Zone One - part two

[Lala, owner]

This section is for part two / day two / "SATURDAY"
In my edition, this section begins on page 129 and ends on page 272

Thoughts so far? Share below! No spoilers for upcoming sections please.

[Roxanne]

I'm about 40 pages into the 2nd part and while it's still over-written to the nth degree, at least it seems like some things are starting to happen. They've met up with the other team of "cleaners" in their next assigned section of the Zone, none of whom are described in any admirable way, making them untrustworthy at this point. But the part I've enjoyed more than any other so far is the introduction of Mim. She's not in the current action because we're still subject to the main character's walk down memory lane of the zombie apocalypse and she's a character he met after the Last Night but before he joined up with the "new" government and the reconstruction efforts. But it's finally a character that's likable and her backstory has been interesting.

This still isn't an "enjoyable" book. Reading it feels like work. The first 40 pages of the 2nd part are better than the entire 1st part and the world "after" the Last Night is s l o w l y starting to come together. The author's examination of the psychological impact of the horror that created their current world on the survivors IS interesting. Perhaps focusing just on that alone would make a more readable/enjoyable story. I like the examination of "who I was then" vs. "who I am now". But it's failing miserably at trying to mix in the action and plot development with it's muddled ruminations of the past and present.

And frankly, I'm annoyed. I have this impression the author is attempting to "class-up" the horror/zombie genre with their extensive vocabulary and literary prowess. Dude, it ain't workin' and it's mildly insulting.

[Roxanne]

Just finished part 2 and while the flaws of part 1 are still there, I think I've adjusted and stopped caring that he jumps all over the place in his flashbacks. This part, Saturday, easily had 30+ flashbacks of other days/weeks/months leading up to this day. It's all over the place but oddly, it's starting to make sense? Is it because I stopped struggling to follow the story in a logical order of present scene/past scene/present scene and then it got better? I don't know! I just started liking it more the deeper I got into this part.

The real horror of this book is not the zombies. They're not scary. Zombies want to eat you. We get it and Whitehead isn't try to reinvent the beloved zombie trope but he's definitely adding to it. I am a little creeped out by the zombies that don't attack. The zombies that are locked into a last moment and stop moving or reacting. Why does this happen to some and not all? Mark Spitz wonders that himself. Why did they pick that place to stop? Did the journey to that moment happen from the minute they were changed? What was different about their change? That's super weird and I'd be interested to know what made the difference between the "normal" zombie and the "harmless" one.

The horror is in the crumbling psyche of the survivors and their desperation to find order again and something to latch onto that gives them a reason to hope. The new celebrities, the mythical triplets, that everyone cares so much about but are they even real? And the hopelessness of it all because all it takes is one bite, one healthy person becoming infected to destroy a whole settlement. There's also horror in the "new order" being lead by corporations, quick to reassert power and control over the population, now the new government. The "army" answers to the corporations. The corporations control the settlements and supply lines. The corporations are using propaganda reminiscent of the communist revolution in China to embed their vision into the survivors by re-naming the settlements with positive names like Happy Acres and Bubbling Brooks, etc. The orders for sweepers to show respect for corporate sponsors and brands and to not loot stores. We proudly present, the rebuilding of civilization, courtesy of your sponsor, Coca Cola.

I'm glad I didn't DNF this but I still don't love this book. I'm not sure that what I feel about it could even be called "like". But it has some very powerful themes that are making me think and I like that. But I'll be glad when I'm done.

[Brittany]

I’m so bored by this book. I don’t care about any of these characters. I’m a heavily plot-motivated reader, and this doesn’t have NEAR enough plot for me to enjoy it. Made it this far though... 🤷🏻‍♀️

[amia]

This book bored the Hades out of me and I couldn’t wait til the section ended. The writing style’s just not for me and it was a bit too descriptive. I just couldn’t take it anymore so I DNF.

