World War Z: An Oral History Of The Zombie War by Max Brooks

Mar 24, 2008

Jason Pettus rated it

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(My full review of this book is longer than Goodreads' word-count limitations; find the entire essay at the Chicago Center for Literature and Photography [cclapcenter.com].)

Anytime I hear of some funny, gimmicky book suddenly becoming popular among the hipster set, I always squint my eyes and brace myself for the worst; because usually when it comes to such books, the worst is all you can expect to find, an endless series of fluffy pop-culture pieces designed specifically for crafty ...more

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Jun 14, 2009

Ceridwen rated it

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Recommends it for: Workers of the world, unite!

Recommended to Ceridwen by: My loving family

Shelves: america-and-environs, zombies, omg-were-all-going-to-die, the-future-is-now, the-housewife

At an impressionable age, I was traumatized by a double feature of “Evil Dead” and Romero's “Night of the Living Dead.” I was at a slumber party, so I couldn't very well go into another room and fall asleep, lest I wake up surrounding by clippings of my own hair and cuss words written on my face, backwards, so they would read forwards in the mirror. (Teen-aged girls man, worse than zombies.) So stuff about zombies is all shiny and sparkly for me, running with currents of terrifying electricity. ...moreAt an impressionable age, I was traumatized by a double feature of “Evil Dead” and Romero's “Night of the Living Dead.” I was at a slumber party, so I couldn't very well go into another room and fall asleep, lest I wake up surrounding by clippings of my own hair and cuss words written on my face, backwards, so they would read forwards in the mirror. (Teen-aged girls man, worse than zombies.) So stuff about zombies is all shiny and sparkly for me, running with currents of terrifying electricity. I'm reminded of a family rabbit we had, who had a predilection for chewing on the wires of things so she could get a jolt. You'd catch her there, getting zapped, slightly, and then lolling about with her big, rabbit eyes kind of rolled into her head. Then she'd go back for more. I guess I just compared myself to a rabbit, and maybe we weren't the best rabbit-owners, but she did die of old age and not electric shock.

Of course, because of my zombiphobia, I received no less than three copies of World War Z when it came out, from caring friends and family members who think pushing my buttons is funny. And it is! Ask me about several hundred topics that I fell strongly about and watch the cussing ensue! Or don't; I'm sure you have better things to do. I took my sweet time reading the book, as I know I'm usually in for a week of nightmares about being trapped and chased. What's up, Freud, you old coot? Read any good books lately?

Books about monsters tend to fall into two camps, and they're not mutually exclusive. One is the action movie camp, about running and shooting and wearing sweet outfits and posing heroically. The other is more introspective, about society and the individual, musing on the boundaries between Us and Them and all that. In some ways I was lucky that I saw the best the genre had to offer, at the time, when I saw “Evil Dead” and “The Night of the Living Dead,” although maybe that's a weird way to put it. I have a feeling that zombies wouldn't have frightened me as much if it hadn't been Romero's nasty take on society and social order and all that. The little girl devouring her bickering parents? Seen right after my parents (admittedly non-rancorous) divorce? Thanks Romero, you should call Freud and hang out.

World War Z falls into the latter camp, although there are some nice chase-and-shotgut scenes if you're into that sort of thing. The whole end-of-the-world thing is slightly dampened by the structure of the book. It's really a collection of first-person narratives about the Zombie Wars, which begin right about now, and continue for about ten years. Then the tide turns, and humanity begins to reclaim the world from the undead hordes. The narratives are ostensibly recorded ten years after the last zombie has been cleared from American soil, although there continue to be “white zones” all over the world: Iceland, Siberia. God knows what happened in North Korea. But because the stories are recorded at all, you know that the tellers don't end up as snacks.

The best thing about the book is its international viewpoint. It's a sad truism that when the monsters start their invasion, it almost always happens in Southern California, because that's where the movies are made. I guess there's a secondary landing point in London or Cardiff, if you've been watching a lot of Dr Who, but that's neither here or there, because the viewpoint is still limited. Brooks is clearly taking aim at international politics, national and social norms, even global economics. I mean, the outbreak begins in China, for chrissake. He martials characters from all over, and manages to tell a pretty coherent story from mostly seen-from-the-ground perspectives. (The exception being the Australian astronaut who watched the whole thing from space. Ba-dump-tss.)

Brooks doesn't have the best ear for how different people talk, so the narratives have a kind of sameness that's disappointing. He clearly loves, and has read, a lot of military history and the like, and the jar-head soldier monologues are the best in the book: filled with fake military slang (the zombies are Zack, natch), loving descriptions of invented weaponry, and good-natured grousing about the Tough but Caring Sarge. The worst are from parts of the world that I suspect Brooks doesn't know as well, like Russia or Cuba, and the commentary ends up being pretty on-the-nose. Weirdly, so is the American housewife's commentary, although she may be an animal more mythical than zombies.

So, anyway, I just read this again because I was looking for something mindless and consumable, and I got Brooks' hot, tasty brain as a bonus.

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Feb 16, 2011

mark monday rated it

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Shelves: horrortime, soul-sucking-reviews

On the menu tonight: WORLD WAR Z

Amuse Bouche
Our rich Tartare a la Homo Sapien will astonish you with its hauntingly familiar flavors, its bright and vivid colors, and the truly gamey taste of terror, tears, and trauma. Fresh kill will never appear so carefully arranged and presented: prepare yourself for a buffet that appeases both the palate and the intellect.

Appetizer
A surprisingly hearty summer soup: tantalizing hints of summer flavors frozen solid, then s...moreOn the menu tonight: WORLD WAR Z

Amuse Bouche
Our rich Tartare a la Homo Sapien will astonish you with its hauntingly familiar flavors, its bright and vivid colors, and the truly gamey taste of terror, tears, and trauma. Fresh kill will never appear so carefully arranged and presented: prepare yourself for a buffet that appeases both the palate and the intellect.

Appetizer
A surprisingly hearty summer soup: tantalizing hints of summer flavors frozen solid, then slowly re-animated to surprise the unwary diner. You will literally gasp in amazement as the flavors you thought had come and passed during the colder months rise again to challenge your taste buds! The stew contains a veritable global village of ingredients: you will taste the inscrutable flavors of the mysterious Orient, the refined and subtle tastes of English manor and European castle, the bold and ruthless tang of Mother Russia, and at its core, the zesty essence of woodsy North Americana will serve to keep this dish firmly anchored in the classic Western tradition. This bold starter will act as a bullet straight into your palate’s head!

