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: Zombies are back!
Summary: 5 Stars
Well i picked up an abridged version of Mr Brook's Zombie Survival Guide and, having enjoyed flicking through that, i tried my hand at this, his latest offering.
WOW! Its been a long time indeed since a book has been so thought provoking and emotive in its concept. It would be easy to dismiss this as "another zombie" book. Another run at the same old stuff George Romero has been spewing forth for years. And,sure, maybe to an extent it certainly fits that niche nicely.
Then you look beyond the obvious, you start to read the "first hand" accounts of survivors and how they lived through the Z War. You start to understand just how much research and thought Mr Brooks has put into this situation, into the political nuances of the countries, the reactions of their people. You start to think past the pages before you, beyond the "novelty" of Zombies. This scenario could easily fit the next flu epidemic, the reactions easily placed upon countries that might easily react in the same way. And then you sit back and actually become shocked at how close to the truth Mr Brooks might be. Its not about Zombies and gore and the terror of facing a family member that wishes nothing more than to eat your brains. Its about the human reaction to a plague, a disease, a world altering terror that we have never encountered before and could quite literally be the product of the next experiment on a monkey. Its shocking in the way it opens your mind. Its wonderfully well written.
Book Review: Un-put-downable....
Summary: 5 Stars
I know, I know.... "Un-put-downable"is NOT a word, but is DOES describe this book!
I literally was unable to put this book down untill I finished it (and I read a LOT of books, but few make me read them from cover to cover in one go!)
I don't have any particular 'fetish' for zombies, etc, but this book is just SO MUCH better than you have any right to expect!
I didn't buy it from Amazon, I bought it a local Border Books - I usually borwse there, note the name/author/ISDN of the book, if I like it, then get it from Amazon - but THIS time, I read the first 10 pages standning up, then bought a coffee from the instoor Starbucks, sat in one of the REALLY comfortable lounge chairs, and read for another hour, basically 'trapping' myself - I COULD NOT leave without buying - but it was only a few quid more, so was probably worth it!... lol.... I finished it later that day, HUNGRY for more!
One quible..... I wish it had been 10 times the size, don't get me wrong, it was already a decent size, but I just didn't want it to end! I hope the author chooses to write more of this story, since it is the story of anybody/everybody who fought in the war, I think he still has a broad scope to explore!
A truly memorable book, I wish there were more like it around......
Book Review: Engrossing account of humanity's greatest conflict
Summary: 5 Stars
I read Max Brook's previous book "The Zombie Survival Guide", and enjoyed most of it. I liked the realistic assessment of just how things might go down in the event of a zombie crisis, and it was the perfect book for know-it-alls like me who when watching a horror movie yell "aim for the head!!!" at the screen. It took de-zombification to the next level with very practical tips; shotguns and chainsaws might look cool in video games but once you're out of shells and out of gas you're screwed. Contrast that with a shaolin spade or a genine katana however... Anyway, where I felt that book was less interesting was the appendix in the back listing various zombie encounters throughout history. The problem is that all outbreaks follow a similar pattern; mysterious illness, reanimation, fear and ignorance causing more harm than the zombies, discovery of how to defeat them, then resolution (or total ahnhilation of the population involved). Right? Well that's not particularly interesting for isolated outbreaks in Papua New Guinea. But what if we had a big outbreak today; with cheap air travel and people smuggling and loose borders and human rights laws and the internet and thermonuclear stealth bombers... we'd be fine right?
Maybe not. Where Brooks excels is highlighting the worst elements of human society in its initial response to the outbreak. The Chinese try to cover it up, big pharma tries to make a buck out of it, the government release a safety video and then go about winning the next election, and if your kids get worried just bang them on Ritalin and Prozac. When the swarms finally attack mainland USA and western Europe, everyone is caught totally unprepared. Suddenly sweaty executives who've never done a day's manual labour in their lives are having to live rough in the woods with no Blackberry and no lattes in sight. Isolated pockets of trigger-happy gun nuts have their apocalyptic survivalist fantasies brought to life, and the governments of the world have to make some hard, hard choices.
But as bleak as this sounds, the individual stories of heroism and daring demonstrate why it is that humanity ever got this far in the first place. In a not-too-subtle swipe at the way the military is turning into a video game, all the "advanced warfighter" strategies of battlefield technology, GPS, infra-red goggles, armour piercing bullets etc. are all rendered utterly useless, and it turns out the most useful weapon in the arsenal of the world's greatest superpower is the little shovel that their grunts carry as an entrenching tool. Whack a zombie over the head with it, repeat as necessary.
Although it's become somewhat of a cliche to draw parallels with modern "anti-terrorist" warfare, the rise of the zombies has one major echo with today's suicide bombers and jihadists; there is no fear of death, no centralised infrastructure, and very little point deploying tanks against them.
All in all Brooks has created a convincing alterate universe which is well informed by accurate geopolitical knowledge, group psychology, military doctrine, and genuine humanity.
Finally, I should state that this is the only book I've ever read where, having finished it, I turned back to page one and started over.
Book Review: Sorry it ended
Summary: 5 Stars
When i first set eyes on this book I was pondering for a long time to read it. Been a zombie film fan I thought here we go another cliche zombie story.How wrong was I? I could have kicked my self for not reading this earlier.After reading the first few pages like other reviewers I was instantley hooked.Every moment of my free time I was picking this book up and reading the next scenario told by the survivors from around the zombie plauge riddened world. Every page I turned I wanted this book never to end.Brookes has coverd nearly every scenario that could have happened with intelligence and obviously well reasearched into material.With a hint of politics involved it shows this is not a mindless Zombie story.More like how our world today would react to an uncontrolable disease.Brookes has forseen these events in a nostradamus vision.Im sure of it.When I finished the book.It felt like it could happen.Or that it did happen. My faivourite story was of the dog handelers and how they used dogs in the war to scout through infected towns. The only floor I could think of it with this is petty.But I would like to have read more of how the United Kingdom would have coped with such an out break.But I was more than happy with the storys.I wonder what is going to be the next installment from Max Brooks? I even wonder if this is going to get the Hollywood treatment.If so I hope they dont make it out to be a cheesy Zombie flick and hope they do it with a bit of style and grace as Danny Boyle did with 28 days later. Bottom line is if your thinking of reading this book.Do it now. Book Review: utterly compelling, thought out and detailed! i could not put it down.
Summary: 5 Stars
this is THE best zombie book i have read, and i have read nearly all of them.
the stories are so detailed and obviously well researched that the majority of them could be made into fully fledged movies.
i received the book on friday and had finished it by saturday afternoon, i just could not put it down! i will definitely be re-reading it too.
if you like zombies and wanted to know what happens when the movies end (the romero trilogy, not inc. land of the dead), then read this. you will not be disappointed!