World War Z: An Oral History of the Zombie Wars

[Reverend]

It's not quite as straight forward as that. The book is essentially a compilation of "in universe" interviews with people from all over the world and in all walks of life who lived through the whole thing, so you "see" the whole thing on a much grander scale than the average Zombie Survival story, while at the same time retaining the street level perspective. What it's really about, to me at least, is how people - from individuals, mobs, groups, nations all the way up to the species in general - deals with and adapts to (or not, in some cases) extreme stress and upheaval. In fact, for the most part the zombies themselves are barely in it. I can only think of a few chapters that deals with the Z-heads directly and most of them are the recollections of military types. The one involving a pilot, crashing in the middle of an infested zone springs to mind.

Stories and especially movies that drop a bunch of characters right in the middle of a zombie infestation are all very well and good, but it's been done, many many times (and done well too) rather than just beat the proverbial undead horse, this book dose something different and I think rather unique and compelling.

Oh and any zombie story that has Nelson Mandela in it has GOT to be worth a read.

[Phily B]

I liked the book a lot, the only part of it that didn't sit right with me was the Battle of Yonkers.

[Gotham Central]

Phily B wrote:

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I liked the book a lot, the only part of it that didn't sit right with me was the Battle of Yonkers.

The Battle of Yonkers is the most pivotal point in the book. Its failure sparks "The Great Panic." It was mostly an alegory of how militaries are always prepared to fight the last war and fumble the initial strategy in the new war.

[FrontLine]

Phily B wrote:

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I liked the book a lot, the only part of it that didn't sit right with me was the Battle of Yonkers.

Why?

I thought it was great in that it showed the failures of modern tactics on zombie forces?

Overall I found the book and its style to be very enjoyable. I pestered my wife to read it and she too found it fun. Then again we both love TEOTWAWKI type stories.

[Mistral]

I found this when it came out and had great fun reading it. It just took a different tactic in its presentation that helped breath new life in a tired sub-genre.

[The Squire of Gothos]

Reverend wrote:

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What it's really about, to me at least, is how people - from individuals, mobs, groups, nations all the way up to the species in general - deals with and adapts to (or not, in some cases) extreme stress and upheaval

You could say that about any disaster movie (I see zombies as more disaster than monster movie, same thing, a vast seemingly unstoppable force comes across our heroes). Its just that the bit where an explanation is squeezed in seems a little bit, dare I say it, too geeky.

[Reverend]

I agree that zombie apocalypse type movies are a form of disaster movie. However, unlike WWZ they tend to focus on a group of characters who are in some way connected to each other and often the disaster itself. Be they seperated by the disaster or throw together because of it, the stories tend to be insular and concerned only with drama based on character interaction with the disaster itself (whatever it is) being little more than a catalyst. With WWZ on the other hand it's really about the war itself and it's impact on society rather than the plight of any specific person or group of people. The biggest difference is in it's sheer scope, so in a sense it's a "Disaster Movie Anthology".

[Lookingglassman]

It is a pretty good book. I loved the part that is an obvious reference to Bill Maher and Ann Coulter going at it when faced with their impending doom.

I can see pretty much humans reacting the way they did in the book. I wouldnt doubt one minute that whole sections of live humans will be abandoned while the "fittest" hole up in fortresses until the time where they can go out and kill the zombies.

[Reverend]

I can see pretty much humans reacting the way they did in the book. I wouldnt doubt one minute that whole sections of live humans will be abandoned while the "fittest" hole up in fortresses until the time where they can go out and kill the zombies.

I think the book makes it clear that precisely that tactic is what saves humanity and allows what's left to fight back. The difference being is that those strongholds left behind are regularly resupplied and supported to help them last as long as possible. The rational being that the longer they hold out, the longer they keep the larger swarms distracted.

My favourite bit of human hubris in the book concerns the chapter where some celebrity decided to hold up with a bunch of other celebs and hollywood bigwigs then webcasts themselves surviving in style...I mean you can really imagine some rich idiot thinking this is a good idea. I get the impression the celebs are supposed to be real people, but I've not been able to figure out exactly who everyone is based on the descriptions.

[OdoWanKenobi]

I seem to remember Paris Hilton and Larry the Cable Guy being two of the ones, that while not named, were unmistakably described in that chapter.

[TheBrew]

Classic book. I read it once a year.

[Capt. Vulcan]

I thought the book started off really strong but eventually petered out towards the end. Once it got in to the obvious satire and the sort of, I dunno, agenda driven writing, my interest waned. I thought the chapter about the celebrities was terrible, and I don't think I even bothered finishing the "boo hoo animals" chapter. I also found much of writing from the non-western perspectives too trite for my liking, but not enough for me not to enjoy those chapters. I really enjoyed the first half of the book though.

[Admiral_Young]

Couldn't get into the novel but have bought the audio book that features an actual cast reading with Max Brooks playing the narrator (essentially himself within the universe of the novel). I've heard great things about the audio book so I'm looking forward to listening to it.

[Phily B]

Did anyone else think the President was Obama? Just never named.

[Phily B]

FrontLine wrote:

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Why?

I thought it was great in that it showed the failures of modern tactics on zombie forces?

Overall I found the book and its style to be very enjoyable. I pestered my wife to read it and she too found it fun. Then again we both love TEOTWAWKI type stories.

The idea that they would start to crack under pressure like that, or that the military would go in like that. I mean I understand the idea behind it all, but the troops would've been well briefed about the zombies imo and the tank shells, air strikes etc would've done enough damage to the zombies brains or limbs to disable them. It wouldn't have been half as terrible or as much of a defeat as was described.