Entrée
One could perhaps assume that a multi-course, zombified meal will be centered around a choice cut of rare beef steak; our menu will sorely disappoint such traditional diners. Instead we offer as the centerpiece of our prix fixe meal an array of delights that appease not the base emotional senses, but the higher appetites of the intellect! Never fear, diner, your hunger will be truly satiated – but only if you are able to cast aside your yearnings for an old fashioned cheeseburger and partake in a less sensual but perhaps more fulfilling menu. To that end, we offer a buffet of international flavors: taste the crusty unleavened bread of walled Israel, savor the rainbow flavors of a South African duo of rib and grain, relish the fatty riches of Canadian poutine (we understand that Americans will often flee north simply to indulge in this dish!), enjoy a classic sampling of melancholy Japanese swordfish…the world is yours to consume, in a carefully planned and constructed rejoinder that laughs in the face of undead chaos, and shouts: I Am the Decider!

Dessert
For our last dish, we offer you this stunning plate: a downed, half-mad pilot, communicating with phantoms as she hurtles through dense bog and over abandoned freeway, bravely resisting the hungry hands and teeth of the undead!

Wine Pairing
We are proud to offer a new vintage “Max Brooks”, heretofore enjoyed only by ironic survivalists, now available to the world at large.(less)

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Jan 08, 2010

John Wiswell rated it

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Recommends it for: Sci fi readers, horror readers, fans of oral history

There are reasons to be wary of this book. The title is a little silly, and Max Brooks's Zombie Survival Guide was tongue in cheek. Hell, he's the son of legendary comedy director Mel Brooks. And zombies are creatures that gained popularity thanks to film, which is contrary to the nature of most good creatures. Vampires, ghosts, wizards, witches, dragons, orcs, goblins, angels, werewolves and even Frankenstein's undead abomination came from literature first, and entered film later. Film seldom c...moreThere are reasons to be wary of this book. The title is a little silly, and Max Brooks's Zombie Survival Guide was tongue in cheek. Hell, he's the son of legendary comedy director Mel Brooks. And zombies are creatures that gained popularity thanks to film, which is contrary to the nature of most good creatures. Vampires, ghosts, wizards, witches, dragons, orcs, goblins, angels, werewolves and even Frankenstein's undead abomination came from literature first, and entered film later. Film seldom contributes originality to prose. Fortunately Max Brooks pulled off a minor miracle in adapting the largely theatrical terror into the written word, by use of the literary apocalypse convention and oral stories. Our familiarity with the outlines of a zombie outbreak (or any plague outbreak) from so many films helps fill in the gaps between his various storytellers' accounts.

Brooks has a remarkable sense of voice, and places the various interviewees well, such that they sound all the more distinct in contrast to the preceeding and following speaker. We get a lot of interesting subjects, from the country doctor in China who treated the first "bite," to a hitman hired to protect a millionaire mogul, to a blind man who somehow managed to survive in the most infested parts of Japan - Hiroshima. Thus we also get a total sense of the rise and fall of the outbreak, with each arc illustrated by brilliant personal narratives of "true" stories from those periods that give us a sense of not just the plot, but how culture changed in this fictional earth. The narrative is unified by the interviewer who visits them and directs parts of their story, but only enough so that we can both enjoy the overarching plot and the survivors' stories.

Like the best science fiction the outlandish premise allows us to get a fresh view of real human issues. Brooks approaches such issues on multiple levels, from simple human interests like base selfishness and how we act in desperation, to political crises, such as early on in the book when the Israelis and Palestinians blame each other for the plague, and even claim it is a hoax perpetrated by their enemies. Many of the characters are inspired by people from real life, like Howard Dean, Karl Rove and Nelson Mandela - but rather than coming off as cheesy, they lend an air of authenticity to the tale. There is just enough real tension, both base and topical, to lend it the right aura for a great exercise in modern fantasy/sci fi - it's easily one of the best fantasy/sci fi books set in the modern world I've read in quite some time.

The quality of Brooks's book was totally unexpected. This was supposed to be a spin-off from an impulse-buy. But by the time you finish World War Z I think you'll hope along with me that this, his first work of fiction, won't be his last.(less)

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Jun 05, 2008

Ellen rated it

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This book was initially recommended to me by several people in the office and since I love zombies and apocalyptic themes, well, I was pretty excited. Unfortunately, it did not live up to my expectations and I struggled to finish it. (I'm going to write this review under the assumption that the reader has some inkling about the story and how it's constructed.)

There are two issues that killed it for me. Firstly, most of the characters had the same--or similar--voice. Of course this...moreThis book was initially recommended to me by several people in the office and since I love zombies and apocalyptic themes, well, I was pretty excited. Unfortunately, it did not live up to my expectations and I struggled to finish it. (I'm going to write this review under the assumption that the reader has some inkling about the story and how it's constructed.)

There are two issues that killed it for me. Firstly, most of the characters had the same--or similar--voice. Of course this is partly to do with the fact that the voices all originate from the mind of one individual, the author. Also, the more journalistic/interview approach to constructing the narrative limits how much color the author can impart on any given character. Q and A is inherently dry, no matter how exciting the events described are intended to be. This is a minor gripe, though, and one that can be lived with.

A more serious complaint, however, is that this book can be seen as completely lacking any and all dramatic tension that a person (or, me) expects from a survival horror-themed story. The primary draw--the zombie war and how humanity survived--is such a compelling hook, but it's told...by the people who survived. As in, past tense, as in we are left with their impressions of things that happened to them. Basically, then, the story devolves into an excercise in basic exposition: "And then this happened, and then that happened." And so the author is free to weave his story without any pesky things like character development, story arcs, plotting, and personal details that are shown and not told. It seems to me like an extraordinarily easy (maybe even lazy) way to tell a story.

One other minor point: For me, accounts of survival when the victims are real have meaning that allows them to transcend the limitations described above. WW2 Holocaust survivors' accounts, for example, can take your breath away. The difference is, of course, that they were real events that happened to real people.

Since all the classic storytelling elements are dispensed with, we're basically left with the author's views on our current world, particularly and naturally, the wars and our culture(s). However, it's my view that there are dozens of books written about these subjects already; books that haven't needed to sex the discussion up with a horde of shambling undead.

So, in summary, if I'm going to read an apocalyptic recounting of the end of civilization as we know it, I want to read about people in real time, struggling to survive, not being told how people surivived after it was over.

(It is all a matter of taste, mind, as I know half a dozen people whose views I cherish, who absolutely loved this book.) Thanks for reading this! :D

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May 13, 2010

Penny rated it

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Recommends it for: Lovers of zombies/those curious about the whole zombie-loving craze

Recommended to Penny by: Two enthusiastic Barnes & Noble employees

Shelves: zombies-aliens-vampires-dinos, reviewed-books

I know what you're thinking. "Five stars for this book? Why???"

