World War Z: An Oral History of the Zombie War

Good stuff, but what makes it so good also hurts it a little bit. The lack of tying in the narrative to core protagonists breaks it up a little too much. But still - great read, lots of fun.

This book takes an interesting approach to tell the story of the Zombie War. It uses interviews with multiple characters to paint a picture of the history of how mankind fought and survived the zombie attacks. In many ways, this approach is a success because it allows the reader to see the war as a global event, and the many sacrifices made for mankind to survive. The unusual approach to storytelling is a thumbs up in my book.

Taking this book on face value it was an entertaining read. I had read other reviews indicating the book was scary. I didn't get that from it. There were some chills but nothing scary. I would recommend this the friends.

Gee and I are listening to this on car/plane trips, since everyone else has read it (reading peer pressure!). It's interesting in parts, and really boring in others, though the actors reading it are pretty great (Mark Hamill! Henry Rollins! Jon Turturro!)

Phenomenal.

By far the best zombie book I've ever read, and one of the best zombie pieces I've experienced in any media. I'm a little surprised at how much I enjoyed it; I'd read and enjoyed the Zombie Survival Guide by the same author, and thought that I wouldn't enjoy this, because maintaining the tone and style of that book would be too difficult to do. Luckily, Brooks didn't even attempt to do that.

WWZ is post-apocalyptic; it takes place after humanity has successfully fended off the zombie menace, and have started to rebuild society. Our main POV character tours the world interviewing people and their tales of survival; the transcripts of those interviews make up the bulk of the book.

Because it's a book about survivors, the horror and suspense don't come from wondering who's going to die, or how; instead, it comes from hearing what depths people would be willing to sink to in order to survive, which in turn forces the reader to ask themselves what they would be willing to do under similar circumstances. Of course, the zombie setting means that while we as readers can connect with the characters and their emotional situation, but we're still allowed to distance ourselves from it a litle bit and prevents the novel from getting too dreary or depressing.

This book is hands down amazing. Max Brooks covers nearly every base when it comes to describing the potential zombie war on a global scale. Not only does he manage to portray politics, military strategy, and culture accurately and perceptively, but he also incorporates a strong human element. Even though there are dozens of characters and stories in this book and their chapters all concise, you get a sense of a understanding and can relate with every single one of them. Each character has a strong voice, and with the writing all in the form of dialogue, that is key. There are moments where that the realism is broken in order to provide some vivid prose, but it comes together well enough that it doesn't take away from the overall effect, but rather improves it. In terms of international relations, which is a huge part of the book, Brooks is very obviously well read on the topic, and almost prescient in the way he assesses how each nation and culture will react to such a threat.

The other thing I like about this book a lot is that you can make your pace while reading it. A lot is said about “page-turners” that won't let you put the book down, but sometimes its nice to actually savor a book, and Brooks lets you do that with his use of short chapters. Its also a necessary tactic for a book like this where a lot of the imagery and concepts are gruesome and hard to swallow - it didn't effect me personally, I suppose I'm a bit desensitized, but I know for a lot of people it'll be a tough read. This book can be scary in more ways than one - its disturbing to not only think about the possibility of the walking dead, but also how ill-prepared we are to deal with it. But for all the paranoid thoughts this book might induce in me, I am more than happy to have them, because I fully enjoyed reading this and consider it one of my favorites.

I'm not a huge Zombie fan. Like couldn't care less about Zombie stuff, the genre is just so played out. BUT. This was a good read, it wasn't over the top zombie and it didn't make it sound like the world is a bunch of idiots who can't escape a shuffling horde.

I never thought I would like a zombie book, but this book was really amazing!

Overall an outstanding read. The end sections actually brought asmall tear to my eye.

Brooks does a very good job creating the idea that this is really an oral history. Writing from the perspective of so many different people, and keeping them with authentic voices is tough. Occasionally a voice doesn't ring true, or feels stilted, but not all that often.

Also the complicated matter of trying to execute a history through bits and pieces of recollections is well done too. I didn't find any glaring inconsistencies. This is a monumental task.

The only major criticism I might express, is that some of the ‘moral' lessons still seem a bit trite. Brooks obviously has a perspective on politics, religion and morals that seeps through. It doesn't detract from the overall value, but it does show that he's writing it rather than having it seem like a true history all the way through.

That said, the problem doesn't really distract you, only popping up in a few comments here and there that seem like they might e out of character and very obviously pointed at he pre-Z War audience. Overall I LOVED the book and highly recommend it to zombie afficionados and zombie newbies alike.

Fun book. Sometimes a story would end just as I was getting into it (though some get picked up again later), but I suppose that also keeps the book from bogging down at all. As evidenced in [b:The Zombie Survival Guide 535441 The Zombie Survival Guide Complete Protection From the Living Dead Max Brooks http://photo.goodreads.com/books/1200466176s/535441.jpg 818], Brooks has thought this stuff out waaaaay too much for a normal person, but that means that his stories have a lot of detail and ring true. Seriously, I still worry sometimes about whether North Korea is crawling with subterranean zombies. :)

I really loved this book. I promise that it is not as cheesy as it sounds.