World War Z: An Oral History of the Zombie War | Max Brooks

World War Z: An Oral History of the Zombie War | Max Brooks | One Great Ride for Zombie Lovers!

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World War Z: An Or...

	World War Z: An Oral History of the Zombie War Max Brooks Three Rivers Press, 2007 - 352 pages average customer review:based on 435 reviews view larger image
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highly recommended

The Most Satisfying Zombie Fix

I suspect that I am in a minority that recalls the Mars Attacks and Dinosaurs Attack card sets. For all I know, there was a zombie set as well. In these sets, a vast world-affecting event plagues the human race with horrible tragedy and drama. Each card would cover a different area of the world, and some wildly creative and unexpected takes on the events would be beautifully illustrated. One wanted to collect them all, because if you missed out on a couple - you knew that some really fun stories would be missing from your experience of the overarching story. The phenomenon of these collectible cards is the most fitting analogy to what is wonderful about World War Z that I can think of. Rather than a nasty crunchy rectangle of gum, though - this book is best suited for an accompaniment of your favorite wine.
Dozens of vignettes - each elaborating on the state of a world of humans desperately trying to survive the zombie menace. All very intelligently told, by a writer with an incredible breadth of knowledge about other cultures, military procedure, sociology, science and psychology. My sole complaint is that each vignette almost begs to be a novel of its own, and I wish I could have spent more time with the characters and watching the progressions within the scenarios. Not to say that they lack a satisfying conclusion, because they do not - the `point' of each section is crystal clear. They are amazingly original, as well - something hard to pull off since zombies have become the monster of choice in pop culture over the last 6 years or so (a resurgence from 20+ years ago).
I've read other zombie novels that came highly recommended - including a couple of the best selling books from a publishing company that actually tries to specialize in zombie fiction. In my opinion, none of them hold a candle to WWZ - or a match, even.
Max Brooks has managed to create a story that taps into whatever social anxiety it is that makes these nasty shambling viral beasts into the monster of choice in western culture right now. He takes the plague to its most logical and creative lengths, giving me my first truly satisfying zombie fix in book form. It is also the first time I've seen a story bring humanity out the other side of such an outbreak - painfully and after much strife, and possibly (dare we dream it?) a changed set of beings.

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One Great Ride for Zombie Lovers!

I was so pleasantly suprised by the quality of Mr. Brook's second book. He clearly has done his homework with so many little details in this story. His understanding of governments, military equipment, geography and human nature are all evident in this story. This creates a rich tapestry on which to superimpose an epidemic of undead cannibals.

One of the best aspects of this story is that Mr. Brook's has truly taken a world's eye view of the conflict. He relates narratives from sources all over the globe including China, Japan, Iran, Indian, the Artic and the good old USA.

A good yarn, if maneating reanimated corpses overrunning the world is your thing!

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impressive

i found thst this book to be a well done novel that gave true insight into this fictional event

We must remember so it never happens again.

Max Brooks, World War Z: An Oral History of the Zombie War (Crown, 2006)

If Studs Terkel were not still alive, I have little doubt that buy now, we'd have already had the companion volume to this book, telling the story of the zombie war from the other side. But Studs still clings to life (he's ninety-six as I write this, and for all I know he's still writing), and so we have only one side of the great Zombie War depicted here. Still, for those of us who lived through it, perhaps that's enough.

What, you don't remember the zombie war? Well, I'm not entirely surprised. Fewer and fewer people do. It's amazing how short our collective memory is. That's part of the reason Max Brooks wrote this book-- so that people wouldn't forget, that they'd have something to hold on to, some artifact they can consult. It's the same reason Terkel wrote his oral history of World War II; we all learn the dates and places in history class, but who ever dredges it up again, unless they go on to become history professors and propagate the same information? Terkel's book tells us what the battlegrounds were like from the perspectives of those, most of whom are now gone, who were actually there. So does Brooks'. No one who reads this will ever hear "Yonkers" and just think of a date and an event. You get an actual veteran telling the story and you can hear the explosions. You can taste the dirt. You can hear the moaning of the enemy. And Brooks captures it, as he captures the many other voices in this tome, by standing back and letting these folks tell it like they saw it.

This is an impressive compendium of voices, now that I'm n the subject. Men and women from around the globe, from the northern wastes of Canada to the South Pole (with the obvious exception of Iceland), offer their stories here. Some of them are still understandably bitter. Some are just angry. Some resilient, some defeated, some poignant. All of them together, give the clearest picture of a global conflict I've ever run across. Max Brooks is, truly, to be commended for his investigative work on this project, and his desire not to let the Zombie War fade until it becomes nothing more than a bad nightmare. For, as we all know, those who do not repeat history are doomed to learn from it. ****

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The "interview" style is tough to pull off but Brooks does a good job of it.

This follow-up to the Zombie Survival Guide is less campy but some of the survivor interviews contain just enough snark to make you shake your head in amusement. One aspect that is fun is the interviewer narrating his own actions, typically in response to questions from the interviewee.

You get so many different types of people answering questions about their time during the war that you will no doubt have some you hate and some you love. There is a smattering of all types of people being interviewed and if you cross one that doesn't float your boat then you know it'll be over in a couple of pages. This isn't the type of book that has you getting attached to any characters, it is more like a voyeuristic pleasure of other people's misfortune.

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