If you've been following my reviews then you know I tend to stress over how many stars to give a book, and I'm not one to hand out five-star ratings willy-nilly. I'm usually quite cautious when it comes to handing out that all-important fifth star. I'm stingy. That being said, every once in a while a book--that may or may not be amazing--comes along and wows me.

And now you're (probably) thin...more

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Annalisa Penny,
I just realized you replied. You're tempting to see these :). My dad got a clear play so now all these movies I want my husband to see, I c...more
May 27, 2010 06:15pm

Penny I saw Quarantine and Shaun of the Dead recently. Shaun of the Dead is hilarious, better then Zombieland. Quarantine, despite the fact that the actin...more
updated May 27, 2010 06:35pm

Nov 14, 2010

Paul rated it

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Recommends it for: my 15-year old former self

Shelves: novels, verysleazyfun

To everything there is a time - a time to reap and a time to plant, a time to listen to Schoenberg and a time to listen to Lady Ga-Ga, a time to read Marcel Proust and a time to read about zombie apocalypses. That time, for me, passed some years ago. I shouldn't've picked up this novel but I was seduced by shedloads of great reviews on this very site.
Although my copy has a front-cover blurb by Simon Pegg, it's his very own great little zom-romcom Shaun of the Dead, plus George Romero's...more

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Jul 07, 2008

Rebecca DeLaTorre rated it

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I just can't get on this bandwagon. The pseudo-government reports the book is written in handicap it in many ways. First, there are no protagonists to grow with, no story arc, no climax, etc. You know what's going to happen from day one--there was a world crisis involving zombies and at least some people live to tell the tale. The sure knowledge of the outcome deflates any tension and book feels flacid. The pseudo-scientific jargon is a poor imitation (my sister, a nurse, tossed aside Brooks' o...more

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Oct 28, 2009

karen rated it

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Shelves: my-brains-junk-food, tastes-like-people

this book is about zombies the same way the bible is about god. they are mostly background actors who are the reason other characters do what they do and occasionally they will rarrrr in and kill a bunch of people because they cant help it, but mostly they are an invisible presence, always to be feared but never given a voice.

this whole book takes place after the zombies have already destroyed most of the world and is a collection of the testimonials of hundreds (?) of different cha...more

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Jul 01, 2011

Maja rated it

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Recommends it for: Members of the Undead club

Recommended to Maja by: --- 365andMe ---

Shelves: audiobooks, zombies-zombies-everywhere, reviewed-in-2011

This will be a short review and it will mostly be about my (imaginary) relationship with Alan Alda and my creepy stalker habits. I apologize in advance.

I've always wanted to marry Alan Alda. Not because I find him particularly attractive, but because I enjoy hearing him speak. The way I see it, if I was married to him, I’d be allowed to wake him up at all hours and make him read to me in that sweet, nasal voice and with that subtle but charming accent. Ok, so maybe my view of love a...moreThis will be a short review and it will mostly be about my (imaginary) relationship with Alan Alda and my creepy stalker habits. I apologize in advance.

I've always wanted to marry Alan Alda. Not because I find him particularly attractive, but because I enjoy hearing him speak. The way I see it, if I was married to him, I’d be allowed to wake him up at all hours and make him read to me in that sweet, nasal voice and with that subtle but charming accent. Ok, so maybe my view of love and marriage isn’t the healthiest one around, but a girl can dream, right? Since I obviously won't be marrying him any time soon, buying this audiobook was the next best thing.
That happens to me sometimes. I fall in love with people’s voices and/or accents and I lose all sense of shame. Once I’d even followed some Romanian tourists around all afternoon just to hear them speak. (view spoiler)
So imagine my surprise and delight when I recognized Alan Alda as one of the narrators of World War Z. Max Brook himself was also a cast member. It’s no wonder I was thrilled with this audiobook!

World War Z is basically a collection of stories told by the survivors. The main character, also named Max Brooks, recorded their testimonies and shared them with the world. Every single story (and there are maybe 15) is very interesting, some more emotional than others.
Here’s another confession: every bone in my body is completely apolitical and there’s plenty of politics in World War Z. I didn’t care about that part too much, but I’m sure some of you will appreciate it more. Personally, I preferred the stories about survival that had nothing to do with politics, like the story of a female US army pilot (who may or may not be hearing voices) trying to survive in the swamps of South Louisiana.

I recommend this (audio)book to every one of my zombie loving friends, as well as those of you who aren't yet convinced. Maybe Max Brooks will be the one to change your mind.
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Aug 03, 2007

Silvercharmer rated it

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Recommends it for: Everyone. You don't have to like zombies, you just have to be able to stand them.

Shelves: zombies, scifi-fantasy

this book. is brutally fantastic. i'm not sure if i've ever used that particular combination of descriptors before, but it fits. this is the same guy who wrote the "zombie survival guide," though i will have to rely on the husband to tell me how much of that manual informs this book, as he has been reading that one. both books were his christmas presents, btw, and i had no real mission to read either, but i started idly flipping through world war z out of boredom, and the next thing yo...morethis book. is brutally fantastic. i'm not sure if i've ever used that particular combination of descriptors before, but it fits. this is the same guy who wrote the "zombie survival guide," though i will have to rely on the husband to tell me how much of that manual informs this book, as he has been reading that one. both books were his christmas presents, btw, and i had no real mission to read either, but i started idly flipping through world war z out of boredom, and the next thing you know i had finished it. zombies have only recently been part of my life, and unfortunately, if there is a class of experts regarding this particular "virus," i belong in it. this comes from being married to someone who scouts out every place we go, be it wal-mart, the mall, a restaurant, for possible weapons, fortification sites, and plausible escape routes in the event of a zombie invasion. these things invade my dreams, frighten the living hell out of me, but still, this book rocked my socks.

what makes this book interesting is that it takes the form of an honest to god historical account, complete with footnotes. the author chronicles individual accounts of a zombie infestation that sweeps the entire world and puts the human race on the brink of extinction. it takes itself absolutely seriously from cover to cover, which is part of what makes it so successful. it's written for an audience who presumably knows the basic history of the war, which of course, we do not. it does not explain the timeline, it does not define certain events, just refers to them as though you will recognize what the speaker is referring to. you are expected to catch on, read between the lines, fill in the blanks on your own, which fuels your imagination while simultaneously leaving you begging for more. it's just the right amount of information, i think, because even though i would have liked to see a basic chronology of events, have some background information available, i think the writer was right to give me less than what i think i need, because having that information might actually detract in the end.

