World War Z: An Oral History of the Zombie War (2006)

So, first thing to note is that this book is pretty much nothing like the movie (which is a good thing). I think the scariest part of it all is the fact that reading it sounds so much like the world today that--with the exception of swarming hordes of undead--it starts to sound plausible. It reads a lot like a collection of short stories, which makes it a very quick read. I really enjoyed this one. ( )

I wasn't sure if I was going to like this book when I started. Even though various people whose opinions I value had told me that it was worth the time, I was skeptical. The whole zombie genre has been getting pretty tired to me and the last thing I wanted to do was read yet another stereotypical zombie book full of blood, guts and brains. Imagine my surprise when it was nothing like I thought it was going to be.

Finally, there is a zombie book about the aftermath of the zombie apocalypse! There is so much work done on what happens during but these works hardly ever mention what the world is like after the brunt of the war.

This book is divided up into many different points of view in interview format. In these interviews, people talk about their role in the zombie war and how that has affected them. I really enjoyed the fact that there were no two stories that were the same. Brooks really encapsulated the fact that everyone is different, especially the differences between cultures and how people and governments of those regions would theoretically handle something like this. Everyone in the book came from different backgrounds. Some worked for the military and some were just civilians who were lucky to find a way to survive.

This book is full of characters you are able to sympathize with and sometimes relate to, but there are also people you end up hating. Especially those people who found a way to profit from the tragedy and obviously didn't care that people were dying all around them.

Also, Brooks' description of what the various governments chose to do with the situation is distressing, but also eerily believable. I found myself truly becoming afraid for the future because everything that was done is not beyond belief. At the same time, there are moments when you really begin to question your own moral compass when you are made to really think about the decisions others chose and realize that there really was no other way.

One of the most fascinating parts of this book was not just the stories about what happened during the war, but how these people were dealing with it after the fact. Many had to struggle with the implications of their decisions during the war and many, many more had to learn to live with the loses of everyone they knew and cared about in the world. To me, this was what really set this book apart from all other zombie based books. While the stories during the war where heart-wrenching and sometimes infuriating, it was even harder to read about the affects on these people. Some are able to find something to keep them going on a planet completely destroyed, while others struggle daily with suicidal thoughts and sometimes insanity. It was sometimes really difficult to read and there were a few times when I had to take a short break from reading the book because of its distressing nature.

The only issue I had with this book was that I wanted a little more on how the environment was affected by this war. From the descriptions of the war it would seem that the planet was basically destroyed and I wanted to hear more about how those that survived were handling the issue of trying to salvage what little they had left of the planet. There is some discussion of it in the end but I would want maybe two more sections on it.

This book is not for the faint of heart and is definitely not one that you will just read and then go on to the next one with a simple, "That was pretty good". This book will stay with you for a long time after you read it. In fact, there are a couple of the stories that still haunt me. It has that much of a realistic feel to it. I highly recommend this book to anyone remotely interested in the zombie genre (cause it's practically its own genre at this point). I also encourage those who are just a little tired of the zombie fad to at least give this book a chance. It's a new look into the subject and is worth the read. ( )

Description: 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’?”

Thoughts: This book totally had me engrossed from the first page. I typically couldn't give a rat's ass about zombies, but this book managed to make zombies into a topic of interest, and it didn't even have to result to gruesome shock tactics to do it.

I found the style and the story very believable and engaging. I was also very impressed by the wide scope of the viewpoints Brooks included, from characters you wanted to root for to some utterly contemptible scumbags.

The major disappointment for me was that there was never any explanation given, no science to even begin to explain the how and why. Even if it had just been some dude from the CDC saying "Well, we've figured out this much from our 15+ years of study but it still doesn't explain X, Y, and Z," I think the story would have felt more complete and well rounded. I mean, what is the biggest thing you'd be wondering if hordes of the living dead suddenly started taking over the planet? "Well, how the fuck did that happen?" Seriously. You might not linger on that question while fighting for your life, but you certainly are going to research it once the world isn't being devoured.

Rating: 3.8

Liked: 4*
Plot: 3.5
Characterization: 3.5
Writing: 4

*this one gets bonus "Like" points for being innovative and elevating it's genre like 1 million %

http://www.librarything.com/topic/156659#4210333 ( )

This was the first book I read on my new Paperwhite, and it was a great read to learn the device. The book has nothing to do with Brad Pitt's film, except that humanity's survival in as humane a way as possible is a focus of each.

The book takes the reader from Patient Zero to years after the "end" of the Z War, and consists of the collected interviews that were not included in the "report" submitted by the author (because they were considered too personal) by the powers-that-be. This keeps the stress level down for the reader, because we know that those being interviewed had survived, at least up to the point of the interview.

The content is gross and frightening, while posing questions to the reader like what choices would one make in the panic of escape preparation, what would one be willing to do to survive, how would one maintain personal ethics and humaneness, and what will organized governments do? I have laughed with friends about the U.S. having a zombie plan, but after reading this, it's not that funny. My favorite interview was the one on Ks (canine corps): the love and loyalty of dogs.

This is not just a zombie story, but a metaphor for one type of apocalypse that will challenge the survival of international infrastructures and our Earth's fragile ecosystem. This cautionary tale should have you re-evaluating your current life choices. ( )

Read for the second time, this time on audio book, and it was just as incredible! Definitely a good read! ( )