World War Z: An Oral History of the Zombie War

by Max Brooks

book data

8,147 ratings, 4.18 average rating, 2,158 reviews (more data...)

rating	frequency	%
5		42%
4		37%
3		14%
2		3%
1		1%

edit

published

September 12th 2006 by Crown

binding

Paperback, 342 pages

characters

Zombies

isbn

0307346609 (isbn13: 9780307346605)

description

The Zombie War came unthinkably close to eradicating humanity. Max Brooks, driven by the urgency of preserving the acid-etched first-hand experiences ...more

[close] 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 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 [close]

find at: Amazon | Half.com | Barnes & Noble | Abebooks | compare prices…

new topic
discuss this book

topics	posts	views	last activity
BOOK-A-HOLICS: * Book Of The Day 2009	196	413	37 minutes ago
The Next Best Boo...: What are you reading?	13077	11042	52 minutes ago

friend reviews

To see what your friends thought of this book, please sign up.

lists with this book

Zombies!

44 books | 103 voters

Best Horror Novels

146 books | 244 voters

More lists...

other reviews (showing 1-20 of 11,880)

sort: default (?) | date
filters: all | text-only

03/24/08

Jason Pettus rated it:

Read in March, 2008

(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

Like this review? yes (45 people liked it)

4 comments

02/26/07

sarah rated it:

bookshelves: fiction, futuristic-dystopia, horror, humor-satire

Read in January, 2007

In 2005, the world watched in horror, and George W. Bush twiddled his thumbs, as Hurricane Katrina bore down on a defenseless Louisiana. The Bush administration's obsession with "homeland security" did not extend to taking the obvious measures necessary to save the people of New Orleans from disaster. And as climate change and the threat of pandemic disease grow each year, a recent study showed that very few US cities are prepared to care for their citizens in the case of a major dis...more In 2005, the world watched in horror, and George W. Bush twiddled his thumbs, as Hurricane Katrina bore down on a defenseless Louisiana. The Bush administration's obsession with "homeland security" did not extend to taking the obvious measures necessary to save the people of New Orleans from disaster. And as climate change and the threat of pandemic disease grow each year, a recent study showed that very few US cities are prepared to care for their citizens in the case of a major disaster.

What does this have to do with zombies? Everything, according to "World War Z: An Oral History of the Zombie War". Written in the interview style of Studs Terkel's classic "Working," "WWZ" is a fictional account of what happens when politicians put profit and ideology before human need. In WWZ's future, a mysterious virus appears in rural China around 2008, just as the Bush administration is winding down and the American people have finally insisted on an end to the war in Iraq. The virus, initially known as "African rabies," kills its victims within a few days and then reanimates their dead bodies, which then become zombies intent on eating human flesh. Anyone bitten by a zombie is doomed to become a zombie. (Brooks' zombies follow the rules horror fans will know from George Romero's classic "Living Dead" movies.) Initially, studies are issued showing that isolated outbreaks of the virus have the potential to become a global pandemic, but the reports are shelved in an election year, and those who protest the government's neglect of the issue are labeled 'NPR liberals' and ignored.

By the time world governments begin to acknowledge the zombie threat and take action, it is too late, and the zombie uprising is unstoppable. It results in a global human-zombie war that lasts ten years, devastates the earth, rearranges the world map and (perhaps) renders capitalism forever irrelevant. Brooks' narrator travels the globe ten years after the end of the war, interviewing survivors, soldiers, profiteers, politicians and others about their role in "World War Z". The interviews illustrate twenty years of world history from the point of view of ordinary people.

Brooks' vision of the future is cynical and bitter. Drug companies do their best to profit from the crisis by marketing useless drugs as miracle cures, causing the deaths of thousands. A nuclear crisis erupts in South Asia as Indian refugees stream through Pakistan and into Iran, causing a nuclear exchange between Iran and Pakistan. Israel, out of desperation, grants Palestinians the right of return and uses its apartheid wall to quarantine itself from the world; it remains safe from the zombie menace but is rocked by a civil war when right-wing Zionists revolt. The US military abandons its citizens on the East Coast, moves the federal government to Hawaii, and uses the Rocky Mountains as its line of defense. And Cuba, relatively safe as an island, finds itself overrun with millions of refugees from the US, houses them in refugee camps, and develops "guest worker" programs to allow Americans to "do the jobs Cubans don't want to do."

"World War Z" is an impressive achievement of speculative fiction: it is both a trenchant left-wing political critique and a well-written page-turner that will satisfy the most demanding horror and sci-fi fans. (less)

Like this review? yes (15 people liked it)

9 comments

08/02/07

John rated it:

Read in January, 2007

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' 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 co...more There are reasons to be wary of this book. The title is a little silly, and Max Brooks' 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' 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)

Like this review? yes (12 people liked it)

add a comment

05/21/08

Ellen rated it:

Read in June, 2008

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...more 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 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

(less)

Like this review? yes (10 people liked it)

add a comment

06/26/08

Sherri rated it:

bookshelves: 2008-read-list, science_fiction

Read in August, 2008

Not, perhaps, the best book to read before going to sleep.

WARNING -- this review contains information that might be considered spoilers, but are so minor as not to really merit a block for potential "spoilers".

1/3 in. Mostly this book seems to be about anger with the government. The Zombies are mere metaphor, the individuals stories all have the same voice (with a little window dressing here and there). This reads more like an anti-governmen...more Not, perhaps, the best book to read before going to sleep.

WARNING -- this review contains information that might be considered spoilers, but are so minor as not to really merit a block for potential "spoilers".

