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A review by amorphousbl0b
World War Z: An Oral History of the Zombie War by Max Brooks
dark
tense
slow-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Plot
- Strong character development? It's complicated
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? No
4.5
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.
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.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Death, Gore, Suicide, Violence, and Pandemic/Epidemic
Moderate: Animal death, Child death, Abandonment, and War
Minor: Self harm, Xenophobia, and Cannibalism