CBR 12 #5 World War Z by Max Brooks (redux)

Is it weird that World War Z is one of my comfort reads?  I rarely reread books.  I get anxious when I'm rereading because I keep thinking that I should be reading something new.  I mean, my to be read list is not getting any shorter.  World War Z is one of the few books that I have reread more than once.  The others are The Drifters by James Michener, A Ring of Endless Light by L'Engle and Jacob Have I Loved by Katherine Patterson.  I have not reread the other three yet so I might still be ok.  Well, maybe.  The year is still long.

It is a well known fact that the World War Z book so far from the movie that Brad Pitt should just basically be cancelled (this is a joke).  The book is an oral history of the Zombie War,tracing events from the initial outbreak in China until years later when the Zs have been all but defeated.  It features interviews from people from all over the world speaking of their experiences and stitched together to form a coherent record of the events.  There are many stories told.  Some are plot drive, meant to explain how things happened and the timeline.  Some stories are there for the texture, to show hoe different people in different parts of the world survived, or didn't.  

I loved the documentary feel of the book, since it is made up of "interviews".  I love the writing, I love the stories.  Some scary, some heartbreaking, some hopeful, some celebratory, and some, even prescient.  I don't know how to say again and again that I really really really love the concept of the book (it hits all my post apocalyptic and documentary spots), then he nails the execution.  I really think this should have been made as a TV series.  Even like a "mockumentary", but serious and with reenactments.  One can only hope, that like the Zs, this story will rise again, to be told in a visual medium, much better that the last time.

# 24 World War Z by Max Brooks

Again, blame the sloooow internet connection at the office leaving me with no other way to goof off that to re read my ebooks. I really liked, no actually, love this book the first time I read it, and the second time was no different.

This book is written as an oral history, collected around 10 years after the great Zombie Wars, or World War Z. The Zombie outbreak started in China, quickly spreading all over the world. The book tells the story of the zombie outbreak from that initial outbreak, through its spread, its peak, and finally, its suppression, through the testimonials of people who played a part in the events.

I love zombie fiction as much as the next Pajiban but I really liked this fresh take in the genre. While most zombie fic focus on a group of survivors, this one is huge in scope, essentially imagining how the world would react in the event of such a catastrophe. I love that it is so realistic, looking at the conditions, politics and general views of a country or group of people, and just trying to see how they would cope.

It was exciting and heartbreaking at the same time, really a lot like those documentaries you would see on National Geographic about WW II or something. Except that the enemies are zombies instead of Nazis. And maybe some zombie nazis.

Again, could not recommend this book enough. My only complaint is that I wish it were longer, with more voices.