The weird ending in 'I Am Legend' that still bugs me 10 years later

I read the book back in 2013 while stuck in a crappy motel in Tulsa during a road trip. Figured it would be a simple vampire story like the movie, but man was I wrong. The ending where the main guy realizes he's the monster to the new society of infected people just hit me sideways. I sat there in that room with the flickering TV for like 20 minutes trying to wrap my head around it. It completely flipped what I thought the whole book was about, made me feel bad for the creatures he'd been killing. My buddy said it was obvious but I still think it's one of the most bizarre twists in sci-fi. Has anyone else had a book ending totally change how you saw the whole story after the fact?

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jessel358d ago

That flickering TV in Tulsa sounds like it set the perfect mood for that kind of revelation. One thing I've always wondered though is how much the ending changes if you look at the creatures as more than just monsters with some intelligence. The book makes it pretty clear the new society has rules, families, and a whole way of life built around being nocturnal, so the main guy is basically breaking into people's homes while they sleep. Did that idea of him being a daylight terrorist ever cross your mind while you were sitting there, or was the twist more about you feeling sorry for the individual creatures he killed one by one?