Reviews with content warning for Death - World War Z: An Oral History of the Zombie War

Reading World War Z in 2024 is strange and beautiful because, on a much less catastrophic scale, we're now in a similar position to its narrators.

We have emerged on the other end of a devastating pandemic. It's not over, not really, the proverbial zombies do still bite people all the time, but that's just part of our way of life now. We all remember watching it grow in other countries and then reach our own shores, our calls to the government to take some action growing in intensity while they simply ignored the issue because doing nothing and assuring us things were going to be fine was easier to do in an election year. We all remember the sudden onset of panic when lockdown was declared, we remember the political pissing matches over whether these measures were necessary, and we remember the callousness of many who simply refused to take on their new civic responsibilities.
We were trapped inside for six months, a year, for some of us longer. We fell out of contact with friends, family, and the outside world at large. Sometimes we didn't leave our houses for weeks or months at a time. People began dying regardless. We all caught it, or at least know many, many people who caught it. Many of us know someone who died.
And then, suddenly, it was declared over. The vaccine worked! The zombies are gone! You can go back to work now! But people still die. The shape of our infrastructure is forever changed by the measures taken -- ordering groceries to be delivered is a great convenience born from necessity and no small amount of blood. We all lost a year of our lives. And we just live on regardless, because what are we gonna do? Just stop the economy from turning?

When the book was written, back in 2007, World War Z was painfully familiar with the fact that our lives in the West were somewhat insulated from the things that happen on the news. We rarely dealt with disease, with war, with governmental instability, with shortage. It meditates on 9/11 and the AIDS epidemic, moments when the American public was confronted with the fragility of its own security. And it meditates on our reactions before -- ignore, deny, shift the blame -- and after -- go on the attack, then go back to normal. Anything but substantive change.

Ain't that the truth.

I tried to read WWZ several years ago and bounced off. It was a little too dry for my teenage attention span. I think, in hindsight, that was a good thing. I'd never have appreciated then it as much as I can now.

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holistichistorian's review against another edition

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adventurous dark emotional funny inspiring sad tense medium-paced

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

4.75

World War Z is unlike any book I’ve ever read. As a work of historical fiction, I find it extremely interesting. I thoroughly enjoy its interview style, it kept me turning pages and made for an interesting and surprisingly fast read. I found the excerpts from other countries (such as in the Around the World, and Above chapter) much more interesting than the many from America, the interview of Mister Khan from Rajasthan in particular. I felt that the ‘show, don’t tell’ aspect of this novel worked quite well in parts, eluding to certain world events and leaders as if the reader were a part of that universe and was already familiar with them. The emotional beats were well placed and fitting, I never felt overwhelmed but the grief and despair of the characters were warranted and written well. As a fan of horror, gore and all that comes with it, I am satisfied. There were plenty of gruesome depictions of zombies and battles, I found the retelling of combat just as gripping and tense as if I were watching it in real-time.

As for my gripes, there are only a few. I found some of the characters, especially from the military, to be slightly too similar in their personality which, at points, made it difficult to differentiate accounts. Furthermore, as previously stated, I found that there was too much focus on America, both in its status during the war and in the amount of Americans interviewed. However, I do understand this novel’s fixation since the author is himself American. I’m sure a British author would have written too much about Britain. As for the depictions of other countries and cultures, I felt like this was absolutely necessary for a novel about a world war. I am interested to hear how other people feel about the accuracy of this representation.

Overall, I thoroughly enjoyed this novel. I wish there was more on Scotland but I found some form of comfort or relatability in most of the characters in any case. I feel like it’s a must-read for any zombie nut and, possibly, for any aspiring historian as a fun bit of fiction. I recommend this to anyone who likes their action adventure on the dark side - it has depressingly realistic moments. Proceed with caution if you find mental health difficult to read about. I hope many more find World War Z as exhilarating a read as I have!

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lexkazokas's review against another edition

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adventurous challenging dark reflective tense medium-paced

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

3.25

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gawdz0rz's review against another edition

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adventurous dark tense medium-paced

Plot- or character-driven? Plot
Strong character development? No
Loveable characters? No
Diverse cast of characters? Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus? No

3.75

decent book, well-written, interesting pov.

i appreciated the (brief) mention of environmental impact of the war. i also learned some historical things while reading this.

there were quite a few stereotypes of the characters that were not great, unfortunately. i also felt my brain and eyes glaze over every time there were details pertaining to military equipment or anything like that.

i don’t remember the movie very well but from what i do remember, the book is not like the movie, which certainly isn’t a bad thing!

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whynotreadwithalex's review against another edition

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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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karina5162's review against another edition

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dark reflective sad medium-paced

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

4.0

Super compelling, please tell me more about countries other than America though.
Also if you're going to read it, go for the audiobook, it is maybe one of the best-produced audiobooks I've ever listened to. Enough so that I read a zombie book. And I hate zombies.

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