Publisher: Three Rivers Press
Author: Max Brooks
Release Date: 10/16/2007
Pages: 342
Recommended Audience: Young Adult
For Fans Of: Zombies, Interviews, End-of-the-World Scenarios
The Good: Interview style stories are a fun format to read, stories from all different walks of life, zombies taken in a very realistic approach
The Bad: Some dull stories, jumps around too much, no hard conclusion, a bit disorienting to read
World War Z is a book of short interviews with survivors of the zombie war. The book is depicted as if it actually happened, and this is a nice change for zombie stories. The book is broken down into different major events of the war. The book starts with warnings and signs of a zombie infection. After this, you get to hear about how people of all walks of life survived the war under various conditions. This ranges from business men, teenagers, astronauts stranded in space, soldiers, generals, doctors, moms, families, and every other type of person you can think of. They are from all over the world, and each story is completely different from the last.
Of course, there are a few duds that are full of dry politics, or the characters ramble on about one subject and never switch topics. Some of my favorite parts were when the author argues or offends someone during an interview because it makes it seem more real. Some interviews are short while others just drag on too long. These uninteresting stories don’t come up too often, and these usually don’t talk much about an event or tell a specific story. They just talk about politics surrounding the event or philosophize about it.
The zombies themselves are depicted as an unstoppable force that we can’t stop. Max Brooks chose to make you fear these things because of just sheer numbers over looks, what they can do to you, and it all started. Battles are fought over millions of zombies coming at you, and this can create a fairly scary image. Towards the end of the book, you start to see how conventional warfare just doesn’t work on these things. Knowing that our army and high-tech equipment is ineffective against the undead is just astounding. This was probably the scariest thing of all. We rely on our military to protect us so much that when a problem comes up they can’t fix you know everyone is screwed.
While all this is really interesting the book doesn’t exactly have a hard conclusion or overall story. The book feels very loose and almost random because the interviewer jumps around all over the world, and each person’s story takes place in different times and locations so you feel disoriented when reading. Despite all this, this is a wonderful zombie book that even takes storytelling to a different level. Just be patient and stick with the book and you will enjoy it.
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