Literally Dead Book Club discussion

This section is for part three / day three / "SUNDAY" and the end of the book
In my edition, this section begins on page 273 and the book ends at page 322

Full spoilers- let's discuss!

Alright. I've done the deed.

This ended up being a three star for me. I ultimately ended up liking where the story went and liked it as a little slice of life, but I think I would have done better if the book was written as three parts with separate chapters within each part. I liked that the focus seemed to zero in towards the end of the book and it stopped jumping around as much as Mark Spitz had this moment of clarity towards the end. I think the ending was the strongest part of the book.

I will say I started the audiobook halfway through part 2 because I was struggling, and that definitely helped me continue with the story. I think it's available through Libro.fm

I wished that there was more foreshadowing or something, but I think I just had the wrong expectations going into this book. It's less a zombie plot book and more a character study of someone in this apocalypse, which is something I don't think I've ever seen before. There were some really great concepts in here that were underutilized, mainly the corporate marketing of the apocalypse, which, while disgusting, I wished there was more of. I think goodreads has "I liked it" as their definition of a three star book so yeah. I liked it, but I didn't love it.

I have such mixed feelings about this book, but I think it has to be a two star for me, purely because I didn't enjoy the experience of reading it, and didn't feel excited to read it. The characters and setting were interesting, being thrown into events and into an apocalypse well under way. I found the rebuilding of society and all the commentary that came with that, and the exploration of the effects of trauma and PASD really interesting. The descriptions and use of language are really clever, and there were quite a few times I thought "wow, that's a great quote". BUT I found it SO dull to read! Any excitement was quickly slowed to a snails pace with unnecessary and lengthy thoughts and discussions that were frustrating when the characters were running for their lives! I found myself skimming a lot because it was driving me crazy. Lots of the characters felt underdeveloped even though Mark told us a lot - but why were we reading a story of just three days with several years told to us in flashbacks and anecdotes? I really wish I could have experienced his relationship with Mim, and his time in the house with Tad, Jerry and Margie (who's names I couldn't remember when writing this, I had to go back and look) as those things were happening rather than in retrospect. I also found it very difficult to follow the stream of consciousness at some points, not because I'm necessarily opposed to that style of writing, but because it wasn't clear when he was back to talking about the present day, as there were so many layers to him remembering.

Overall an interesting and very different pick, just not for me!

I finally finished this! I wrote a lot of my thoughts about parts 1 and 2 in those sections so I'll just summarize here.

Part 1 - Almost DNF'd the book. Terrible start. Over-written, confusing stream of consciousness and an impossible to follow timeline that randomly jumped back into various times in the main character's past. It was a SLOG.

Part 2 - Longest section and was where the book began to grow on me. Things started making tiny connections that began to build some sort of framework that could be followed. Still over-written but not quite as bad as the previous part. Still no love for the book but it was definitely more interesting.

Part 3 - Great! Short, action filled, blood, guts and gore, fighting for their lives, all the stuff of a good zombie book. And I didn't mind the detailed descriptions because they were of events happening to the characters now, in the present! If the whole book had been like part 3, it would have been great.

Overall, 3 stars. It was going to be 2 stars until that ending. I feel a bit cheated by it because it was the first time I could say I wanted more. But at least it gives me hope that Whitehead's other books are worth reading.

I was bored all the way through. The only thing keeping it from a one star is that I didn’t *actively* hate this book. I just kind of feeling nothing about this book.

It was short, but I was not engaged in any of the plot (was there actually a plot??) or interested in any of the characters. If this had been more psychological or focused more on the PASD manifestations or even done in multiple points of view, this may have been better for me.

In general, I don’t enjoy zombie movies, so I guess I’m not surprised I didn’t enjoy a zombie book. Zombies in general aren’t something that frighten or make for exciting entertainment for me.

I need plot to want to read something, and this was lacking in that department. I also felt the author used a lot of $20 words to say nothing. It’s like he took a month’s worth of SAT word of the day prompts, used the words in sentences and said “let’s make a book out of this!” I’m a word nerd, so I can definitely appreciate a well-placed word or phrase, but these didn’t elevate the story for me.

Curious enough to read another of his books though to see if it was really just the zombies that I didn’t click with.

hey guys, does anyone have any better zombie books I could read. I love zombies but find it really difficult to find zombie related books. thank you xoxo

Tamara wrote: "hey guys, does anyone have any better zombie books I could read. I love zombies but find it really difficult to find zombie related books. thank you xoxo"

I'm going to try FEED by Mira Grant (aka Seanan McGuire).

Have you read The Girl With All the Gifts? I like that one.

Yay, I finished this yesterday! Part 3 is definitely the best part of the book. As others have said, this started picking up for me in part 2 and it became a little easier to follow. Then I got to part 3 and, BAM, all the action happened! Overall I did like this book, I wasn’t sure if I was going to. I think the author had some really great ideas, but maybe if it had been presented a little differently, in a way that was easier to follow, more people would enjoy it more. However, I kinda feel it was done that way on purpose, as we are presented things through the main character’s perspective and through his jumbled thoughts.