1/3 in. Mostly this book seems to be about anger with the government. The Zombies are mere metaphor, the individuals stories all have the same voice (with a little window dressing here and there). This reads more like an anti-government diatribe. It's anti-ALL government (not that government is bad inherently, but that all current governments are stupid, self centered, blind, greedy, blind to reality...and so forth, to the detriment of the people they purportedly are to serve and protect. That heavy duty anger makes reading the book like slogging through mud.

3/4 in. The book has broken down into some pretty obvious parts. Each "interview" is basically another "what if" + zombies. It touches on each potential horror or hope -- cannibalism, memories of a child, escapes of assorted kinds. Many of the people interviewed are crazy/mentally ill, one way or another. Unfortunately, while the stories draw upon the requisite horrifying imagery and ideas, the writing -- and the stories -- fall rather flat. The ideas are good, but the execution...not so much. Still, I will press on to finish it.

Finished. If I could give 2 1/2 stars, I would. I suppose I expected something else from this book. The Zombie Survival Guide had, for better or worse, a thread of humor going through it, possibly unintentional, possibly just very, very dry. That was missing from WWZ.

Perhaps the problem is that stories of human stupidity, fear, arrogance and horror are old stories, even cliches. It takes a good writer to take a story like that and make something worth reading out of it. Brooks doesn't have that strength. He uses a lot of familiar tropes to create emotional reactions -- one or two images pushed my buttons and got my emotions going -- but the attempt were obvious.

This is also unusual fiction in that it is a series of made up interviews (the oral history part), but the voices are all 'types'. We are, of course, told about the people we hear. We never see them do much. They tell stories about themselves and others, but that doesn't make them good storytellers. Without the usual techniques of narrative fiction at hand, Brooks is fighting up hill to make this engaging.

The ideas are good. It's researched well enough that with my layman's knowledge I felt no need to check anything. It reminds me of nothing so much as early or "Golden Age" science fiction -- interesting ideas played out over a stock work with stock characters responding. Not much plot, in this case, to hold things together (you know how everything ends when you start reading the book). This is an explanation of how things happened.

Your experience with the book may vary depending on your own expectations and history. I'm fairly lukewarm about it. I found no surprises and nothing to really pull me into it. Things played out as I expected. It isn't a bad book so much as a mediocre one. In the end, I wasn't so much afraid or worried about the monsters of the living dead as I am reminded once again about the monsters of the living.(less)

Like this review? yes (8 people liked it)

3 comments

06/12/08

Rebecca DeLaTorre rated it:

Read in July, 2008

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

Like this review? yes (8 people liked it)

1 comment

08/03/07

Silvercharmer rated it:

bookshelves: scifi-fantasy, zombies

Read in January, 2007

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

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...more 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 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)

Like this review? yes (6 people liked it)

add a comment

05/19/08

El rated it:

bookshelves: 21st-centurylit

Read in May, 2008

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

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.
...more 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.

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)

Like this review? yes (5 people liked it)

2 comments

03/25/09

Robin rated it:

Read in April, 2009

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

Like this review? yes (5 people liked it)

1 comment

07/09/08

Mark rated it:

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

Read in July, 2008

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...more 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 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)

Like this review? yes (4 people liked it)

1 comment

04/06/08

Brett rated it:

bookshelves: 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...more 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 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.

(less)

Like this review? yes (5 people liked it)

add a comment

12/23/07

Pamela rated it:

bookshelves: empire

Read in November, 2007

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...more 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 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)

Like this review? yes (4 people liked it)

add a comment

11/16/07

April rated it:

Read in October, 2007

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

Like this review? yes (4 people liked it)

2 comments

05/29/07

James Higgins, Jr. added it

bookshelves: completed

Read in January, 2007

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

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

Like this review? yes (4 people liked it)

add a comment

05/30/08

Sandi rated it:

(review of isbn 0307346612)

bookshelves: 2008, cross-genre

Read in July, 2008

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.

________________________________________________________...more 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.

__________________________________________________________
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.
(less)

Like this review? yes (4 people liked it)

7 comments

11/19/07

Charissa rated it:

bookshelves: apocalypse, horror

Read in December, 2007

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

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

Like this review? yes (3 people liked it)

2 comments

09/02/07

Shoshanapnw rated it:

bookshelves: 2007, brains, fantasy-science-fiction

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

Like this review? yes (3 people liked it)

add a comment

12/15/08

oriana rated it:

(review of isbn 0307346612)

bookshelves: read-2008, read-2009

Read in January, 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

Like this review? yes (3 people liked it)

4 comments

02/14/08

Johntaylor1973 rated it:

Read in February, 2008

recommended to Johntaylor1973 by: Joseph Smith's reincarnation. I met him at a Hooters in Clevelan
recommends it for: Children everywhere, they are our future and our future is zombie prevention

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...more 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 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)

Like this review? yes (2 people liked it)

add a comment

12/17/07

Ron rated it:

(review of isbn 0307346612)

Read in December, 2007

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

Like this review? yes (2 people liked it)

1 comment

« previous 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 … 593 594 next »

polls

Book One

Here be dragons! Welcome to the First Chapter (heh, see what I did there?) of the First Order of the Reading Rainbow Coalition!

I narrowed down our selection to some pretty juicy choices. Poll closes on Saturday.

Darkly Dreaming Dexter

1 vote, 5.6%

A Canticle for Leibowitz

3 votes, 16.7%

World War Z An Oral History of the Zombie War

9 votes, 50.0%

Playing for Keeps

5 votes, 27.8%

18 total votes

7 comments Sign in to vote!

More...

recent status updates | recommend it | blog it

combine
other editions (15)

More editions...

quotes from this book

"No tienes que ser el puto Sun Tzu para saber que la verdadera batalla no consiste en matar, ni siquiera en herir al otro, sino en asustarlos lo suficiente para que lo deje." More quotes...