to do girls bidding, and boy is sent on killing spree to exact revenge. The love plot is one of unfulfilled desire, which is important, but frankly hardly necessary. The book is to some extent about both personal power relationships and those of the state and capitalism.