World War Z

Image courtesy of
www.maxbrooks.com

World War Z

Max Brooks

2006

The Summary

As the greatest conflict in human memory, the "Zombie War" changed the world and everyone in it - and one man is intent on retelling the memories of those days, preserving history that may one day be forgotten.

He starts his interviews at the beginning of "The Crisis" and follows the thread of history from one country to the next (China, America, South Africa, England, Antarctica, Israel, etc.), until the "present day" when humanity no longer faces extinction.

The Good

Max Brooks' novel is fabulous.  I personally loved the concept of reading "interviews."  Not only do readers have the opportunity to experience different stories - different characters with different experiences - we have the chance to see what happens to different parts of the world and how various countries encounter the same conflict.

It's also fascinating and inventive.  I mean, World War Z answers questions I didn't even know I had about a zombie apocalypse.  For instance, what happens to astronauts stuck on space stations?  Do zombies float - or do they sink and walk on the ocean floor?  Can a person fool a zombie?  And what happens to the global economy after everything goes kaput?

There's an amazing breadth and depth to Brooks' novel.  Although you never receive a complete explanation as to how the zombies came into being and how or where the apocalypse really beings (there's plenty of supposition between all the characters involved, so you're not completely left in the dark), it's so fully comprehensive that you never notice it lacking.

Honestly, it's enough to see what happens to the world from "Day One" to the end of the war that you're satisfied with the answers you receive.

The Bad

I don't have anything negative to say about Brooks' book.  It's intriguing and detailed and, while there are certain elements that make it difficult to read (on an emotional level), it remains one of the best books I've read.

Perhaps my only complaint was trying to recognize the different names individual characters called zombies:  the tried and true "zombie," but also Zed Heads, Gs, Zacks, etc.  But context clues basically cleared that up.

The Ugly

World War Z is a story about a zombie war, so, of course, you'll be faced with gratuitous amounts of gore and violence and bloodshed.  You'll read "reports" and "interviews" about people being eaten alive, being trapped in their cars and dying of exposure.

And, if that isn't gory and disheartening enough for you, there's stories of human desperation - murder, cannibalism, suicide, genocide - and world-changing amounts of pollution from burning cities and the living dead walking from one corner of the earth to the other.

It isn't a pretty picture.

Brooks creates a terrifying world in his novel, a dystopian future guaranteed to give you chills.  In fact, it's the stuff of nightmares, especially when you're sitting up at midnight and reading with only a dark, creaky house for company.