Just picked up Secret Society Girl by Diana Peterfreund; I, Elizabeth by Rosalind Miles, about the reign of Queen Elizabeth I as told from her POV; and I Am Legend, by Richard Matheson. I am actually looking forward to the movie, so I got curious enough to pick up the book which I want to read before I see it.
I ordered I Am Legend and it should come any day now in the mail. Can't wait.
I finished Legend last night. Spoilers ahead.
There is just no fucking way that Hollywood is going to go with the ending in the book (which explains the title). I was really enjoying the story - the concept is nothing new (though at the time of its publication in 1954, it prolly was a fresher idea) - an apocolypse of sorts wipes out the world's population and one man is left alive. Well written, and the idea of explaining why people became vampires, and why garlic affects them, etc. was interesting - unfortunately, with Smith at the helm of the movie, I'm afraid this is going to turn into a standard horror movie instead of looking at the psychological impact that the end of human kind has on the protagonist.
That said, as much as I enjoyed it, I can't say that I liked the ending all that much. It explained the title, and it certainly was a twist I didn't forsee, but it was a little depressing as well. I would still recommend this book, though, as reading Neville's outlook in this new world was interesting and entertaining.
My translated edition must have been abridged: only about 150 pages, and for some reason "vampires" is replaced with "werewolves" (the latter doesn't change much, I hope). Does Neville or another character say something directly about Neville becoming a legend?
The English edition is only 170 pages. Unfortunately, the edition I picked up failed to mention that its I Am Legend with a bunch of short stories, which ticked me off, as I was expecting more to the story.
I hope those stories are at least by Matheson. I have quite a bunch of his short stories, and his novel 'The Shrinking Man' (in the same TPB series which published my ed. of 'I Am Legend' and Hubbard's 'Fear' which I mentioned).
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How did they trade in vampires for werewolves? There's a whole section about how Neville is trying to understand why garlic affects them so, and the fear of crosses, etc - all things that people relate to vampires, not werewolves. Odd.
Beats me. The publisher, B. Wahlström, seems to have specialized in abridging books in popular genres. (Same company published Mickey Spillane and other hardboiled detective authors. Spillane's books don't seem to be abridged, but Mike Hammer speaks a dialect from Stockholm. I guess the translator wanted him to speak in a manner familiar to the readers.)
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Neville is the one at the end who makes the connection that he is their boogeyman. In fact, the final line in the story is "I am legend," which is what Neville thinks as he realizes that he will be the nightmare story that people will pass on down for generations.
I see.
In my ed., the title is "Varulvarnas natt", 'Night of the werewolves'. So instead of letting Neville think "I am legend", he is in his final rest, knowing that "the night of werewolves is over".
So, the translation changed the very point of the novel... Sigh.
(At least I know this now so I can buy the US edition with good conscience.)
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