(read this for bookclubromance, but since I'm having LJ login issues and can't participate in discussions, I went ahead and finished it ahead of schedule) 
 I liked this a lot through the beginning and the middle, but (view spoiler)[ the story gets weaker towards the end, until finally it just seemed to jump the shark once it came to the ultimate cause behind the world-wide zombie curse. (hide spoiler)] 
 The author also has a disturbing tendency to refer to the lead female as "little girl." Wtf? Oddly enough, it wasn't her father referring to her this way, it was her dead boyfriend and her new romantic interest. Creepy. 
 In addition, the way the author treats Perry and his clinical depression, PTSD, and suicidal ideation is quite heartless and victim-blamey. Sadly the author seems to be one of those people who are under the false impression that you can think happy thoughts until severe depression magically goes away. Never mind about scientifically proven out-of-whack brain chemicals and hormones, nope, the cure is positive thinking! This is a particularly harmful stigma in literature, because the stigma reaches vast audiences and only serves to reinforce and perpetuate it. The author had an opportunity to enlighten his audience, but sadly his own ignorance blinded him to the chance. I digress... 
 There were also some timeline inconsistencies. For instance, (view spoiler)[going by Julie's age and the events in her life, the zombie outbreak happened about 10 years ago. However, the decomposition of the city (buildings long toppled over etc) seems more in line with 20+ years. (hide spoiler)] 
 Dare I confess that I liked the movie better? The movie was short enough that the story's biggest weaknesses weren't highlighted, but you still get the lovely theme of acceptance and renewal, and that powerful scene at the end when (view spoiler)[the Wall is demolished and falls to the ground...will the targeted age group even be able to appreciate that scene? It was a very powerful scene for my friend and I, but the teens in the theatre seemed bored. (hide spoiler)] (the movie was also considerably more humorous, especially in the beginning scenes). The trade-off is that you don't get some of the interesting and deep existential musings that are in the book. 
 The strong points were the afore-mentioned philosophical musings, and strong and complex characterizations. I also appreciated that here was a zombie story that was thoughtful and hopeful and low on gore -- my husband is a zombie genre afficionado, and I am just sick to death of the doom and gloom and gore that goes along with the genre. It was also a really neat and refreshing idea that zombie-ism can be (view spoiler)[cured through compassion and rehabilitation. (hide spoiler)] 
 Oh, and I know some readers had problems with (view spoiler)[Julie forgiving R for eating Perry. And it was a bit quickly done! But the way she said it was so familiar to me, "It wasn't you, it was the disease." I think anyone who's had a loved one claimed by Alzheimer's will be able to relate to that. Sadly this compassionate treatment throws into contrast the author's treatment of the aforementioned depression/ptsd/si etc. It's a bit disturbing how thoughtful and compassionate Marion is towards zombie-ism, a completely fictional disease, yet holds such a common and serious real-world illness in contempt. (hide spoiler)]