Reviews tagging 'Excrement'

Guerra Mundial Z: Una Historia Oral de la Guerra Zombie by Max Brooks

6 reviews

gr4cie's review against another edition

adventurous challenging emotional tense fast-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Character
• Strong character development? It's complicated
• Loveable characters? It's complicated
• Diverse cast of characters? Yes
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

4.75

This is such an intriguing and new way to capture a zombie book. By having it as a documentary style, and gaining multiple peoples perspectives you get a full captured view of how this world works and how it was shaped. Absolutely draws you in and you won’t want to put it down. Keeps your attention at every turn 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Animal death, Body horror, Child death, Cursing, Genocide, Gore, Gun violence, Hate crime, Rape, Suicidal thoughts, Suicide, Torture, Violence, Blood, Excrement, Vomit, Police brutality, Islamophobia, Grief, Cannibalism, Murder, Sexual harassment, War, Deportation, and Pandemic/Epidemic

whynotreadwithalex's review against another edition

adventurous dark emotional tense slow-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Character
• Strong character development? No
• Loveable characters? No
• Diverse cast of characters? Yes
• Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated

3.0

Gotta say, I love me a good zombie story! Picked up this audiobook because I absolutely love the movie and wanted to see how it all started. Although the book is COMPLETELY different from the film, it was enjoyable, adventurous, fast-paced, and, well, globally terrifying!

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Content Warnings

Moderate: Addiction, Alcoholism, Animal cruelty, Animal death, Body horror, Child death, Cursing, Death, Domestic abuse, Drug abuse, Drug use, Eating disorder, Emotional abuse, Genocide, Gore, Panic attacks/disorders, Physical abuse, Rape, Blood, Excrement, Antisemitism, Grief, Cannibalism, Death of parent, Murder, Alcohol, Injury/Injury detail, and Pandemic/Epidemic

jazhandz's review against another edition

challenging dark medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Plot
• Strong character development? No
• Loveable characters? It's complicated
• Diverse cast of characters? It's complicated
• Flaws of characters a main focus? No

4.5

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Body horror, Death, Gore, Gun violence, Violence, Blood, War, Injury/Injury detail, and Pandemic/Epidemic

Moderate: Animal death, Child death, Mental illness, Suicide, Excrement, Medical content, Grief, Death of parent, and Schizophrenia/Psychosis

Minor: Cannibalism and Pregnancy

bri__'s review against another edition

challenging dark emotional informative mysterious sad tense medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? A mix
• Strong character development? Yes
• Loveable characters? It's complicated
• Diverse cast of characters? Yes
• Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated

4.5

The writing is exceptional and the post-war documentary format is different to any other book that I've read. The inconsistency of the characters (apart from the narrator), provided a more broad perspective of 'World War Z' and also helped to make the experiences of each character feel more individual and unique. The book itself is well thought-out and it is evident that Max Brooks has done his research. While some stories I found boring and confusing, there were others that I found thrilling and overall captivating. That is the beauty of this type of format with a variety of different stories, there are bound to be ones that are favoured over the others and that makes the experience all the more personal.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Animal death, Body horror, Child death, Cursing, Death, Drug use, Genocide, Gore, Gun violence, Self harm, Suicidal thoughts, Suicide, Violence, Blood, Excrement, Vomit, Medical content, Grief, Cannibalism, Suicide attempt, Death of parent, Murder, Fire/Fire injury, Abandonment, War, and Injury/Injury detail

Moderate: Racism

Minor: Ableism, Confinement, Racial slurs, Rape, Sexual assault, Pregnancy, and Classism

percys_panda_pillow_pet's review against another edition

adventurous dark hopeful reflective sad tense fast-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? A mix
• Strong character development? Yes
• Loveable characters? It's complicated
• Diverse cast of characters? It's complicated
• Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated

4.0

Almost a year ago I picked up Max Brooks' book, Devolution. I hadn't even realized it was a horror book, nor that it was by the same author who wrote the New York Times Bestseller World War Z. Since, finishing Devolution in all its gory, terrifying glory, I decided I had to check out his previous, most famous work. 

Despite being written 14 years prior to Devolution, I didn't see much change in style and prose. It's not unusual to feel like an author's previous books are less well-written than their latest, many authors grow into their craft like any other author. However, World War Z was just as well written as the later book, which I really have to commend him for. This is not to say the books aren't different.

While World War Z took a more global perspective on the events within it, Devolution was much smaller and more personal. This heavily affected the horror in both books. The latter book was much more terrifying for its close perspective and heavy circumstances. The former, however, had a bit of a lighter tone at times, as there were so many victories to weigh out the losses in the war on Zombies. I would say that while Devolution is more frightening and makes for a better horror book, World War Z makes for a great introspection into humanity and has a bit more hope in it, which I actually preferred. I have to note that I actually rated Devolution lower because it was so heavy at times that I had to take mental breaks, which made the experience not as much fun.

I really liked the retrospective I had while reading this book post-COVID and many other important events that have happened between now and 2006 when the book was first published. I think it's amazing how Brooks actually captured certain pandemic ideologies that cropped up during COVID, and the way the government didn't do as much until trouble was beyond the doorstep and into the house, so to speak. So many plague/apocalyptic books failed to accurately predict what pandemic life was actually like, but Brooks got fairly close. I also really enjoyed the meta aspect as well and all the worldbuilding.

I think my only gripe was that I had an issue remembering all the new names for countries, as well as the names and places where the "author" was interviewing various characters. I had known that several of them repeated eventually, but I was only able to follow a few. I think perhaps a character list and map would've really helped this book.

Otherwise, I had a great time reading this and could picture myself rereading it in the future. I definitely want to check out the movie that was made and see how that is.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Body horror, Confinement, Death, Eating disorder, Gore, Gun violence, Mental illness, Self harm, Suicidal thoughts, Suicide, Violence, Blood, Grief, Suicide attempt, Death of parent, Murder, War, and Injury/Injury detail

Moderate: Animal death, Child death, Domestic abuse, Drug abuse, Drug use, Sexual assault, Sexual violence, Excrement, Medical content, Cannibalism, Religious bigotry, Medical trauma, Pregnancy, Fire/Fire injury, Abandonment, and Alcohol

Minor: Ableism, Addiction, Alcoholism, Animal cruelty, Cancer, Cursing, Emotional abuse, Panic attacks/disorders, Pedophilia, Terminal illness, Antisemitism, Islamophobia, Car accident, Classism, and Deportation

sarahholliday's review against another edition

adventurous challenging dark emotional informative sad tense slow-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? N/A
• Strong character development? N/A
• Loveable characters? No
• Diverse cast of characters? Yes

4.0

This brilliantly constructed book has become a horror classic for a reason. The complexity of Brooks' story, the detail with which he illuminates all aspect of life during and after the Zombie War, the wide range of moral codes he explores...it's utterly unique and will leave you in awe of the mind that came up with it all.

Because of that complexity it can occasionally feel like a slog to get through, especially the middle chapters, but it is still an expertly crafted and well-written book. Perfect for anyone looking for a horror novel without the jump scares or high tension.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Animal death, Body horror, Child death, Cursing, Death, Gore, Mental illness, Suicide, Violence, Blood, Excrement, Cannibalism, War, and Injury/Injury detail