Monster Island

This was the week of Monsters and Zombies. Zombies are an interesting subject matter because they are people, but not really. They only have the shape of a human: no mental capabilities or any kind of drive except to feed. Basically, cannibals that can not die.

When I first started to read Monster Island, I was unsure what to think. I actually thought the book was kind of dull until chapter seven. Once the ship arrived in New York did the plot start to thicken and more action began. The whole reason they were there in the first place is confusing. The question of why does Mama Halimila need the AIDS drugs is still unanswered after Part 1.

Gary is the most terrifying zombie because he knows what he’s doing: when he eats people and etc. He is the reader's first person point of view from a zombie. When Ifiyah was dying, Gary could not help himself except to eat the girl. He tried to rationalize it by going over in his head that she was dying anyways and was in a lot of pain; more importantley it is still fact that he rationalized his cannibalism, which makes him terrifying. The characters are putting their trust in a thinking zombie who in the end is just as cannibalistic as the rest.

There is an ironic reversal of civilization in Monster Island. The most populated cities go first and third world countries are now the safe places to be. Delklab discussed how his life living in Africa was terrifying and he felt very unsafe. He was planning on sending his daughter off to Europe for boarding school for better education than what could be offered to her in Africa. Now, after the epidemic, he feels like Africa is the safest place he could possibly be and protect his daughter. She now has no choice but to be educated in a school where she will no doubt become a girl soldier like the rest of the living "orphans."

Also another interesting thought is that zombification is your future. There is no way around it. We go about everyday things without thinking. All we do is survive, sometimes not live our lives to the fullest; all we think about is following the orders of our society and never doing what we truly want. A zombie doesn’t think they only survive.