Zombie00

by Brad Gooch

Zombie00 is a touching story that explores the dark recesses of human desire and offers a glimpse into how we connect. Meet "Zombie," a strange and remarkable young man, growing up in Truckstown, Pennsylvania. His earliest childhood memories of visiting the "Sacred Voodoo Chamber" in the nearby Scranton Art Museum leave him in thrall and help spark in him a process of "zombification" that will last a lifetime. Fear and worship become his guiding forces as he stumbles through life wondering if there are more of his kind or if he is alone. After a series of petty crimes, committed at the behest of his first master, Zombie is given a tiny inheritance and a one-way bus ticket to New York City. He embarks on a weird, surprisingly funny and ultimately poignant odyssey where he meets those who will be responsible for his destin

192 pages, Paperback

First published August 1, 2000

About the author

Brad Gooch is the author of Flannery: A Life of Flannery O’Connor (Little, Brown, 2009.) His previous books include City Poet: The Life and Times of Frank O’Hara; as well as Godtalk: Travels in Spiritual America; three novels--Scary Kisses, The Golden Age of Promiscuity, Zombie00; a collection of stories, Jailbait and Other Stories, chosen by Donald Barthelme for a Pushcart Foundation Writer’s Choice Award; a collection of poems, The Daily News; and two memoirs, Finding the Boyfriend Within and Dating the Greek Gods.

His work has been featured in numerous magazines including: The New Republic, The New Yorker, Vanity Fair, New York Magazine, Travel and Leisure, Partisan Review, The Paris Review, The Los Angeles Times Book Review, Art Forum, Harper’s Bazaar, The Nation, and regularly on The Daily Beast.

A Guggenheim fellow in Biography, he has received a National Endowment for the Humanities fellowship, and a Furthermore grant in publishing from the J.M. Kaplan Fund.

A professor of English at William Paterson University, he earned his PhD at Columbia University, and lives in New York City.

Reviews

[Bill Hsu · Rating 3 out of 5]

I enjoyed this odd little novel, with its deadpan, absurdist narration. I'm really not sure why, and I can totally understand people being annoyed with it. (No, it's not about zombies.)

[Damien · Rating 1 out of 5]

One of the stupidest things I ever read...and I've read a lot of stupid things.

[Brandi Washburn · Rating 2 out of 5]

Quite a bizarre book. I was intrigued but feel that they didn't do a very good job of explaining the main character's condition or the world in which this condition exists.

[Judson · Rating 3 out of 5]

nothing beats Venus and Furs for this genre, and this is a distant distant cousin. There are some amusing chapters, but the ending is half-assed and superfluous at the same time. Still, the underbelly of society is always fascinating.

[Farley · Rating 3 out of 5]

Twisted.