Reviews with content warning for Grief - Guerra Mundial Z: Una Historia Oral de la Guerra Zombie

Reviews tagging 'Grief'

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

17 reviews

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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percys_panda_pillow_pet's review against another edition

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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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asipofcozy's review against another edition

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adventurous dark hopeful tense medium-paced

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

4.0

Usually, most people pick up a cozy Christmas read or romance book during the winter. I am definitely not one of those people.

I have seen the World War Z movie multiple times and while not the best zombie movie out there it was really good and gave a new perspective to the zombie apocalypse. So finally, after many years, I decided to pick up the book. Please be aware the book is nothing like the movie as the book is told in a documentary/interview style and the movie follows one character...who isn't even in the book.

I really enjoyed the style of writing. It brought us closer to the situation and gave us many perspectives on the zombie war and what happened in those beginning days of the spread.

Brooks really touched on the basic human instinct of survival, fear, and what would you do to survive. What many of these characters went through and what they had to do to survive was quite appalling at times. Brooks also touched on how society reacts to a global pandemic and war. While this book was written in 2006 it's like Brooks foreshadowed our own pandemic and how we as a real society would react...it's sad and upsetting to think about.

There were so many times where I underlined a part of the book because it reminded me of our own situation and pandemic. And while I get this was a piece of science-fiction, it really highlighted on humans' basic instinct and survival. In the end we are just like any animal doing what it takes to survive in a vicious world.

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akira_outofthegravity's review against another edition

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dark hopeful informative inspiring reflective sad slow-paced

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

4.25

I’ve been really into zombies lately, and I found that there’s usually a formula for these types of stories.

Unlikely middle class straight cis white guy becomes hero, does thing, saves world. End film. Roll credits.

This is nothing like that- which is what makes it so good. It is set in short bursts, with the “author” interviewing people who all were around when World War Z was happening. This ranges from suburban moms to illegal organ harvesters, those who were there at the beginning and the end. The soldiers, the general. The good and the evil. Those who purposefully sent people to die, those who purposefully made a false cure, those who- in the beginning- their government tried to cover up what they found.

It is fascinating and brings up points like economics, how would people survive, what an armed response would be like, the lasting damages to the planet, feral people, feral animals, people who were so convinced they were zombies that they’d actually bite people. It mentions the traitors, the loyalists, the heroes and the villains and manages to paint an entire story of a 10 year war in just over 300 pages. And for that I think this book is spectacular. But most of all it’s hopeful. The war ends, and people are allowed to move on. I think the horror in this book comes more from the human side of the war, but nevertheless this is a fantastic read and a must for any zombie lover- such as myself.

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