An excellent and original take on a tired idea
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It's finally happened. The zombie apocalypse has come and devastated civilisation...but in the end, civilisation rallied and won. Using tactics pioneered in South Africa and bankrolled by Cuba, the largest nation to remain infection-free, the world's armies successfully defeated the undead menace, but only at a staggering cost in lives and resources. Ten years after victory was declared, a journalist travels the world, listening to the stories of the survivors, from those who were there when the outbreak began to those who listened in the corridors of power as key decisions were taken to the stories of everyday men and women thrust into circumstances beyond their control. From Hawaii to China, even to the isolated crew of the International Space Station, this is the story of that war.
World War Z is that most beloved of Hollywood ideas, 'high concept'. One of those ideas that makes other writers go away smacking themselves in the head thinking, "Why didn't I think of that?" Zombies are very much 'in' these days, but after several years of zombie movies and computer games the appeal was waning, until Brooks' interesting take on the concept revitalised interest. Most zombie fiction is somewhat nihilistic, ending with the world overrun by the undead hordes or humanity reduced to tiny enclaves battling the mindless hordes, so the fact that World War Z features a victory is interesting enough. The stories of what sacrifices were necessary to achieve that victory makes up the book, which is essentially a 'mosaic' novel rather than a standard work of fiction. The book shifts between the different interviewees, some of whom appear only once but most of them reappear periodically throughout the book, as we find out how they survived the decade of the war and what happened to them along the way.
It's an excellent device and Brooks employs it skillfully. Some of the stories border on the silly - the blind Japanese gardener taking on the zombie hordes with a sword in a park full of traps stretches credulity - but elsewhere Brooks nails the feeling of total horror, with the computer nerd trying to flee his infested Japanese apartment block or the soldiers fighting to clear the catacombs under Paris. Elsewhere Brooks takes the capabilities of the zombie menace to their logical conclusion, with heavily-armoured divers fighting off zombie forces underwater, or the US army making full use of dogs (who are driven wild by the presence of zombies) in fighting the hordes and the fates of both the animals and their handlers during and after the war.
This is a widescreen story, with a truly global perspective, told economically and well. There are some good laughs (the new US zombie-dispatching firearm is nicknamed a 'Meg', as it resembles a Megatron toy from Transformers; during one battle a nun and REM lead singer Michael Stipe help fight off the zombie hordes), but Brooks takes his subject mostly seriously and sounds some cautionary notes along the way. To some extent the story isn't really about the zombies, but about people and what they are capable of when their backs are against the wall.
World War Z: An Oral History of the Zombie War (*****) is a gripping, page-turning, memorable read which throws some fresh impetus on an old idea, and makes it work brilliantly. The book is available in the UK from Duckworth and in the USA from Three Rivers Press. A movie version is in development, with a script being written by Babylon 5 creator J. Michael Straczynski.
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Tedious and Disappointing
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I wouldn't bother leaving such a negative review, but I do feel a bit cheated into buying this book by all the other ultra-positive posts here. They must be friends and relatives, zombie fan-boys, or (like the author clearly is) survivalist fantasists.
I was so looking forward to reading this, but was very disappointed. The structure (made up of 60 or so interviews) at first seems innovative, but it means there are no central characters and hence no real plot or jeopardy. Worse, they all sound the same. It gets really tedious. And cliched.
It seems that all politicians and businessmen are corrupt liars, the army is incompetent (except of course for the brave foot soldiers), the media only say what the big corporations let them, and most deserving of contempt are all those folk who work in offices and never bothered to learn any proper survival skills.
Credibility is virtually absent - on almost ever page I thought "No, that wouldn't happen" such as in the daft Battle of Yonkers where a bullet apparently enters and exits a zombie's skull ('skimming the inside') without causing catastrophic damage. No, that wouldn't happen...
On the other hand, if you're into zombie stuff, Max Brook's other book The Zombie Survival Guide: Complete Protection from the Living Dead makes for quite an entertaining read. As for zombie fiction, check out Steven King's Cell which is set to be filmed in 2009.
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I couldn't put it down
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An amazing story set all over the world during the zombie uprising, Brilliantly written, Superb development of the zombie war from outbreak to control and eradication. I really enjoyed the style in which it was written with each chapter like a short interview with a survivour. This is the first zombie novel I have bought and in my humble opinion it would make an excellent film.
This simply will not disappoint !
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I'VE READ IT TWICE SO FAR
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What a great book, I turned away from reading horror books because I felt the genre was becoming too samey. A friend of mine recomended this and I couldn't put this great book down, a great book for your collection.
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Horrifying yet engrossing
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If you've read The Zombie Survival Guide, you'd expect this to be mining a similar vein - talking about the subject logically, yet with an undertone of the blackest humour. And you'd be wrong, as this is far more serious due to the nature of it, a series of interviews with survivors of The Zombie War.
On the face of it, you'd think by that description it'd be schlock horror, but I assure you that it isn't. Also, it isn't as much about the zombies but - in the finest tradition of George A Romero - the people's inability to deal with their problem due to their inability to get over their prejudices and arrogance.
So, not only do we have stories of people fleeing their homes as the zombies come crashing through the door, we have an overconfident US military operation that thinks technology will beat the zombies and find out all too late that it didn't, Cuba finding itself overrun with Americans fleeing there (and therefore becoming the new economic superpower), Israel putting up a wall and staying put, whilst South Africa, Germany and South Korea all sacrifice the many in order for the few to be able to fight back and defeat the problem.
But there's also the more personal stories, such as the Chinese submarine that flees only to find the seas filled with ships, the British defending themselves with enemies at the wall of Windsor Castle, or the pair of stories from Japan - the blogger that doesn't notice zombies filling the streets and having to abseil to safety, or the old blind sensei relying on sound and smell to stay alive.
There's also some truly horrific episodes in the book, be it the failed stand at Yonkers, Big Brother gone horribly wrong, the attempts to flee India by boat as the caste system leaves people behind, the Russian military crackdown on their own troops, and the eerie story about what (possibly) happened in North Korea.
The whole story is broken down into sections, be it the first warnings from China, the Israelis realising what was happening, and the initial outbreaks through to the full-on war and humanity's fight back and recovery (not a spoiler - think about it), with all the changes that happened as a result.
A highlight is how, although it's a series of interviews, each interviewee is infused with their own character so it doesn't sound like one person each time, and doesn't sink to cliché when with the Japanese, Russian, South African or Indian interviewees, either. The book is also endlessly creative with the stories it tells and, notably, changes genre from straight horror, to action-adventure, to thriller, even sci-fi and back again whenever the narrative demands it and it never feels forced. It also doesn't seem smug with its references back to the Zombie Survival Guide, with its weapon recommendations popping up here and there, as well as the bits of advice. It doesn't feel forced when real people appear in it, either - although never stated explicitly, it's clear Nelson Mandela, The Queen and (yes) Paris Hilton feature in various parts of the narrative. Don't worry, Paris dies.
So, like Romero you may pick it up for the zombies, but there's plenty of commentary about how class, apathy, overconfidence in the military, internet popularity, even the lure of fame are too much for various people to put aside for their survival, and how people aren't as prepared as they'd think because survival has been replaced by materialism.
Realistically, this should be read after the Zombie Survival Guide - you don't have to, as it's accessible to anyone, but reading WWZ afterwards suddenly puts it into perspective that little bit more.
Read this book, it may save your life - so move to Conwy NOW!!!
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