Review by K Geisinger -- Undead Redhead by Jen Frankel

[K Geisinger]

[Following is a volunteer review of "Undead Redhead" by Jen Frankel.]

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3 out of 4 stars

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Hollywood ensures everyone knows zombies are supposed to be lumbering, rotting creatures who exclusively eat brains. Sharon Backovic does not fit this mold. She may be lightly rotting, but she has no interest in eating people, and she’ll make do with some rotting produce. What is a vegan girl to do when life and death don’t go as planned?

Sharon recently died at her friend Dorri’s wedding while wearing a hideous fuchsia dress and heels. If that was not bad enough, she awakens in a coffin on the way to her sparsely attended funeral. As luck would have it, she is still wearing that ugly dress. If life was difficult, her undead existence is proving to be impossible. Between the loss of her apartment, no support from her fair-weather friends, and not quite remembering who her boyfriend was again, Sharon has no choice but to lean on strangers and rebuild her life. Surprisingly, her undead life starts to look up and be more positive than before she died.

The biggest problem I had while reading Undead Redhead was that her life was very sad. I’m not sure what I expected, but a cheating boyfriend, terrible friends, and homelessness caught me by surprise. I think that there are better ways to show Sharon growing as a person than finding every way imaginable to show how hard of a life she had. Another difficult part to read was Sharon’s diet. A zombie eating brains is hard to visualize, but the rotting, slimy, miniature carrots I can picture easily. The number of times produce has been lost in my fridge gave me a disturbing visual of what she was eating. I think it was the most horrifying part of the book.

My favorite part of the story was Sharon’s impersonator. She may have never met Sharon, but it does not stop her from coloring her hair red and pretending to be an undead Sharon. The best illustration of the stalker’s obsession is right as she starts taking on Sharon’s persona with an internal monologue of, “Forget Sharon Backovic, forget the waste of her life. From this moment on, she was The Undead Redhead, and avenging angel, returned from beyond the grave to call out those scumbags who let her down in life...” The absurdity of an obsessive fan pretending to be a zombie, while real zombie Sharon is watching, led to the most entertaining parts of the book.

I had some trouble rating this one. It was well written and edited but did not fit neatly into either zombie horror or comedy. I found myself pitying Sharon more often than I enjoyed the lighthearted moments. In the end, I think the sad parts of her old life and a rough transition into an undead helped make her new life different. Unfortunately, it also made it difficult to like any of the characters. I give Undead Redhead by Jen Frankel 3 out of 4 stars and recommend to people who do not want a horror zombie book and prefer their main characters be rescued rather than rescue themselves.

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Undead Redhead
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