World War Z by Max Brooks

Title: World War Z
Author: Max Brooks
Publisher: Gerald Duckworth & Co Ltd
Release Date: 2011
Genre: Non-Fiction Fiction, Horror

Summary:
Many years ago a zombie infestation took over the whole. The effects were felt throughout the world. However, now that the 'Great Panic' is over; the world's population is trying to recover to get back to normal.

In this book Max Brooks documents the accounts and terrifying stories of different people throughout the world and their experiences with the living dead.

Review:
Yes, the Brad Pitt movie of the same name is based on this book but is, thankfully, nothing like it. Hallelujah; that movie was pretty awful, in my opinion...

Anyway...

What immediately struck me about this book is the way in which it is written. Various stories and narratives are formed through interviews with different characters, in a way it is therefore like a collection of mini stories. However, it has an obvious journalistic tone as it is written like an interview feature (including interview questions and contextual information) for a magazine or newspaper... (hence why I have labelled it Non-Fiction Fiction). I loved this because it was such an original and engaging way to report the different narrative accounts of the people.

By taking into account the diversity of the worlds population, the book really explored the political and cultural impact of a zombie apocalypse. For example, the book takes into account the military logistics, weaponry, politics and tactics used to fight against zombiea. I found this really refreshing for the genre as many books in the zombie genre, only focus on the impact zombies have on individuals; not whole nations and governments as a whole.

That said, the individual stories are quite short and jumped around a lot. Nonetheless, you get really sucked into the plot of each. I also loved they way they all linked together and formed different perspectives of the war from different parts of the world and how they all had a shared enemy of the living dead. The ending sums this shared consensus up really well, and leaves you thinking through the use of short inspirational quotes from his interviewees. I really liked these little touches at the end.

I am an avid zombie film, book and TV fan so was a bit apprehensive about how Brooks would portray zombies. However, his concepts were really original and different compared to others in the zombie genre. I especially liked the how the zombies freeze in the winter, how they can survive underwater and how dogs can be used to fight them. As you can probably tell; I take my zombies very seriously.

However, I do think that he could have made them a bit more gruesome...

Rating: 9/10. Nice and refreshing read for the zombie genre. Do not watch the film.

You can buy World War Z from Amazon here.