MARIAH'S THOUGHTS on World War Z: An Oral History of the Zombie War by Max Brooks

Genre:

Science Fiction/Horror Zombie Thriller

Edition:

Movie Tie-In Edition

Pages:

420 pages

Publish Date:

May 28, 2013

Publisher:

Broadway Books

Summary from Goodreads:

We survived the zombie apocalypse, but how many of us are still haunted by that terrible time? We have (temporarily?) defeated the living dead, but at what cost? Told in the haunting and riveting voices of the men and women who witnessed the horror firsthand, World War Z is the only record of the plague years.

     

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**About the Author**

Max Brooks is the New York Times bestselling author of The Zombie Survival Guide and World War Z. He has been called "the Studs Terkel of zombie journalism."

Brooks is the son of director Mel Brooks and the late actress Anne Bancroft. He is a 1994 graduate of Pitzer College. His wife, Michelle, is a screenwriter, and the couple have a so, Henry.

Stay connected with Max Brooks

Website

 

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**My Thoughts**

Note: This Review contains NO spoilers

Black and white, heaven, hell; World War Z: An Oral History of the Zombie War by Max Brooks is a direct, straightforward book of survival. It didn’t tickle my fancy in a want for adventure because it is what it is, as stated in the title: an oral history. World War Z the book is a whole of the movie version; the book jumps from person to person and location to location in an interview-like fashion. Each new narrator tells their story and point of view of what had happened during the zombie apocalypse, the rumors that had spread, ideals, and legends of influential people. Although a fiction novel, it felt very much like a documentary, which is what the author must have been shooting for anyway.

World War Z was recommended to me due to my belief of overall “This world is rotten.” Reading the book didn’t leave me with life lesson that I didn’t know and held had ideals I agree with, such as “Survival of the fittest,” “The next generation having to deal with the previous gens bull crap,” and “People just cannot ‘get over it’ and fight for the stupidest of reasons.” A few of my favorite parts from the book are in Chapter 4 (The Great Panic) and Chapter 5 (Turning the Tide). The ideas of blind obedience (following without question, but with no regard for moral consequences) and removing your sentiments to do your job are discussed. And the harsh reality of “Some people deserve to die while others deserve to live” are brought into fruition in the story through a man named Paul Redeker and his society would be built upon IQ, fertility, safety zones, other “desirable qualities.”

This novel observes humanity, government, society, and its faults. It calls out the mistakes of human emotion and asks, “What use are they really,” especially when everything is declining and the apocalypse is happening all around you. Can you deal with the consequences of your actions? In which case, I really liked the story but also disliked the classroom lesson style of their interviews, the reactions to people’s experience. To the average human, I suppose you don’t need another history lesson, opinions or not.

My Rating: