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| Image from www.amazon.co.uk |
I remember a local legendary 'Vampire's Grave' covered in rusty old chains sparking my curiosity about vampire legends, so when Karen offered me the loan of 'I am Legend' I thought it would be my sort of book. But it's not really about the vampires she said, and so it turned out.
It was written in the 50s and set in the future - the seventies! But it didn'treally feel dated to me. A virus created for germ warfare has turned the human race into vampires, and Robert Neville thinks he may be the last surviving man on the planet.
He's living his life under siege, and dreads overcast days when darkness can creep up on him unawares. By day he repairs damage from attacks on his house, stakes vampires in a rather matter of fact way, and hangs up more garlic. He's discovered that crosses only work with Christian vampires, and that, contrary to popular belief, vampires do have reflections. By night, he drinks steadily and uses ear plugs to drown out the jeers of the undead menacing round his home.
Robert struggles to hang on to his sanity and suffers flashbacks from losing his wife to the vampire plague. When he's on the verge of giving in, finding a dog gives him the will to fight on. He goes on to meet a woman who may / may not be a vampire, and that challenges all his beliefs about how he's been living.
Although I'd been expecting dark and gothic, it was more bleak than I'd been prepared for. It's not lurid, and all the more powerful and atmospheric for that. Stephen King described this book as an inspiration.
Pam
