Book Review: Eat, Brains, Love

Eat, Brains, Love

By: Jeff Hart

Published by: HarperTeen

Release date: October 1, 2013

Genre: YA paranormal/horror

 352 pages

Buy it at Amazon, IndieBound or Barnes & Noble

Source: ARC kindly provided by publisher

Content warning: This book contains mature language and some pretty graphic description of characters eating humans.

Now that you've been warned about how downright disgusting this book is, I assume you're okay with that if you have chosen to read on. If you actually enjoy crude and/or sick/twisted dark humor, keep reading. You're going to love this book.



After a mostly unremarkable life thus far, our hero, Jake, finds himself sitting in the school cafeteria one day feeling nauseated. The next thing he knows, he's chowed down on several of his friends, made his way across town in the company of the school hottie, and has decided that it's in his best interest to evade the police.

The writing is deceptively strong; the novel's structure, which alternates viewpoints between zombie and psychic zombie-hunter, keeps the action moving at a pace that is easy to keep pace with. The beauty of it is that the story carries along so smoothly that the reader doesn't even notice structural components, though- the description is captivating and the characters appealing enough to hide the brilliance beneath.

As an adult who spends her day working with kids, I love how the zombie virus is transmitted in this book. LOVE. It serves as the ultimate cautionary tale. If reading this book makes just one teen pause and consider before engaging in risky behavior, I will happily buy a case and distribute copies during passing period.

This book is a delicious escape that many teens, especially reluctant readers, will love. The dark humor is exactly the kind of banter I remember between some of my high school students, especially the boys. This is not a great example of "the great American novel"- but it doesn't claim to be. It definitely is, however, highly entertaining. Hart knows his audience and gives them exactly what they want. I hope he is ready when they start demanding more. I'll be at the front of the line.

Summary:

Jake Stephens was always an average, fly-under-the-radar guy. The kind of guy who would never catch the attention of an insanely popular girl like Amanda Blake-or a psychic teenage government agent like Cass. But one day during lunch, Jake's whole life changed. He and Amanda suddenly locked eyes across the cafeteria, and at the exact same instant, they turned into zombies and devoured half their senior class.

Now Jake definitely has Amanda's attention-as well as Cass's, since she's been sent on a top-secret mission to hunt them down. As Jake and Amanda deal with the existential guilt of eating their best friends, Cass struggles with a growing psychic dilemma of her own-one that will lead the three of them on an epic journey across the country and make them question what it means to truly be alive. Or undead.

Eat, Brains, Love is a heartwarming and bloody blend of romance, deadpan humor, and suspense that fans of Isaac Marion's Warm Bodies will devour. With its irresistibly dry and authentic teen voice, as well as a zombie apocalypse worthy of AMC's The Walking Dead, this irreverent paperback original will leave readers dying for the sequel that's coming in Summer 2014.