I Am Legend

Finished (and yet didn't finish) reading I Am Legend last night. I say finished because I did, and yet I say didn't finish because the book I Am Legend consists of several stories, of which "I Am Legend" is one.

So, I finished the story, but not the book. Don't know that I want to finish the rest of the book. I'm not really interested right now. The stories read like those stories you see on Tales from the Crypt. Just not my cup of tea right now.

I did however read the story following "I Am Legend" that my brother recommended. This story was called "Buried Talent" and was exceptionally bizarre; it was about some random dude in a wrinkled suit that goes to the ping pong ball and fish bowl booth at the fair. I'll leave it at that for those of you who haven't read it.

Regarding "I Am Legend": I didn't know what to really feel about this story. I'm not going to go into elaborate detail about the story because it frustrates me when people ruin books and movies. They always say something like, "Oh, that book is great, the guy [fill in the blank here] in the end." Or, "Are you to the part yet where the kid dies?" Or, "You probably won't see it so...[elaborate retelling of story complete with sound effects]." Or, "I couldn't believe she died at the end." Or, etc...

I'm still trying to deal with accidently finding out what happens at the end of A Tale of Two Cities. I was flipping through the channels, stopped on one station for about 10 seconds, but that was all it took. It was one of those movies of teenage angst, slightly old school, which is to say a late 80s if not early 90s take (shoot, it could have been older; I don't know). It was one of those moments when the bad ass kid stands up one day in the classroom and spouts his knowledge making you feel all hunky dory about knowledge's affect on roudy youth. So, this dude says it; yep, says exactly in a small sentence fragment exactly what happens at the end of A Tale of Two Cities. I still haven't gotten over it, because unfortunately, when it comes to books especially, I remember everything.

I guess that goes for movies to. We used to watch a ton of movies as kids, so even now when T filps through the channels, I can spot the movie from a 3 second flicker and tell him what the movie is, who is in it, and whether it's worth watching.

Anyway, so I'll leave my conclusion of "I Am Legend" at this. The story seems to me an odd retelling of Albert Camus' The Stranger. Very bizarre take on it, but still The Stranger nonetheless. (There might be a little of Camus' The Plague thrown in for good measure; but that might be another discussion.) Hands down, The Stranger is better. But kodos to this random and bizarre take on this classic work of existentialism.