unlike the traditional zombie movies (the exception that comes to mind being the latest romero flick, land of the dead), this looks beyond the immediate desperation for simple survival, and explores the effects on economy, military, government, commerce, trade, etc. things you might not normally consider (if you spend time considering the fallout of a zombie infestation), such as what refugee patterns would emerge and how that would jeopardize different nations, the fortune that would suddenly be made in human trafficking, the impact on our oceans and atmosphere, which nations are tumbled to the ground and which ones rise from the ashes to gain prosperity and power, the desperate yet woefully ineffectual efforts made by civilians to survive (when they do not have survival skills), the spread of the virus through infected organ transplants, the zombie threat underwater, the fortunes made by pharmeceutical companies off of fake cures, and a LOT more. aside from these unique and fascinating perspectives, brooks writes a painfully honest account of the human factor. the danger facing humanity was not just from zombies: it was humanity itself. the psychological damage incurred by soldiers, witnesses, survivors...he paints a clear picture of how merely avoiding a zombie bite was not enough to keep you alive.

it's brilliantly imaginative, utterly fascinating on all levels, and so worth the read even if you have no interest in the living dead. though, if you are sensitive to nightmares, be on your guard. i've been dreaming about this stuff like crazy. the past couple of nights.(less)

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Dec 03, 2010

Conrad rated it

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Shelves: trashy, fiction, owned

Besides the odd Lovecraft, this is the first horror book I've read since tearing through dozens of Stephen King novels in high school.

I really wanted to like it, but the writer had a couple of ticks that drove me crazy. First of all, the CAs - constant acronyms. Nearly every page, there's an aside in which the character who's being interviewed tells us what an acronym means. It's the worst kind of exposition. If you were gathering a comprehensive oral history of the 00s, and you were ...moreBesides the odd Lovecraft, this is the first horror book I've read since tearing through dozens of Stephen King novels in high school.

I really wanted to like it, but the writer had a couple of ticks that drove me crazy. First of all, the CAs - constant acronyms. Nearly every page, there's an aside in which the character who's being interviewed tells us what an acronym means. It's the worst kind of exposition. If you were gathering a comprehensive oral history of the 00s, and you were talking to someone about WMDs or 9/11, you (and they) would never, ever, ever in a million years stop to explain what those were. If someone's around to interview someone else about it, you both already know.

Others have also noted that all the characters talk the same. One thing that's refreshing about the Studs Terkel book(s) on which this is based is that every voice is remarkably different from all the others. Every single one has its verbal fingerprint. We all have things we do conversationally, whether we know it or not, to distinguish ourselves. I tend to offset subclauses in commas or parentheses, and I tend toward run-ons, God knows. Everyone does something like this. There're as many tells in what you say as in how you say it; people (like me) with lots of parentheticals are usually intellectually insecure college graduates. In Terkel, this is all perfectly obvious. But in World War Z, everyone just sounds like Max Brooks is writing a tremendously self-conscious novel.

All that said, toward the end I was kind of swept away by the narrative. The guy whose job it was to clear the underground of zombies, the Japanese otaku, some of the people here become individuated enough that you really want to read more about them, even if their self-expression is often clunky and full of Americanisms that you would never hear in the context presented. I just wish it hadn't been so badly written.

World War Z would have been perfect if it'd been presented as a series of interlocking short stories or novellas in third person. Who would want to read the otaku's story if it actually sounded as it would coming through a translator? No one. Honestly, I think Brooks just set himself too hard a task.(less)

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May 23, 2008

El rated it

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Recommends it for: Rhonda (it's about zombies!)

Shelves: 21st-centurylit, society-went-boom

The world was almost brought to complete destruction during what is later referred to as the Zombie War. Max Brooks fancies himself a survivor and takes it upon himself to travel the world and interview others. The book is in an interview layout, a rather interesting approach to this sort of book. The subtitle itself, An Oral History of the Zombie War, illustrates that it is and will only be in a Q&A format. This is simultaneously the book's greatest strength and its biggest weakness.
...moreThe world was almost brought to complete destruction during what is later referred to as the Zombie War. Max Brooks fancies himself a survivor and takes it upon himself to travel the world and interview others. The book is in an interview layout, a rather interesting approach to this sort of book. The subtitle itself, An Oral History of the Zombie War, illustrates that it is and will only be in a Q&A format. This is simultaneously the book's greatest strength and its biggest weakness.

On one hand Brooks visits the far reaches of the world, encorporates politics (the chapter specifically regarding who was to blame for the outbreak and the subsequent war was by far my favorite and probably the most important when looking at our own government and military personnel) and environment all in one neat little package, all the while creating this background of a war that did not exactly exist (metaphorical comparisons excluded as I think George Romero has drilled it into our heads that we, the humans, are the real zombies, etc.). There is so much room for a great imagination. And he almost makes it, he was oh so close... but then with all of these fantastic back-drops (China and Australia and some places I may not be able to find on a map) all of the characters he "interviews" have similar tones. They all read the same way. In real life, no two people would tell their accounts of any life-changing or life-threatening experience the same way. If nothing else one person's inflection is different from the next person's. Unfortunately for Brooks there is very little contrast from one person to the next. I find it hard to believe, even following the Zombie War, that someone living in Cape Town Province in Southern Africa would more or less sound exactly like someone living in Troy, MT in the US.

Despite the blustered attempt at an entire book written in Q&A, Brooks still managed to tell a pretty decent and convincing story. His zombies were rather chilling and more than once I had to put down my lunch until I found a "safer" paragraph. I feel I learned a thing or two about what to do in a zombie attack should one, erm, actually occur. For instance if a person turns zombie while they're in the car, their IQ will not be high enough to allow them to get out of the car as they will not be intelligent enough to unbuckle the seatbelt or open the car door. However, as a human walking beside a car in which a zombie will remain forever, one must be careful as the zombie inside the car is still able to moan which, I learned, is a call to other zombies not stuck inside their cars to come and snag you. Food for thought anyway.

I'm stuck between giving this 3 or 4 stars. The lack of character distinction is the most disappointing part of the book and because I am a stickler for those sorts of things I finally decided upon the 3. Still a good read, especially for true fans of the zombie subculture.(less)

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Apr 13, 2009

Robin rated it

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Finished reading it and enjoyed it. Will write a full review later but some highlights:

Good:
1 - Totally didn't expect to like a "zombie" book but this author had a great take on that genre.
2 - I appreciated the detail and research that went into presenting this book from many different cultural and diverse locations
3 - Interesting style to present the "story" as a series of interviews - not an easy medium to do well but I liked the way this occur...more

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May 02, 2009

Aerin rated it

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Shelves: horror, sciencefiction, apocalyptic, zombies

My boss recommended this book to me, saying that it dealt with his two favorite subjects: international relations, and zombies. "Well," I said to myself, "I don't think there are very many books out there that can claim to do that." Obviously, I had to check it out.

