I'm going to confess here and now that I was prompted to read this by seeing the recent movie - I just wanted to see what all the fuss was about! I enjoyed...well, perhaps enjoyed is the wrong word...I was hooked by the premise of the book, set as it is in a post-plague Los Angeles where anyone who hasn't died is a vampire. The hero, Robert Neville, is last man alive, and the first 2/3rds of the story relates to his struggle to stay that way. A lot of it is set in the workings of his own mind and his memories of pre-plague times, the death of his wife and her return as a vampire consuming his thoughts and burdening him with guilt. Added to this are his daily struggles to stay sane in the face of terrible loneliness and vampire attacks every night.

It's well written, if a little dated (he watches movies on a projector). But what jarred with me, and what I wanted to ask anyone else who has read it, is that about 2/3rds of the way in, the novel abruptly changes tack. A whole new cast of characters and locations is added with no explanation. There is for example a  lengthy vignette worthy of Stephen King in which a girl is attacked by a voodoo doll, which is very supernatural and at odds with the "realistic" tone of the book up to that point. There is a scene where 2 men and 2 women go to some sort of night club where the "Living Undead" perform a sort of dance, which is very surreal.

I'm still reading it so I don't know how the story will pan out, or if the story is going to go back to Neville eventually, but I just wanted to know if anyone else was thrown by how dramatically the book changes and what you thought of it generally?

I really liked the book - yeah I was a little off when it changed so sudenly but stick with it

Those parts you mention were not in my version!

This from wikipedia;

Later releases of the novel include several of Matheson's short stories to increase the page length: Buried Talents, The Near Departed, Prey, Witch War, Dance of the Dead, Dress of White Silk, Mad House, Funeral, From Shadowed Places, and Person to Person.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/I_am_legend

That explains a lot! I read on Amazon that the short stories at the end of the book are unrelated to the overall tale, which is why I was so thrown. The funny thing is, Neville's story ends really abruptly and you never do find out what happens to him, which I found a tad annoying TBH.

Wow-  how interesting there different versions of the book.  I read this and they weren't in my version and I really enjoyed the book, which l read following watching the film. 

I think 28 Days Later is inspired by, if not actually a straight adaption of, I am Legend. I read the book before seeing the film, at my boyfriend's insistence, and was absolutely hooked. My copy doesn't have the extra stories either - it sticks with Neville from beginning to end.

I rather wish I'd watched the film before reading it though, because they're really two different stories. The film is a fairly decent zombie/apocalypse movie (albiet with rubbish computer-game type zombies) but I really didn't enjoy it as much as I should have because I was constantly comparing it to the novel. The book's premise of Neville being legend in the vampire community because he killed them is completely removed from the film, as is the new society the vampires create.

 I did like Will Smith though. So, every cloud...

I've just read this - I didn't read any of the other short stories tho.  I loved it - haven't seen the film, but looks like it's obviously a very loose adaptation!

I could really feel the tension building up, even though I knew what was coming!  And thought the ending was quite neatly done - talk about coming full circle.