World War Z by Max Brooks

World War Z: An Oral History of the Zombie War by Max Brooks

I loved this! It was really well thought out, very smart.

The formatting is very different from anything else I've read. It isn't written in a traditional story line and is a compilation of many mini-stories of the people who survived. The main character is faceless/nameless...He's not really narrating the story, he's just moving it along. The "chapters" are broken down into pivotal points during the zombie war: the first outbreaks, corner cutting solutions, survival, war, and revolutions... Each point in the story is seen from the point of view of many characters as opposed to just one. No "interview" lasts more than a few pages and each adds to the bigger picture.

I think this book was beautifully done; it illustrates how far people are willing to go to survive, depicting desperation, ingenuity and at times, insanity. I think Max Brooks took a pessimistic and probably too true view of those who would try to profit from the worldwide crisis. And he had interesting theories on how militaries, governments, whole civilian populations, would react in a war against zombies. I think the shifting of political and social powers throughout the world, as the zombie war came to a climax and close, aren't that far-fetched. With nations in turmoil, change would be inevitable, whether people liked it or not.

There is so much more to this than horror or science fiction, its bordering on the edge of being political/social statement. Not unlike AMC, The Walking Dead, using zombies as obstacles, WWZ uses zombies to force change. (of course, i could be overthinking it).

Rating: 5/5

Original post date: 

May 19, 13