My boss was right. Not only does this book merge the two topics, it does an exceedingly good job of it. Now, I'm a fan of all things apocalyptic, and I have a healthy appreciation for zombies. Stil...more

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Jul 20, 2008

Andrew rated it

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Shelves: one-book-per-week-08-09

I haven't seen every zombie movie or read every zombie book in existence, but I have watched enough to know the cliches of the genre. It was so refreshing to read a book that avoided so many of these conventions and covered some new ground. I mean, how many zombie stories span the entire world? How many cover the entire apocalypse, from Patient Zero to the aftermath/rebuilding? Aren't we all a little tired of zombie stories that closely follow a small group of survivors, as they get picked o...moreI haven't seen every zombie movie or read every zombie book in existence, but I have watched enough to know the cliches of the genre. It was so refreshing to read a book that avoided so many of these conventions and covered some new ground. I mean, how many zombie stories span the entire world? How many cover the entire apocalypse, from Patient Zero to the aftermath/rebuilding? Aren't we all a little tired of zombie stories that closely follow a small group of survivors, as they get picked off one by one?

Each chapter is only a few pages long, and consists of an interview of one individual survivor. These survivors range from the powerful elites who made decisions affecting millions, to the most inconsequential peons swept up in the winds of war, to the soldiers on the front line. Each interview is unique in a number of ways; the individual's personality and experiences, their nationality, their role in the events. The nationality of each character in particular is what makes this book so interesting. Whereas most zombie movies I've seen take place in the US (and often end with the heroes fleeing to Canada for some reason), virtually every corner of the world is represented in World War Z. Every nation deals with the crisis in it's own way; the Canadians flee to the arctic, the Americans try to fight the zombies as they would a conventional war, the French use the opportunity to rebuild their national pride, the South Africans rely on a war measures plan developed during Apartheid, the Russians keep control of their military through decimation. Part way through the book, I realized that what I was reading was sociology disguised as science-fiction/horror. Some might argue that the sociology is somewhat sophomoric and predictable, and they would have a point. But remember, this is not written as a history, it's written as an oral history. Each interview is just one man or one woman, and that's what the book is really about. The big picture stuff is interesting and compelling, but this is about individuals surviving, each in their own way. As the author asks in the introduction: “isn't the human factor what connects us so deeply to our past”?

Which brings to mind another interesting aspect of World War Z. In the first pages of the book the journalist conducting the interviews explains the rationale for compiling an oral history, and states his intention to avoid any interpretations or intrusions into people's stories. We hear his questions in many of the interviews, and occasionally an interviewee with react to his body language but otherwise he is virtually silent. It made me wonder about his story. We know that he is American, and that he was commissioned to write a report for the UN. Given what we learn throughout the book, we can probably assume that he spent the war in the “safe zone” in California, but there is no direct evidence. This is not a criticism of the book; on the contrary it's a compliment to the fact that the author does such a good job removing the journalist from the interviews. It left me wanting more.

As a clinical psychologist, it was enjoyable to see the author imagined the psychological trauma that would result from something unimaginable. Of course, there was reference to standard, expected illnesses like PTSD and depression. But we also encounter some creative and reasonably plausible conditions such as the quislings, feral children, and Asymptomatic Demise Syndrome. The human psyche is capable of incredible things in response to trauma and stress, and it says a lot about this book that the author made a point to reach beyond the kinds of reactions that people have in the real world and try to picture what would happen in this reality that he created. At the same time, given the fact that we are reading the stories of survivors, we are almost by definition hearing the tales of the most resilient ones. As you read World War Z, you can't help but wonder what you would do in this situation. How would you react waking up in a world that makes no sense? I think most people would like to imagine that they would be strong, moral, and resilient, and would always be ready and willing to do the right thing. But most people also believe that they wouldn't violate their morality in response to demands of an authority, and research has shown otherwise. If WWII led to the Milgram obedience studies, what kind of psychological research would emerge in the aftermath of World War Z?(less)

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Apr 12, 2008

Brett rated it

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Shelves: horror

I have fretted long and hard about what my choice for book club would be, when that time finally came. I wanted both to pick a piece of literature that would be surprising and that most others in the club would not have considered reading, but I also wanted it to be good. After all, I have spent the last few months reading the likes of The Kite Runner and Water for Elephants. If I can put up with that kind of sissy-pants literature (I am of course, joking. Partially.) then I wanted to make other...moreI have fretted long and hard about what my choice for book club would be, when that time finally came. I wanted both to pick a piece of literature that would be surprising and that most others in the club would not have considered reading, but I also wanted it to be good. After all, I have spent the last few months reading the likes of The Kite Runner and Water for Elephants. If I can put up with that kind of sissy-pants literature (I am of course, joking. Partially.) then I wanted to make others endure something they would not normally consider. So I cast around for a while, and eventually landed on this little book. The deal was sealed when, in a strange coincidence, the day I started to read this book, the author turned out to be reading in town. So I went to hear him, and decided this book was fate. He signed my copy and added "survive book club".

World War Z: An Oral History of the Zombie War is a hell of a fun book. Though not without moments of humor, it takes itself completely seriously. It is laid out as other "oral histories" are, with short, "man on the street" style interviews, as well as interviews with those that experienced certain unique aspects of the war. Humans have, at least for now, vanquished the zombie threat, though there are still zombies out there and no one knows if the plague might start again. Through the eyes of the participants we see the earliest outbreaks, the chaos of the Great Panic, fighting the hordes to a stalemate, the tide slowly turn, and finally the re-emergence of humanity. WWZ is full of intimate detail, some touching or inspiring; some brutal, remorseful, or bittersweet. There is a fair share of blood and guts--this is a horror novel, after all--but many of the snapshots are unexpectedly poignant.

Really though, the zombies in the story are only a stand in, a way to pique the interest of readers. It could be any kind of worldwide emergency, particularly disease, such as Avian Flu. The bulk of the story is showing lack of government planning and bureaucratic missteps. And it's impossible not to read and think of the inadquate disaster response to Katrina in the U.S., and other large scale catastrophes around the world. Also on this wavelength, there are some fairly clear allusions to modern political figures and to the war in Iraq. However, the novel is truly global in scope, and we spend time in a variety of countries besides the U.S. I was especially intrigued at the way the zombie war boosted the prestige of eastern nations, and helped to tip the balance of geopolitical power toward China and India, much like a major worldwide disaster might really do.

Criticisms I expect to have to deal with at book club: there are 40 or 50 different "voices" or characters in this book, most of them only getting a few pages to speak. As such, some voices will obviously be stronger than others. Also, we do not build up large amounts of attachment to a single character over the course of the book. I think Brooks did a great deal of research on what type of weapons the military might use to combat a zombie plague, and he spends quite a few pages detailing various sorts of tactics and specific weapons that could be used. To some degree, I lost interest in this topic. I felt that since he did the research, he felt like he had to use some of it, but honestly, I wasn't too in to learning about exactly how weapons systems work. Less would have been more. As someone who works in politics, as does most of my book club, some of the interviews with political figures were a little heavy handed.

