Elegy for the Undead by Matthew Vesely
Elegy for the Undead by Matthew Vesely
The rundown: Jude and Lyle's newlywed life is shattered when a vicious attack leaves Lyle infected with a disease that transforms him into a violent and often incomprehensible person. With no cure for the "zombie" virus in sight, the young husbands begin to face the last months they have together before Lyle loses himself completely.
The review: I so enjoyed this genre-defying novella that’s part zombie horror, part queer literary fiction. I’m not generally into zombie stories, but this premise right here is exactly how I can be lured into reading one. It’s zombie fiction that isn’t actually about the zombies.
It’s a love story, or rather a story about love. About the fragile beginnings of learning how to love another person and messing it up because you’re scared and unsure. Discovering all the wonderful ways you fit together. The grief of knowing that the end of your story is coming and the bittersweet melancholy of a love well lived together, even if it was shorter than you wanted. Of watching, helpless, the deterioration of someone you love and making painful decisions. Of giving your person permission to be happy without you, with another person, even if they don’t want to. Of remembering, like the beautiful parts are happening all over again.
I cried while writing this, if that tells you anything.
Goes well with: Season 1, Episode 3 of Max’s The Last of Us and a box of Kleenex.