Dying to Live: Life Sentence

by Kim Paffenroth

At the end of the world a handful of survivors banded together in a museum-turned-compound surrounded by the living dead. The community established rituals and rites of passage, customs to keep... This description may be from another edition of this product.

• Format: Paperback
• Language: English
• ISBN: 1934861111
• ISBN13: 9781934861110
• Release Date: March 2012
• Publisher: Permuted Press
• Length: 231 Pages
• Weight: 0.84 lbs.
• Dimensions: 0.5" x 6.0" x 9.0"

Customer Reviews

Dying to Live: Life Sentence. Phenomenal!

Dying to Live: Life Sentence Paffenroth's thought-provoking follow up to Dying To Live: A Novel of Live Among the Undead, summarizes the two-part epic journey that begins with Jonah Caine. In Life Sentence, we meet Zoey, one of a group of children, the first generation of children, to be born to the zombie infested world, daughter of Jack, whom we meet in the first novel. 12 years later after the first novel ends, Zoey's world of survival involves a relatively secure area where the survivors can live with less fear of zombie attacks. Throughout the novel, Zoey documents much of the survivor's daily trials and tribulations, but gradually, she spends more time documenting Will, who originally appeared in the first novel as Popcorn. Will has discovered that a few of the zombies, whom the survivors no longer kill, but keep in captivity, can communicate with the living, and they also start to recall fleeting memories of their past lives. Will befriends two of the zombies and begins to spend time with them outside of their prison. But these excursions eventually lead to deadly encounters that changes life, and the future, for Zoey and the other survivors. Paffenfroth's juxtaposition of living vs. zombie is a series of lamentations, expressed through Truman's, one of the zombies, typewritten notes. He wonders why the living are so scared of the zombies when he witnesses acts of brutality committed by the living against each other. Truman is horrified by the actions he witnesses, and expresses fear of the living. The last twenty pages of the story are climactic and suddenly, the reader wants more story, more explanation, but Paffenroth states his arguments for humanity's unwillingness, or inability, to look past life-ending calamity and continue with petty barbarism. Paffenroth creates a sense that the dead are more noble than the living, as the zombies have simple needs never based on rape, murder, destruction, but simpler, seemingly nobler instincts, to feed and move on. There is a sort of acceptance of this new reality when Blue Eye eats one of the raiders who attacks a farm that Zoey is staying at. The sense of justice in that scene is unescapable. Bearing in mind that Paffenroth is a professor of religious studies, there is almost a sense of divine justice, via the zombies, reminding the reader that the living are never far away from joining the zombie horde. Both books represent a series of biblical allegories, critical of the human state, but deeply introspective. At every turn of the page, a character is always being challenged to make moral decisions with every action carrying a consequence. Violence, responsiblity and consequence are themes throughout the story. Readers who enjoy hacker/slasher and blood/gore will be disappointed. Paffenroth creates a world that challenges sensibilities and urges the reader to contemplate life and personal action in the context of apocalypse. Let's hope that Paffenroth has a follow up to Life Sent

The "To Kill a Mockingbird" of zombie novels?

For me, this is the "To Kill A Mockingbird" of zombie stories. While the world of Zoey and Will is not as nearly as innocent or idyllic as the world of Scout and Gem, it is still a tale of growing up and discovering first hand how wondrous and terrible the world can be. And the themes of racism and "justified" killing are just as poignant. What makes this even more interesting is it is told from two separate points of view. In "Mockingbird" terms, we not only see the events unfold from the point of view of Zoey (Scout), we also get to experience them from the perspective of Truman (a Boo Radley/Tom Robinson mix...sort of). I was excited to jump back into the world of jack, Jonah, Milton and co., and I found the book to be a very original way to reintroduce the characters and locales from the first book. I especially enjoyed the fact that it was set so far after the initial zombie outbreak. There aren't enough good books out there that spin a successful yarn about coping long-term with a dead world. When I first realized that the book involved a "thinking" zombie, I just about threw it across the room with a cry of "Heresy!" on my lips. But Paffenroth's siren-like prose and captivating characters brought me back and kept me glued to the pages. It's not often that an "apocalyptic" book doubles as a philosophical text, but this one offers as much thought-provoking speculation as it does gore. It almost makes you long for a simpler world, a world without mortgages, commute times, and a need for insurance...almost. As the cover snipe proclaims, this truly is the "thinking man's zombie novel." And speaking of covers...what the hell?!? Why is there a "Sin City-ish" silhouette of a woman holding a bleeding baked potato on the cover?!? And judging by the little pool of blood on the bottom, she also has no legs or is standing in front of an invisible table or something. The cover is so BAD I was almost embarrassed to read it in any slightly public place. Luckily, you cannot judge this book by the cover. Just create your own paper cover for it, and settle in for a tense, contemplative ride.