One particular section I wanted to praise was the writing about zombies in the water. This was a very effective image for me and will have me thinking twice next time I'm swimming in a body of water after dark. And, of course, as with any story about zombies, during certain moments you have to ask yourself who the real monsters are. The zombies, grotesque as they are, have no choice in their actions. It is the humans that stab each other in the back and become their own worst enemies, willing to do anything to fellow survivors in order to gain their own advantage. Even in the last pages, as some survivors talk about the way the crisis brought people together, I had to wonder if they were already starting to gloss over the worst moments with familiar cliches. Do these sorts of crisis bring people together, or is that only the story we tell ourselves when it's all over, when we've done what we must to survive?

WWZ is a fast and interesting read. Obviously I think highly enough of it that I chose it to make my coworkers read. If you happen to be an interp coach reading this, you might seriously think about getting a copy; I think some very cool pieces could be cut from it, and I guarantee you'll be the only school in your area doing them.

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Dec 23, 2007

Pamela rated it

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The Zombie War came unthinkably close to eradicating humanity. Max Brooks, driven by the urgency of preserving the acid-etched first-hand experiences of the survivors from those apocalyptic years, traveled across the United States of America and throughout the world, from decimated cities that once teemed with upwards of thirty million souls to the most remote and inhospitable areas of the planet. He recorded the testimony of men, women, and sometimes children who came face-to-face with the livi...moreThe Zombie War came unthinkably close to eradicating humanity. Max Brooks, driven by the urgency of preserving the acid-etched first-hand experiences of the survivors from those apocalyptic years, traveled across the United States of America and throughout the world, from decimated cities that once teemed with upwards of thirty million souls to the most remote and inhospitable areas of the planet. He recorded the testimony of men, women, and sometimes children who came face-to-face with the living, or at least the undead, hell of that dreadful time. World War Z is the result. Never before have we had access to a document that so powerfully conveys the depth of fear and horror, and also the ineradicable spirit of resistance, that gripped human society through the plague years.
Ranging from the now infamous village of New Dachang in the United Federation of China, where the epidemiological trail began with the twelve-year-old Patient Zero, to the unnamed northern forests where untold numbers sought a terrible and temporary refuge in the cold, to the United States of Southern Africa, where the Redeker Plan provided hope for humanity at an unspeakable price, to the west-of-the-Rockies redoubt where the North American tide finally started to turn, this invaluable chronicle reflects the full scope and duration of the Zombie War.

Most of all, the book captures with haunting immediacy the human dimension of this epochal event. Facing the often raw and vivid nature of these personal accounts requires a degree of courage on the part of the reader, but the effort is invaluable because, as Mr. Brooks says in his introduction, "By excluding the human factor, aren't we risking the kind of personal detachment from history that may, heaven forbid, lead us one day to repeat it? And in the end, isn't the human factor the only true difference between us and the enemy we now refer to as 'the living dead'?"

Note: Some of the numerical and factual material contained in this edition was previously published under the auspices of the United Nations Postwar Commission.

Eyewitness reports from the first truly global war:

"I found 'Patient Zero' behind the locked door of an abandoned apartment across town....His wrists and feet were bound with plastic packing twine. Although he'd rubbed off the skin around his bonds, there was no blood. There was also no blood on his other wounds....He was writhing like an animal; a gag muffled his growls. At first the villagers tried to hold me back. They warned me not to touch him, that he was 'cursed.' I shrugged them off and reached for my mask and gloves. The boy's skin was...cold and gray...I could find neither his heartbeat nor his pulse." — Dr. Kwang Jingshu, Greater Chongqing, United Federation of China

"'Shock and Awe'? Perfect name....But what if the enemy can't be shocked and awed? Not just won't, but biologically can't! That's what happened that day outside New York City, that's the failure that almost lost us the whole damn war. The fact that we couldn't shock and awe Zack boomeranged right back in our faces and actually allowed Zack to shock and awe us! They're not afraid! No matter what we do, no matter how many we kill, they will never, ever be afraid!" — Todd Wainio, former U.S. Army infantryman and veteran of the Battle of Yonkers

"Two hundred million zombies. Who can even visualize that type of number, let alone combat it?...For the first time in history, we faced an enemy that was actively waging total war. They had no limits of endurance. They would never negotiate, never surrender. They would fight until the very end because, unlike us, every single one of them, every second of every day, was devoted to consuming all life on Earth." — General Travis D'Ambrosia, Supreme Allied Commander, Europe(less)

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Nov 16, 2007

April rated it

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I admire the author for his extremely detailed perceptions of a future world recovering from a mass zombie plague, but I just couldn't finish this one. It is written like a case report, with each chapter functioning as a monologue/interview with people of various nations and occupations, all of whom lived through "World War Z." Because the author goes into such incredible detail about the political policies that are put into effect, the military strategies, medical procedures, pharmace...more

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Jan 11, 2008

Osho rated it

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Shelves: brains, fantasy-science-fiction, 2007

Studs Terkel meets Dies the Fire. I was pleasantly surprised to find this a better example of fake sociology than horror. Perhaps its emotional impact is mitigated by the fact that everything is in indirect discourse--the storytellers are mediated by the narrator's presence, creating a one-step-removed framework. I kept waiting for a gut-wrenching story from a parent who had to stave in the skull of his/her reanimated child, but none was forthcoming. There was also little about zombie psychology...more

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May 29, 2007

James Higgins, Jr. added it · review of another edition

Recommends it for: Horror fans, Military Analysts, Post-Apocalyptic Fiction, News Documentaries

Shelves: completed

Imagine if you will, that today you were to open up a book called "world war z", and that this book was represented as a factual recounting of the events of the Zombie War, which took place roughly twenty years before you opened up the book.

That is the premise of Mx Brooks' "World War Z". In the book, the author presents it as a documentary of sorts, as he goes about interviewing many different people and recording their stories of survival, or their roles i...more

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Mar 19, 2009

Becky rated it

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Shelves: zombies, 2009, apocalyptic-types, political, reviewed

I really enjoyed this. I listened to the abridged audiobook (dramatization?), although I do own the book as well. First, I must say that if you read Max Brooks' "Zombie Survival Guide" and are looking for that kind of feel again, you've come to the wrong place. The "Zombie Survival Guide" was a so-serious-it-was-funny look at the methods of surviving a zombie attack. What works, what doesn't, how to use and prepare your weaponry and shelter, etc.