[Kim]

Roxanne wrote: "Just finished part 2 and while the flaws of part 1 are still there, I think I've adjusted and stopped caring that he jumps all over the place in his flashbacks. This part, Saturday, easily had 30+ ..."

My thoughts exactly with this. I didn't enjoy reading it, but I also needed to keep reading because I felt like Whitehead was going somewhere so interesting that I didn't want to miss out on it.

The stragglers really added something to this. It is like an impending doom. I would imagine that you would always feel on edge that they might wake up from their state. I typically don't care about zombie books because they focus so much on the night of the apocalypse and not on the aftermath, or the aftermath is so close that it is all running away and traveling to find safety. Here, we get characters who have achieved safety, or at least we assume, and Buffalo is taking control. It makes it feel more believable for some reason.

[Lucie]

Roxanne wrote: "I'm about 40 pages into the 2nd part and while it's still over-written to the nth degree, at least it seems like some things are starting to happen. They've met up with the other team of "cleaners"..."

I agree that it's overwritten and it feels like work. It's definitely not your average horror/zombie book. I almost feel too stupid to understand whats going on! There isn't much differntiation between the past and present and its quite confusing.

[Lucie]

I'm not sure if i can say that Saturday was more enjoyable than Friday but i didn't feel like my mind was wandering as much in this part. Saying that, i couldn't really tell you what happened in this part. The constant flashbacks were disorientating so that i'd not even realise we were in the past until we got back to the present.
It's a shame i'm not more intellectual because i feel like the is a really intelligent version of a zombie book. Whitehead is obviously a very intelligent and funny man, i mean, corporations sponsoring the rehabilitation of the country so that they can get back to capitalist business as usual?! Hilarious!
I'm also finding the similarities between this and our current situation very creepy.
I don't have a clue how i am going to rate this book but i will be happy when its over. I'm sorry i'm too stupid to like/understand your book Colson!!

[Noelle]

I would DNF this book if it wasn't for the fact I'm reading it for the reading rush

[Laura]

At this point the only reason I’m continuing is so I can fully understand and participate in the live show.. but with that said Saturday was definitely more interesting than Friday but not by much in my opinion. Not much else to say about this book..

[Rina]

Saturday turned out to be the main part of the book - took me ages to read through Saturday.

OK, so the lack of chapters started to get to me (why couldn't it be 3 parts with a lot of chapters in between? I don't really understand the Author's choice. And I don't understand why the Editor thought this was a good idea). The scenes blurred into one another, and I stopped trying to figure out when an event happened when Mark Spitz started one of his daydreaming wanders.

So far, I think below is the order of things (see how my brain still attempts to make sense of the sequence?):
- Last Night happened.
- Mark met Mim at the toy store and they lived together. She disappeared.
- Mark went to the farmhouse and met Margie, Tad and Jerry. Jerry fell through the window, Margie ran away, and Mark and Tad joined Lieutenant's squad.
- Ms. Macy was scouting for a new residential area, and NY was marketed as Zone One prospect. Because of his PASD, Mark volunteered to join the sweeping crew.
- The Lieutenant formed squads to clear Zone One: Mark joined Omega squad with Kaitlyn and Gary, Bravo squad had Angela, No Mas, and Carl, and Gamma had Dick Cowl a.k.a. Foreskin (what a terrible nickname), Joshua, and Trevor.

Now, the end of Saturday was a bit blurry to me. So after the above, Gamma was overrun, Lieutenant killed himself because he felt guilty. I can't remember what happened to Fabio and I can't be bothered re-reading Saturday to find out.

Admittedly, at the end of Saturday, I really wanted to know what'd happen next in Sunday. Unfortunately, nothing actually happened on Saturday itself, even though a lot more past actions were revealed.

I liked the last reveal re Gamma and the Lieutenant, because it gave a new perspective to the start of the book (Friday).

I also found this character list to be useful in case I forget who's who: https://www.gradesaver.com/zone-one/s...