World War Z: An Oral History of the Zombie War by Max Brooks Summary and Reviews
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Book Reviews of World War Z: An Oral History of the Zombie War
Book Review: Fascinating, socially relevant tale
Summary: 5 Stars
This book rocked my world! So much so that I immediately put it on my list of favorite books ever and recommended it to nearly everyone I know.
I assumed I would like it because it has zombies in it (I'm a horror buff) and is an example of dystopian/post-apocalyptic fiction, which is a genre that I adore. But I was blown away by how much my expectations were exceeded.
Basically Max Brooks (son of Mel) poses the question "what would happen if a zombie plague nearly destroyed the world?" and answers it with a stunningly detailed, creative, surprisingly realistic vision. He takes the innovative approach of narrating through a series of short interview excerpts (hence the "oral history" of the subtitle) and thus we get dozens of small stories that add up to the one global picture. We hear from military men, doctors, scholars, politicians, pilots, even ordinary joes. Brooks leaves no stone unturned. He tackles everything from the various pyschological reactions to the crisis, socio-economic commentary, political consequences, environmental disasters. He also includes some memorable characters and awesome cinematic actions scenes including a female pilot paraschuting into zombie infested territory, a Japanese hacker that suddenly clues into the fact that something is very wrong in his apartment building, an ordinary soccer mom who rips the head off a zombie attacking her daughter, and a Chinese submarine crew that witnesses hundreds of zombies crawling across the ocean floor and trying to claw their way into the submerged vessel. I can't say enough how awesome this book is--please read it.
Book Review: Apocalypse by Zombies
Summary: 3 Stars
I loved the premise of this book, and it does not disappoint in it's entertainment value. It will be familiar to most movie-goers, which is that there's been a world-wide epidemic of zombies that caused the near end of civilization.
The author is definitely creative, and provides plenty of variety in telling the story through the eyes of the survivors. For instance, there's a blind old man that lives in a park by himself where he was able to fight off the undead. Or the film-maker that records these horribly inefficient laser weapons simply for their cool effect of vaporizing zombies.
Inside jokes about the Iraq War are hilarious, such as this one given by a soldier pointing out how zombies don't carry guns:
"And what genius thought to put us in body armor anyway? Because the press reamed 'em for not having enough in the last war?"
The overall history does come together - you have infection, panic, and finally war. And there are allusions between the different interviews to connect them (such as the "decimation" of Russian soldiers, which literally meant executing every 1-in-10 of them).
The problem is that it still feels disconnected, and there are so many characters that they mostly blend together. Also, the interview-format rules out any suspense, since you know that character will live despite the overwhelming odds.
I did like this book, but I wouldn't consider it top-notch horror.
Book Review: Two thumbs up, wish I had more thumbs.
Summary: 5 Stars
I won't go into summarizing the book, as that's been done here already. I will simply state that the book met and exceeded my expectations. This was my first book in the "zombie genre" and it was an absolute delight to read. I've turned a handful of my friends onto it, who have all thoroughly enjoyed it as well.
If you're riding the fence about whether or not to read this book, I definitely recommend reading it.
Book Review: those zombies be bad, REAL BAD!!!
Summary: 5 Stars
'World War Z...' was my first zombie book and, to my surprise, I enjoyed it very much. Rather than one singular story it is a collection of many interviews chronicling mankind's war with the zombies and the successful aftermath. What are zombies? Think of the "Dawn of the Dead" film series or "I Am Legend" and you have the idea. The dead become re-animated and feed on live human flesh. The author does a wonderful job of making the war, complete with all the carnage and ugliness, very believable (...sort of). Gruesome at times, 'World War Z...' is never a boring read.
Bottom line: who would have thought a book on zombies could be so good?? Strongly recommended.
Book Review: Meh ...
Summary: 2 Stars
This is the first "zombie" book I've ever read and boy was I disappointed. The way to ruin a good zombie book (or any other book) is go on and on and on about statistics, logistics and politics and Max Brooks succeeds in boring the pants off us all in spades! I just felt that Max Brooks went into waaaaaaaay too much detail about weapons and machinery to the detriment of developing personal stories from the survivors. I was expecting more "scary stuff" and got bogged down in the long-winded description of guns, tanks, ammo etc, etc. At the end of the day, who cares how many rounds a carbine uses or how far a tank can fire? Zzzzzzzz ...