This book explore...more

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Aug 27, 2008

Sandi rated it

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Shelves: cross-genre, 2008, post-apocalyptic-dystopian

8/27/08 Update--I'm downgrading my rating of this book. I still like it, but I realize it's not very original. I caught the beginning of "Resident Evil: Apocalypse" on the SciFi channel a few days ago and it was deja-vu. The zombies are reanimated by a virus and you can only kill them by shooting them in the head. Since the movies (and video game) came first, I'm afraid my original rating was a result of ignorance.

________________________________________________________...more8/27/08 Update--I'm downgrading my rating of this book. I still like it, but I realize it's not very original. I caught the beginning of "Resident Evil: Apocalypse" on the SciFi channel a few days ago and it was deja-vu. The zombies are reanimated by a virus and you can only kill them by shooting them in the head. Since the movies (and video game) came first, I'm afraid my original rating was a result of ignorance.

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I avoid best-sellers and horror novels. I have found that there’s a lot of crap out there that ends up on the best-seller lists and I’m not a fan of horror novels. But, “World War Z” has generated a lot of buzz among people whose opinions I respect, so I decided to set aside my prejudices and give the book a try.

To set the record straight, in my opinion, this book is more apocalyptic science fiction than horror. Yes, it is about zombies going around attacking humans. However, the origin of the zombies is explained in a very scientific manner. A peasant in rural China cuts his foot while wading in a river and soon sickens. He dies, but his body is re-animated. He bites a couple of people and they go through the same disease process. It isn’t long before this virus is spreading faster than you can say “bird flu”. This disease is so virulent and so un-deadly, it makes Ebola look like a common cold.

The way the story is told is pretty unusual in fiction. It’s told through a series of interviews (oral histories) with Zombie War survivors taken shortly after the end of the war. The chapters are broken down into the stages of the Zombie War. Each interview is preceded by an introductory paragraph that tells who the interviewer is meeting and where they are. The subjects range from political and military leaders to soldiers and civilians. They come from all walks of life and from all around the world. He even interviews a feral child who ran away from zombies attacking her family and neighbors and was surviving on her own after the age of four.

As compelling as the concept is and as unusual as the narrative method is, “World War Z” suffers from some serious flaws. First, the oral history style decreases the dramatic tension of the story. Each history is short, anywhere from a few paragraphs to a few pages. The reader doesn’t get enough of each character’s story to really engage with him or her. Furthermore, because each story is told in retrospect, the reader doesn’t get a sense of immediacy. The characters also don’t have sufficiently different voices to make their stories convincing. Oral histories of real people work because they are real people and each has his or her unique voice. In “World War Z,” each character is the product of the author’s imagination. Brooks has an incredible imagination, but he only has one mind and that becomes obvious after the first few interviews. I think this book is one that would really work best in an audio book format with a different actor taking each part and giving it uniqueness.

Despite its flaws, I really liked “World War Z.” I like the way this fictional work reads like non-fiction. I like how the story is told through multiple first-person accounts. It’s unusual and intriguing. The author made some daring choices and it clearly paid off.
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Dec 06, 2007

Charissa rated it

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Recommends it for: lovers of dystopia, zombie haters, horror fans, anyone who likes fan fiction style writing

Shelves: apocalypse, horror, war

I give up... I can't actually finish the final chapters of this book. I speed read it and that's as good as it's gonna get. Too bad, because I was really riveted by this book for the first 90% of it. I just don't think the author managed to carry that through to the end. Somewhere after the blind Japanese character's chapter I started to get antsy for the book to either ramp it up a notch or to just be over now.

I think the style of writing worked well throughout most of the book ...more

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Jan 15, 2009

oriana rated it

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Shelves: read-2008, read-2009

I have this friend who read this right before me, and he hated it. He said that was because Brooks' "liberal Jewish agenda" shone through on like every page. (I should mention that said friend is himself a liberal Jew, for what that's worth.) I can see what he meant, though it didn't bother me the same way. What did bother me, though, was how much this book is framed like a movie. Framed, seriously. As in, each snippet is like a writeup of a scene in a film, including gestures, stage d...more

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Feb 01, 2012

Trudi rated it

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Shelves: apocalyptic-types, horror, survive-this, zombies, audiobook, science-fiction, awesome-audio, infection, 2012

I can see why this book remains one of the most instantly recognized zombie novels of all time (and continues to be a fan favorite and a darling among "the critics"). It's cool, it's action packed, it's epic and amongst a sub-genre that is in desperate need of something "fresh", World War Z delivers a gut punch to the solar plexus fueled by a tantalizingly original approach.

Most zombie tales (either literary or cinematic) are told using a very small canvas fro...more

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Feb 14, 2008

Johntaylor1973 rated it

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Recommends it for: Children everywhere, they are our future and our future is zombie prevention

Recommended to Johntaylor1973 by: Joseph Smith's reincarnation. I met him at a Hooters in Clevelan

This review has been hidden because it contains spoilers. To view it, click here. A thing of beauty is a joy forever. Sallyboy Keats had it right, folks.

Ladies and gentlemen, behold the true vision of apocalyptic horror. On the heels of Zombie Survival Guide, I sped through this book faster than an invading army through France.

I went to imdb.com and did a search for my man Max Brooks. I found out that they're in preproduction on World War Z. This both delighted and disturbed me. I cannot see this as a movie, unless they do a Band of Brothers serial t...moreA thing of beauty is a joy forever. Sallyboy Keats had it right, folks.

Ladies and gentlemen, behold the true vision of apocalyptic horror. On the heels of Zombie Survival Guide, I sped through this book faster than an invading army through France.

I went to imdb.com and did a search for my man Max Brooks. I found out that they're in preproduction on World War Z. This both delighted and disturbed me. I cannot see this as a movie, unless they do a Band of Brothers serial thing. Movies require a main character or characters--folks we follow throughout the course of the film.

And herein lies why I'm not only apprehensive about the film, I'm also EXCITED! World War Z is a panoptic view of the future zombie outbreak. It's a series of interviews with dozens and dozens of people. We never sit and follow any one individual. We get a look at the totality of this outbreak, and I'm so happy at the prospect of a zombie movie that does NOT involve a tiny group of dullards locked in a mall trying to survive. My fear is that it gets bastardized into an acute look at one of the many stories in the book. And that would be downright yucky. I'd rather be bitten by the living undead.

That's the problem I have with most zombie movies--they're always so narrow in focus. With World War Z, we get to see the world impact. From the Russians fighting off the onslaught (and subsequently turning into a country of olden times) to the near collapse of Europe (poor Iceland!) and the rise of Superpower Cuba, this book is so incredibly thought-out and and so incredibly detailed.

Here's to a script that is more grandiose than any zombie film to date! Huzzah!

