Generation Dead -- Daniel Waters

Odd cover art.  I don't remember any of the differently biotic girls being a cheerleader -- one of the boys goes out for football, but...  well, that's probably just me being too literal minded.  It's eye-catching, regardless, and I like how it wraps around.

Throughout the United States, the dead aren't staying dead.  It's only a recent phenomenon, it only happens to teens, it only (so far) has happened in the U.S., and it doesn't happen to every teen who dies.  There is, so far, no explanation.  The politically correct terms are "living impaired" and "differently biotic".  The less sensitive throw around words like "corpsicle" and (of course) "zombie".

Phoebe realizes that her goth look has taken on a whole new meaning, but she likes it and she's stuck with it.  At her high school, Tommy Williams, a living impaired student, goes out for the football team.  Phoebe finds herself fascinated by him, maybe even attracted to him.  Her best friend, football player and karate student Adam, is secretly in love with her, and he'll do what he can to make her happy -- including support her in this new friendship-that-may-become-more.  But not everyone feels the same way.

Generation Dead has a really fun premise.  I mean, c'mon -- ZOMBIES IN HIGH SCHOOL!  But while I loved the idea behind it, the book itself didn't really work for me.  The story felt (this is going to sound weird, because, HELLO, ZOMBIES IN HIGH SCHOOL) flat and long.     

There were brief moments when I felt the characters become real people -- the scene between Karen and Pete in the woods is the one that immediately comes to mind, because in that moment I suddenly realized how she had died, though the author didn't let me know for sure until quite a bit later -- but for the most part, not so much.  I felt very little chemistry between the characters (except between, oddly, Tommy Williams and Pete, the (possibly literally) psychotic football player and between Adam and Karen), and I was told again and again that Adam was in love with Phoebe but I never felt it.  It's interesting that the most successful, believable interactions in the book were between the living impaired and the living.

Of course, the differently biotic kids can easily be read as a metaphor for any minority group.  It's a story about prejudice, about breaking boundaries and about pretty much any sort of -ism you care to mention.  I do think that will appeal to a lot of readers.  To me, it felt obvious and a little preachy.  I appreciated the attempt to show different kinds of and reasons for prejudice, but because the characters never felt real to me, they all felt like representations of different views rather than, you know, people.  Overall, lots of it was very clever -- the Skip Slydell Transforming The Culture Through Commercialism scene was especially good -- but I didn't feel much heart.

The most interesting storyline in the book (to me) was the one surrounding the (very possibly sketchy) Hunter Foundation, but there were only hints.  That makes me suspect that there may be a sequel in the works.  I also wouldn't be surprised to see it get turned into a movie.  I'll be interested to see how this one goes over.  While it wasn't my cuppa, I wouldn't be at all surprised to see it gain a decent following -- it's had decent reviews elsewhere and at the moment, there are three 5-star ratings at Amazon.

Comments

[Jeanne]

My 14-year-old daughter liked this book, although she found the plot ultimately unsatisfying, as you did. What she liked is the sarcasm and the politically correct terms for the dead. I think the tone especially appeals to high schoolers, who are so carefully and continually coached about what is "appropriate" during the school day. A few weeks ago, my daughter told me that she had been thinking about something in art class that led into a thought about a student blowing up the school, and then she looked around guiltily before she realized that the teacher couldn't actually read her mind and tell her that her thoughts were against school rules.

[Leila]

Oh, thanks Jeanne, for telling me what your daughter thought about it -- it makes so much sense that the political correctness theme would be another draw for (and another thing that would resonate with) teenagers. I do think that this is one that might appeal to teens more than to adult readers of YA lit.

[Becky]

I'm not quite done with this one yet. I'm about eighty or so pages into it. If I were to call it now, I'd have to say the biggest problem seems to be that it is all tell and no show. We're told all sorts of stuff, but rarely do we see said stuff in action. When this happens it's really hard to connect with the characters, there is always distance.

[Becky]

I was picking up certain vibes on the Hunter Foundation and I wasn't quite sure if they were legit. Something about the secrecy of the lab and that one locked door bugged me. I got the same weird feeling from Karen. Something about her just weirded me out. Though it could be just me.

[shelby]

when i first got this book, i pretty much only thought that it would be a quick read that would distract me until the book i was waiting for came out. but as i read i started getting really into it, and by the end i was hooked. i loved the plot and the many differant characters surrounding it.
i just hope that the author decides to make a sequal, because for me, it just wasnt summed up enough.

[Raschel]

There actually is a second and third in the works. The second, (Kiss of Life) comes out in May and the next to follow that would be Passing Strange, which is currently in the works.

~Raschel
Creator of hauntedhouse.omgforum.net - Gen Dead Fan Forum

[dead kid]

i was told that there was a sequal to this book called generation dead kiss of life is this true

[andreza]

omg i this was like the first book that made me cry. ive read lots of books said happy love stories but this one really got to me when adam died. i remember i was like crying for like 30 minutes. ahaha im such a lose. :(

[All-by-myself]

I am 14 I read this darn book in 4 days. Sadly the ending killed me it was a rediculous ending I mean come on? Why couldn't something happen to Phoebe and have her really die then Adam get all mad and then take care of what's his face? Truly I was disapointed, I expected more of a ZombiexHuman action thing and honestly I thought Tommy sounded much hotter then Adam, (besides size) I enjoy everything except the last chapter.
~~Sam

[Sylw]

True, the plot wasn't the greatest, but hey, it was a good try for Waters' first YA novel.
Becky, I also though that something fishy was going on with the Hunter Foundation. Where'd they'd get all that money for funding? Why was the lab door inaccessable? Abd what was up with Angela's reaction at the last class they had? She just walked out! I had a passing thought that maybe her foundation was the one that was helping to take out the biotically diferent kids, using them as samples for the lab, but then again, they probably weren't.
There was also an absence of much emotion, but I think the point got through. I think Waters' was getting better at the emotions near the end of the book, although he could have been a bit more descriptive.
What I enjoyed most about this book was that the characters (at least the regularly biotic ones) acted as a normal human would and it explored the topic of death; it got me thinking about it, about what I'd do if I'd been given another chance at life. It was also a bit sad, though - the thing that the undead kids experinced...
I was soo grateful that the author didn't make the undead seem all that great and idealized, as the 'Twilight' series did. I think that human-like factor was what got me hooked. I just wish the author didn't leave the story hanging like that! Thank goodness there's a sequel!