World War Z: An oral history of the Zombie War – Max Brooks

Books / February 11, 2009 / John / 1

I love it when a book surprises me. It doesn’t happen very often, sadly, but it did with this one. World War Z not only surprised me, but…. well, hang on – let’s back up a bit. From reading the dust cover, you’d think this was an action / horror story. World invaded by zombies, mankind fighting back, etc etc. And it is that, but it’s a lot more as well.

The book is written as a series of interviews – not with ‘important’ people, but with everyday front-line people: a blind japanese guy who survives alone in the wilderness; the doctor who witnesses one of the earliest cases of zombification; a navy diver who works defending the bases of oilrigs from the undead on the seabed and so on. But so well written are these ‘interviews’, that each of the thirty or so characters are alive and vibrant, with their own voice and opinions and – here’s the surprising bit – often contradictory views of the war.

Far from being a “Joe went here, did that, then come back” novel, World War Z reads like a series of articles which would not be out of place in National Geographic or Time Magazine. There’s commentry on almost any aspect of society you care to mention – war, peace, the cult of celebrity, capitalism, communism, religion – everything is in there.

And in the background, ever present, are the lurching groaning shapes of the living dead.

I don’t know who reads these mini-reviews, but you’re here now. You really should read this book. It’s unlikely to change your life, but it will certainly change your view of horror fiction. I really can’t recommend it highly enough. Humour me.

John

UNIX geek, wannabe cook, musician, book-lover, and all round good-guy.