Tiny spoilers here

If I could write the script: I'd have the focus on the author, and have the film as one massive flashback.

My favorite part: the first battle back, the battle of Hope.

The scariest part: the cargo pilot trying to find her way to salvation.

Least favorite part: monastic Russian hitman dude. I wanted to hear MORE about that dude.

Most poignant part: the last page, "I love you Mom". RIP Mrs. Robinson, rest in peace you wonderful, wonderful woman.(less)

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Dec 17, 2007

Ron rated it

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Recommends it for: realists

Thanks, JT for heppin' me to The Zombie Survival Guide and subsequently to World War Z.

The purpose of the zombie genre is wish fulfillment. The reason the zombie genre attains popularity is simple. You want to see everyone you hate die. Or preferably, you want everyone you hate to be slow enough that you can kill them yourself. Like a horoscope, the Zombie genre portrays heroes that are reminiscent of how you view yourself. Other people might see you as a fat, lazy, selfish, hypocrit...more

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Nov 21, 2007

Noah Soudrette rated it

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Recommends it for: zombie fans, post-apocalypse lovers

Shelves: horror

When I first heard about the book World War Z my first thought was simply “cool”. This also seemed to be the sentiment amongst most people who saw the book or read about. While reading this book, often at work on my breaks, people would stop and ask questions like, “is that book funny?” or, “that looks neat, how is it?” And, each time questions like these were asked, I would put down the book and begin to tell them about many of the interesting ideas in the book, the fact that the zombie war ...more When I first heard about the book World War Z my first thought was simply “cool”. This also seemed to be the sentiment amongst most people who saw the book or read about. While reading this book, often at work on my breaks, people would stop and ask questions like, “is that book funny?” or, “that looks neat, how is it?” And, each time questions like these were asked, I would put down the book and begin to tell them about many of the interesting ideas in the book, the fact that the zombie war could act as a proxy for the Iraq war or the hurricane Katrina disaster, or that it is written in a format using fake interviews. People seemed to respond very positively to these comments, yet, I have met only one other person who has ever read this book. It seems to me that your average reader who might be interested in the book, would never be caught dead reading it. No matter how positive or serious reviews for this book are only a select number of geeks like me will ever read this book. Does this affect the quality of the book? Not at all. However, a book that no one will read, does not a good book make. This made the going a bit slow. Also, when I first heard about this book, after thinking how cool it sounded, my first worry was that it would not be terribly original. Honestly, when I say zombie novel, how many people automatically start to wonder if the novel is really any good? Suffice it to say, despite all these first impressions going against it, Brooks’ World War Z is a highly engaging, and exceptionally original work.

While this book could be considered a sort of sequel to his first book The Zombie Survival Guide Brooks eschews the cold hard facts and chooses instead to focus on the lives of the people caught up in this unlikely, yet horrible scenario. We are given a wide range of highly developed and diverse people to get to know. Interviews range from meetings with war profiteers, to generals, to pregnant mothers, to blind gardeners, etc. This variety and detail renders each short interview highly engaging, and one is left with a feeling that these people could easily be your friends, family, or neighbors. However, it is the short interview format that also hurts the flow of the book. Once the reader starts an interview he will be hooked, but there is no sense of continuity, other than linear time and zombies, that links these stories together. We are not given characters to follow through the arc of the story and get heavily invested in. The only consistent character is Brooks himself, however, at the beginning, he states that he wishes to remain as invisible in these stories as possible. So, we are left somewhat high and dry. In the end, this really only results in making the book a bit more slow going, but does divide things up into small, highly digestible pieces.

I do not wish to go into too much detail about the world Brooks has constructed. Part of the fun is finding these small, highly detailed and imaginative nuggets along the way. Please, give this book a chance and do not let the concept or title put you off. This is a serious work of fiction. If I can read a book called Bimbos of the Death Sun you can read a book about a zombie war.(less)

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Aug 24, 2007

Jennie rated it

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Recommends it for: Zombie Freaks

Shelves: zombies

The latest offering from Max Brooks is presented as a collection of survivor interviews collected roughly 10 years after a global outbreak of some dreaded zombie infection. World War Z is a difficult book to review, primarily because it isn't really written like a book.

While the book held my interest enough to finish it quickly, I guess I am mainly left with concerns about what the book didn't do. I read zombie tales to watch the world unravel--for the destruction and panic, to ...moreThe latest offering from Max Brooks is presented as a collection of survivor interviews collected roughly 10 years after a global outbreak of some dreaded zombie infection. World War Z is a difficult book to review, primarily because it isn't really written like a book.

While the book held my interest enough to finish it quickly, I guess I am mainly left with concerns about what the book didn't do. I read zombie tales to watch the world unravel--for the destruction and panic, to see the familiar slip away with a whimper. I want a sustained narrative. I want a few characters I can care about (I don't have to like them). I need to know some details about the world I am seeing, even if it is my own. There have to be some standards: how does the zombie outbreak start, how is it spread, how does it affect a healthy human, and finally show me the impact on the setting and the narrower world of the story.

I'm not insisting that I know the exact genetic process or path of infection (there is a good amount of believable speculation in World War Z), but I do need to have the whole rancid transformation described. (I really wanted to see someone succumb in grisly detail.) I want a writer to distract me from thoughts of urban escape and survival by showing me what I could become if I can't stay safe.

There were so many fascinating points, but none of them got the attention they deserved. I realize that chronologically, World War Z is after the conflagration, but let's hear it for nostalgia people! I got just enough information to long for more.

It's a shame. There's plenty here to peak the interest, but just as soon as you settle in, it's all over. Brooks did a pretty good job of creating realistic behavior and for a variety of different groups, governments, and individuals. I am still finding it difficult to judge his skill as an author. It's all too short to know if he is a writer capable of producing a lasting, memorable character. He is absolutely capable of describing vivid scenes, at setting up some sense of the horrific, but can he sustain a view for longer than 5 pages?

World War Z is worth a read, depending on your mood. It's a great escape book with fast paced, tiny little sections (most are about 4 pages). It doesn't matter if you get interrupted and it certainly isn't going to distract you from another book. If you love zombies, you'll probably end up being frustrated at some point, but may find a load of great ideas. If you prefer to see great zombie ideas fully rendered and explored, avoid it until you just want to breeze through something light.

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BBCode	[url=http://www.goodreads.com/book/show/6580494-world-war-z?utm_medium=api&utm_source=blog_book][img]http://photo.goodreads.com/books/1320537937m/6580494.jpg[/img][/url] [url=http://www.goodreads.com/book/show/6580494-world-war-z?utm_medium=api&utm_source=blog_book]World War Z: An Oral History Of The Zombie War by Max Brooks[/url]

World War Z: An Oral History Of The Zombie War

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