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Reviews tagging 'Child death'
World War Z: An Oral History of the Zombie War by Max Brooks
25 reviews
jazhandz's review against another edition
- 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
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
spilt_moonlight's review against another edition
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? No
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? No
4.0
Graphic: Child death, Gore, and Cannibalism
therealratking's review against another edition
- Plot- or character-driven? Plot
- Strong character development? N/A
- Loveable characters? N/A
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? No
5.0
Whats the book about?
World War Z is comprised of multiple short stories from many diverse people across the globe. The book is set out in an interview type format and follows the rise and fall of the zombie war as perceived from different types of people.
Whats my opinion?
This is an excellent book for those who like alternate histories. The individual stories feel realistic and the low-simmer ever present horror of the undead adds an overarching tension that worms its way deep into your brain. Another element i loved about this book is its commentary on human nature and how society may react when faced with a seemingly invincible enemy.
I highly recommend this book to fans of zombies, history, science and realism.
One criticism is that their were very few female charcters and their personalities felt stereotypically shallow.
Graphic: Death, Gore, Violence, Blood, War, Injury/Injury detail, and Pandemic/Epidemic
Moderate: Animal death, Body horror, Child death, Suicide, and Cannibalism
bebidocrimes's review against another edition
4.0
Graphic: Body horror, Confinement, Death, Gore, Gun violence, Suicide, Violence, Blood, Grief, War, Injury/Injury detail, and Pandemic/Epidemic
Moderate: Animal death, Child death, Cursing, Panic attacks/disorders, Self harm, Cannibalism, Suicide attempt, Abandonment, and Alcohol
meecespieces's review against another edition
- Plot- or character-driven? Plot
- Strong character development? No
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? No
5.0
Graphic: Death, Gore, Violence, and War
Moderate: Animal death and Child death
clarabooksit's review against another edition
Graphic: Ableism, Body horror, Child death, Death, Gore, Gun violence, Racism, Sexism, Suicide, Violence, Xenophobia, Cannibalism, Religious bigotry, Abandonment, War, Injury/Injury detail, Classism, and Pandemic/Epidemic
Moderate: Fatphobia, Grief, and Medical trauma
bri__'s review against another edition
- 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
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
- 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
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.
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
asipofcozy's review against another edition
- 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
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.
Graphic: Animal cruelty, Animal death, Body horror, Child death, Cursing, Death, Genocide, Gore, Gun violence, Mental illness, Panic attacks/disorders, Rape, Sexual assault, Suicidal thoughts, Suicide, Torture, Violence, Blood, Grief, Cannibalism, Suicide attempt, Death of parent, Murder, Abandonment, Colonisation, War, and Injury/Injury detail
rynstagram's review against another edition
4.5
I think the main thing that was missing was more exploration of more indigenous communities. There's not a dearth of indigenous characters, but the communities' responses to the zombie plague isn't really explored.
I like how self-aware this book is. There's bigotry, but only on the part of the characters. The author seems to include bigotry or fanaticism or general assholery to give a more comprehensive view of humanity dealing with a crisis. Without this, I wouldn't believe the story, even if it's not fun to read that part.
The biggest problem I have with this book is that characters' POVs are rarely repeated. Only a couple have more than one interview section throughout the book until the last chapter called "Good-Byes". I ended up forgetting names easily because of this, and when they showed up in other people's stories or as interviewees, I had to do a lot of flipping back. In order to get the full experience, I think I would need to reread this book at least once more.
All the interviewees sounded like real people, and sounded different from each other, which is hard to do just with a couple POVs, let alone dozens. And I am a big fan of the whole meta-media thing where creators pretend that their fiction is a real thing, hence the "oral history" part of the title and the "Introduction" describing the circumstances of the collection of these interviews. I love a good footnote, and the organization of interviews into related sections made the narrative more cohesive.
Damn, who knew a zombie book could be so cool? (Not me, that's for sure!)
Graphic: Body horror, Death, Mental illness, Suicidal thoughts, Suicide, Violence, Medical trauma, Abandonment, War, and Injury/Injury detail
Minor: Addiction, Animal death, Cancer, Child death, Forced institutionalization, Cannibalism, Alcohol, Colonisation, and Classism