Wednesday, January 20, 2010

Max Brooks: World War Z: An Oral History of the Zombie War

I'll start off with World War Z: An Oral History of the Zombie War by Max Brooks. Not the best zombie book I have ever read, but it is quite good. The one thing that sets it apart, and I think is actually quite clever, is that this "novel" isn't told as a novel. Rather, it is told from the point of view of a reporter interviewing survivors several years after "World War Z", a world-wide zombie infestation.

This makes for a rather interesting story, where you don't really get all of the pieces, but get a much wider view of the events. There are stories collected from all over the world, giving the point of view of everyone from battle hardened soldiers to computer geeks in Japan.

The zombies in this book are of the "slow" variety, and must have their brains destroyed in order to be killed. One thing that this book focuses on that is often not touched upon in quite the same way as other "zombie" books, is just how hopeless and difficult it would be to deal with such a threat. One interview talks of cluster munitions being dropped on a horde of zombies with little effect. A weapon so devastating to the living has almost zero effect on the dead: only direct hits to the brain will stop the zombies.

It seems to me that Brooks is trying to say something about our current society in this book. Perhaps he feels we are in need of major change? Perhaps he foresees major pain and suffering due to lack of response to any major catastrophes? Me, I'm just happy to have brains and zombies.

Regardless, this book is well worth the read, and if you haven't already read it, I highly suggest you pick yourself up a copy. Click the link below to buy it now from Amazon.com.

World War Z: An Oral History of the Zombie War

Everyone Who Loves Zombie Books Put Up Your Hand!

Oh! Me Me! I Love Zombie Books! In fact, I love them so much, I decided to put up a blog about them. Now, I won't say I've read them all, because I haven't, but I haven't read one I didn't like (even cheesy ones). I have a theory (not really a unique theory, but I thought of it before I heard about it, so I call it mine). The reason that so many people love zombies so much, is not because they have any desire to be involved in a post-apocalyptic nightmare where the only possible result is to end up a shuffling, mindless automaton bent on eating brains.

The reason people love zombies so much, is because deep down, everybody has someone they just can't stand and would love to take that oh-so-favourite zombie killing shotgun too. Of course, no one will ever admit it, because it's just not polite, and a little creepy (I won't admit it, I'm talking about everyone else here, not me). But if that person were a zombie, well, you would be doing everyone a favor now.

Either way, zombies have grown hugely in popularity since they became mainstream thanks to our friend, Mr. Romero, and you can now find all sorts of books, movies, games and merchandise dedicated to our undead brethren. I'd like to focus mainly on zombie books in this blog, but if I should happen to stray into other genres now and then, well, so be it.

Feel free to look around. There's not much here yet, but you're welcome to it. Happy Zombie-ing!