Paffenroth does it again!!!

In the next chapter of the Dying to Live novels Kim Paffenroth takes us on an unexpected yet extremely satisfying trip into the world of the few survivors left in a world overrun by the living dead. This book takes place 12 years after the first one and is narrated by Zoey, the baby who was rescued from the first novel, who has been raised by Jack and Sarah. She is now entering puberty and besides the ever present danger of the zombies she now has to contend with her own feelings towards herself on the people around her. The book is also narrated by a surprise character, Truman, who is as we quickly learn, one of the living dead. Somehow Truman has an incredible knowledge of the world around him yet remembers nothing from his more "human" days. He is being kept in a make shift holding area by Milton who has continued his quest of herding the zombies into holding areas in an effort not to kill them. The real strength of this book comes from the interactions that Zoey and Truman have with the other characters as they both embark on their voyages of self discovery that eventually intersect with repercussions that change both of their worlds forever. I do not want to give away too much as I feel this book is better experienced on one's own. But let me be clear that this IS a must read if you enjoyed the first one or if you simply enjoy the genre. There is also a rumor that a third one is in the works and may be out next year!!!

Far above average in every respect!

This is a sequel to Paffenroth's 2007 novel DYING TO LIVE. I haven't read that book but had no trouble getting into LIFE SENTENCE, as its subject matter was familiar to me from the films that inspired it. The author has written a book on the cinema of George Romero (2006's GOSPEL OF THE LIVING DEAD) and clearly knows the territory inside and out. Yet Paffenroth has used his Romero-filched elements in thoughtful and literate fashion. There is the requisite gore, of course, and quite a few nerdy movie references (including a store named Argento and a play on the classic ALIENS line about "real monsters") but the book's true aims are strictly of the philosophical variety. The setting is a world where the living dead rule and a band of non-zombified people subside in an abandoned museum. The two main characters are Zoey, a pre-teen coming to terms with life in this nightmare world, and Truman, an "evolved" zombie who was once a university professor. In his current state Truman's memories are all-but nonexistent, forcing him to relearn everything; as his curiosity about himself and the world around him grows, Truman finds himself rejecting the anti-social activities of his fellow deaders. Along the way he connects with a fellow zombie named Lucy, and love (of a sort) blossoms. In the meantime Zoey is maturing into a full-fledged zombie killer, having undergone an intricate initiation ceremony. She and Truman mirror each other in their inquisitiveness about the world around them, and before long Zoey, Truman and Lucy will meet...with unexpected results. The conclusion is (in keeping with the novel's overall tone) thoughtful and contemplative, playing down the expected mayhem in favor of a deeply felt, hard-won humanity. From a writing standpoint the novel is impeccable. The apocalyptic milieu is convincingly evoked with oft-disturbing realism, and the central characters are strong and three-dimensional. I don't believe (as a back cover blurb states) the book will entirely satisfy gore fans, but it is ideal for readers wanting more from their zombie fiction than flesh ripping and intestine pulling.

does not disappoint -

Dying to Live: Life Sentence Kim Paffenroth Permuted Press, October 2008 978-1-934861-11-0 212pp, paperback, $14.95US Twelve years after the end of the world, the survivors have come to a certain peace within their compound. They found other scattered groups of survivors who had barricaded themselves in various defensible places. These became part of their community. They've claimed some of the houses, the school, and a few other buildings. They've created farms for growing their own food. With no real form of government, they did have few rules and created certain rituals and such to help guide them through their changed lives. They even have created unique ways of dealing with the undead. And above all else, they live their lives with as much 'normalcy' as they know how. Life Sentence is written as journal entries from two very different points of view which with certain inevitable eventuality collide together. One is Zoey, twelve years old on the threshold of her adulthood; her piece is written as the adult Zoey looking back at that time in her life. The other is one of the zombie 'survivors' who's able to read and write and through the course of the story learns who he was and who falls in love! Paffenroth's writing is intelligent, poignant, and in more than one instance brought tears to my eyes (but I won't give any spoilers!). The parallels drawn between the survivors and the zombies is chilling and makes one think. A few scenes are a bit graphic but necessary to drive the plot forward; even so, these scenes are well written and well carried. It is a pleasure--and a fright--to see the world after the Dying to Live: A Novel of Life Among the Undead apocalypse, to see it through the eyes of the survivors, to learn how they've molded and adapted to their new world, to witness the horrors they experience in order to endure. Kim Paffenroth maintains a blog at http://gotld.blogspot.com. Permuted Press is on the web at http://permutedpress.com.