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World War Z: An Oral History of the Zombie War

Max Brooks

Start date: June 7, 2010

Finish date: July 15, 2010

Discussion: 2010 Reads

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What Members Thought

Nov 13, 2012 Shannon rated it liked it

It seems weird to call a book about the zombie apocalypse a "light, fun" read, but that's ultimately what this is. I picked it up expecting something similar to Stephen King's The Stand, a book that's stuck with me even though it has one of the single hackiest endings I've ever read. But there's not nearly as much meat to World War Z. It's a series of vignettes, each well done, but short enough that you don't end up really getting attached to any particular characters. My favorite bit involved t ...more

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Apr 28, 2014 Harold Ogle rated it really liked it

Shelves: contemporary, ensemble, horror, undead, military, lg-library, disaster, apocalypse

This is one of the better disaster novels I've read in a long time. In fact, it is this novel's resemblance to Robinson Crusoe, the prototype of all disaster novels, that is the greatest aspect of World War Z. The conceit that sets it apart from other disaster novels like The Stand, Lucifer's Hammer, or The Rift is that this is an oral history compiled after the fact by the survivors. So there is none of the tension of whether the characters will survive - you know because you're reading the sto This is one of the better disaster novels I've read in a long time. In fact, it is this novel's resemblance to Robinson Crusoe, the prototype of all disaster novels, that is the greatest aspect of World War Z. The conceit that sets it apart from other disaster novels like The Stand, Lucifer's Hammer, or The Rift is that this is an oral history compiled after the fact by the survivors. So there is none of the tension of whether the characters will survive - you know because you're reading the story that they did survive - it's simply an engrossing journey finding out how they survived. In essence, World War Z is a collection of short stories - each one detailing a different way that people at first survived and, in some of them, conquered a plague of undead.

The book is set up as a series of interviews conducted by a war correspondent hired by the United Nations to create a comprehensive factual history of "what happened during the war" as told by significant figures in the worldwide conflict. The factual report is not included - the novel is the compilation of notes and interviews the journalist gathered as background material for the report, over the course of the decade after "VA" (Victory America) day. This conceit sets up an interesting situation that is unusual in the apocalyptic genre, because it requires that global infrastructure remain intact. The journalist has to travel all over the world to interview dozens of people in dozens of countries, and that requires that global transportation and all the industries that support that remain largely intact or restored after the war. So in that sense, it is an unusually cheery apocalypse novel, and a stark contrast to things like Y: the Last Man, with which it otherwise has some common elements (astronauts stuck in orbit, for one).

(view spoiler)[The implication is that the zombie apocalypse started as an ancient Chinese curse, uncovered by culturally-insensitive flooding of river valleys that destroyed temples containing Things Best Left Alone. The plague is effectively viral, transmitted into the bloodstream by bites, other punctures, or, most disastrously, through operations. An infected person may have several days without showing signs of infection, during which he can move an interact normally (also potentially infecting others), but then the virus overcomes him, his health quickly deteriorates, and, on death, the body reanimates as a George Romero zombie: a shambling animate corpse that hungers for flesh to devour which can only be stopped by destroying the remnants of the brain.

It is at this point that I should mention that the film of the same name has nothing to do with the novel. That is apparent from the very beginning of the film, in which zombies are shown in the first couple of minutes as exactly opposite of how they are portrayed in the novel. This has no bearing on the novel, but I have to say I was disappointed with the film because it doesn't present ANY of the survivors' stories from the novel. Serves me right - one is always disappointed to see a film AFTER reading the book.

Back to the novel: the communist Chinese government fails to acknowledge the threat when it first appears, and so infected end up being distributed all over the world through air travel and, more damningly, through transport of organs for transplants. Hospitals and clinics all over the world are suddenly sources of outbreaks, and the plague spreads outward from medical facilities all over the planet. Most of the rest of the book involves accounts of the spread of the zombie hordes, as well as measures different countries took to contain and protect uninfected survivors. At least two thirds of the world's population is lost to the zombies before the tide turns and humanity begins exterminating the plague carriers (two hundred million zombies in the United States, with the US as one of the least destroyed nations in the world. Iceland is repeatedly referenced as the most destroyed, with fully 100% loss of human life).

Like most disaster stories, World War Z presents us a pastiche of stories, blending both the sacrificial nobility and horrible savagery of which humanity is capable. People are shown to be clever and stupid, brutal and kind, compassionate and heartless. (hide spoiler)]

While I really liked the conceit, it did limit the book in some respects. Most obviously, the tension of who would survive and who wouldn't is absent. The first-person narrative wears me out a little after three hundred pages; as generally a fan of disaster novels, I like to see some third person narrative so that characters I come to enjoy are seen to interact with each other. But the narrative conceit here doesn't allow for character interaction at all. So stories are vaguely related to one another at best. Finally, the idea that the author was able to travel all over the world to these dozens of countries stretches credulity a great deal, but the idea that he was able to find all these people to get their stories is even less believable!

For the most part, I didn't dwell on these issues. They're all drawbacks to the central conceit of the novel, and that conceit - interviews with survivors - was refreshingly different enough that I could mostly overlook the problems it presented. I really enjoyed this book. ...more

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Mar 23, 2009 Andrea rated it liked it

Shelves: humor

World War Z: An Oral History of the Zombie War is an oral history of an alternate universe in which the zombie apocalypse has taken place. I was really expecting this book to be a lot more silly and less serious. I also wasn't expecting to enjoy it, not being a big zombie fan, but I can honestly say that I was never bored listening to it.

Instead of being the usual comic romp with Zombies, World War Z is more of a social and political commentary on today's society and our suggested reaction to "A ...more

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Apr 11, 2009 Francis x rated it really liked it

Shelves: book

I just watch the last Scifi channel,Battlestar Galactica(2004) ,which got my mind wondering if the zombie virus came from the star(150,000 bc). overall it is a good read.

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Jan 24, 2011 Joanna rated it it was amazing

Shelves: post-apocalyptic, favorites

This book is awesome. As the title suggests, the oral history is a series of interviews in chronological order. Fascinating and really well thought out.

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Jan 15, 2012 William rated it it was amazing

Shelves: fiction, horror

There are few books I've read as quickly as World War Z. It's not the excitement of a zombie "apocalypse" (although it has that), it's not the short bite size chapters that leave you wanting the next one (although it has that too). It's the ability it has to take a cliche-ridden genre that has become so overdone and empty and overflow it with such perfect examples of human spirit.

This is a good book, and I recommend it. ...more

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Jun 28, 2010 Jan Kimbrough rated it really liked it

Excellent. The premise of this book is that a mutated virus turned people into real zombies. This book imagines what might have happened around the world as people tried to combat them. It's no stretch to see how their efforts might parallel a real war against a devastating disease. ...more

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Dec 05, 2011 Lauren Magee rated it it was ok

Seriously did not enjoy this much at all. The second half was a chore to trudge through and there were maybe 10 sections (interviews) that I enjoyed at all.

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