I think i would have loved this book if it wasn't a stream of consciousness style writing. I just find it hard to follow when we are reading long descriptions of a single thing. I actually thought he was a straggler at one point and had to dpuble back to reread, because of the one scene where a bite was mentioned. 😅

Overall, I loved the story and what questions Whitehead brought to bear on the collapse of society, how it would be rebuilt, and whether humans would stick with the societies that we know or if we would innovate. I loved the ending, the cracking of the facade that made the one "important" character justified for being there, because I was confused as to why she was being introduced so close to the end.

Part three was definitely the strongest part of the book and had the most action, but it wasn't entertaining enough to redeem the book as a whole, so i gave this 2 stars.

I had a lot of the same problems that everyone else here has already mentioned such as:
- The writing style was hard to follow
- the constant switching of past and present was not distinct enough and confusing
- what i assume was several years was squashed into three days worth of narrative making it very hard to get to know the characters on a deeper level and therefore i had no interest/sympathy for them which is a shame because i would have liked to see Marks and Mim's dynamic in more depth.

I said in one of the previous posts that i don't like Zombie or apocalypse related things so this just wasn't the book for me.

Siobhan wrote: "Alright. I've done the deed.

This ended up being a three star for me. I ultimately ended up liking where the story went and liked it as a little slice of life, but I think I would have done better..."

I completely agree with you Siobhan. This could have benefitted from having chapters within the parts, even if it was a "Then" and "Now" situation. The flashbacks to the Last Night were interesting and would have been more enjoyable if i knew we were being taken back to that time but it just wasn't distinct enough. Stream of consciousness is just too hard to follow for me.

Kathryn wrote: "I have such mixed feelings about this book, but I think it has to be a two star for me, purely because I didn't enjoy the experience of reading it, and didn't feel excited to read it. The character..."

You literally have said everything i feel about this book!! I think the only time i felt like something exciting was happening was when Greg got bitten by the clairvoyant skel? straggler? (i still dont know the difference)

This ended up being a 3-star for me. I really liked the literary writing style, but I couldn't get down with the lack of plot. I think if the events would have been told in a more linear order with some sort of driving goal or similar through-line, it would have been fine, but with the stream-of-consciousness style, I kept forgetting whether or not I was in the "present" and what was even happening in that timeline. I normally like non-linear books, but I didn't feel like the order of the story-telling had any particular purpose here.

An internal dialogue/character study of a man in a zombie apocalypse. Flashbacks were muddled and confusing. Characters underdeveloped. I didn't FEEL anything.
Characters 3
Atmosphere 5
Writing style 6
Plot 1
Intrigue 3
Logic 2
Enjoyment 6
Average 3.7 = 2 Stars

Listened to the audiobook on Libby.

I finished this book over the weekend, but forgot to update in the group (too excited I finally finished it hahaha).

3 stars from me. I ended up liking 'Sunday'. This is my favourite of the three chapters, because it's the closest to my original expectation of a zombie story - more action, more running, more death. Unfortunately, the most interesting development in the story, i.e. a straggler who decides to 'wake up' and bite, doesn't end up being fleshed out more.

So I guess the final moral of the story is: post apocalyptic world is a tough place to be, keep moving, don't be buoyed by false sense of security because even military towns will fall. And be respectful to your elderly stragglers!

Good writing style (expected from Colson W), great vocabulary (I feel shamed by the level of vocabulary), good storytelling. But I would've enjoyed it a lot more had it been written with 'proper' layout, i.e. multiple chapters in 3 book parts.

PS: the fact that there are only 15 posts here -> means everyone else is still reading the book? Or they DNF-ed? :)

Finished this today, had a two week break from it while camping. I want to say that I enjoyed it because I remember it as good and interesting but it was a bit of a slug to get through. I enjoyed the flashbacks and details but it could have been done a bit more clearly (structurally). Chapter breaks definitely could have helped. Although I think maybe this is one that I should have listened to as an audiobook, I think the stream of consciousness would have flowed better that way.

All in all 3 stars from me. It was good, I enjoyed Whitehead’s writing style but the structure was all over the shop. But I would definitely read more from Whitehead.

Sunday was definitely the best part of the book for me. The whole book had a very stream of consciousness style and it put me off in this story. That's why I liked Sunday most - it had a sense of clarity that helped my enjoyment slightly. There is no doubt in my mind that Colson Whitehead is a great writer with a way with words, but this book was not for me. I was bored and confused throughout it all and just wanted it to be over, in all honesty...

I ended up giving this 2 stars, thanks to the last part of the book and the little bits here and there in the book that got me through.

I just finished reading it and I must say - on one hand it was hard to follow (at first I thought it's because English isn't my first language) and I hate zombie stories and very much prefer clear happy end... I still have to give this 4 stars - 4,5 even. There's just something that fascinated me about this book - maybe it was the writting, I don't know I just loved it in a way.

Kim wrote: "I think i would have loved this book if it wasn't a stream of consciousness style writing. I just find it hard to follow when we are reading long descriptions of a single thing. I actually thought ..."

I thought Mark Spitz was a straggler too.... I was so confused. haha!

I really loved this book! I know i'm in the minority here & that is totally ok.
I loved the writing style & how we learned about the past through Mark's present.

I do think that some side stories could've been further described but overall I really liked it.

I did NOT see that ending coming! I just finished reading it & I am still pretty shook by it.

Rina wrote: "PS: the fact that there are only 15 posts here -> means everyone else is still reading the book? Or they DNF-ed? :)

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Today is August 18 & I just finished it. That said I loved it & took my time reading it.