So here we get more of Neville’s backstory, the death of his wife, his determination to bury her instead of burn her, and the horror of her return as a vampire. It’s interesting, but what really interested me more in these chapters is how Matheson shows us real change in Neville. Neville …

Matheson turns Neville’s character around in these chapters. At the end of chapter 4, Neville has forgotten to wind his watch and is stuck out after dark, not even sure what time it is. He survives the attacks, and spends the next couple of months rebuilding his home, getting to things …

Matheson’s first three chapters do something I always find very difficult to pull off. He managed to develop a character in isolation, without having any benefit of dialog with another character. The description and narration combine well to bring out poor Robert Neville’s ordinary …