My husband I have this thing about zombie films, we love them and so in an attempt to get my husband to read more I bought him World War Z a couple of birthdays ago. On the bookshelf it went, unread. I didn't feel like I could just pick it up and read it given that I had bought it for him but I hated the fact it was just sat there, unread. And I quite like zombies, and it was unread, and my husband was unlikely to read it............... so I picked it up and read it, in 3 days. It wasn't that I was trying to be all stealth like (read and replace before he notices) it was just really easy to read.
The book was a series of peoples recollections of their experiences during the 'zombie war' that had taken place 10 years ago and had devastated the world and I loved how Brooks never slipped from this premise - from the forward to the dedication at the end of the book the reader was totally submersed in the fact that the war had taken place. Even the blurb at the back of the book didn't break character.
You could tell that Brooks had really spent time in putting these individual stories together. He had thought of everything from how it affected the deepest oceans, to what happened to those astronauts who were (un)lucky enough to be in orbit when the war took place, which countries went nuclear, to who was worse affected and why (Iceland apparently, I'll let you read why). Everyone's perspective was covered, soldiers, officials, Joe Blogs on the street right from the very early outbreaks of' African Rabies' to the winning of the war and the slow recovery. The detail was excellent and a few history books could learn from Brooks' style of setting out 'facts' in amongst story telling. So many zombie books/films don't take you past what happens once you have survived the night or made it to the supposed safe harbour. This book did and I really enjoyed reading about things like the spring sweeps and the changes in societies.
Brooks captured the horrors of a zombie war brilliantly and really gave pause for thought as to how easily the epidemic spread, people trafficking, illegal organ donation, misinformation how many of those are happening right at this moment? I loved how events such as The Great Panic and Yonkers were described and then ingrained into the narrative throughout the book. Humans were shown as very flawed, very unprepared and very naive yet they survived with ingenuity such as the training of dogs, the moral boosting documentaries and zombie proof armour.
I liked the short sharp snippets that each story revealed (very much like Scotland the Autobiography which is totally NOT about Zombies). I'm not sure when this book was written but I particularly enjoyed the ending of the celebrity big brother style house how perfect that there was one in this reality saturated world we live in.
My only real criticism was there were too many males as the heroes. In fact they weren't just portrayed as heroes as a few were pretty questionable but there was just a lot of men in general telling stories from positions of power. The woman's story who most stood out for me was the Russian lady who was selling her womb to help repopulate Russia. Women are so much more than a womb and it was disappointing that a few more of the officials interviewed weren't female.
It was a really different book to read, both from what is on the market and to the film starring Brad Pitt. In the film Pitt was searching for the start of the disease with the hope of finding a cure, in the book the main character had written a government report and wanted the voices of those who experienced the war to be heard. The main character's presence was only felt via the introductory sentences of each section with occasional questions interposed to help with the narrative, something no Brad Pitt fan would have wanted!
In case you haven't gathered from above, I really enjoyed this book and have returned it to my shelf. Not just because hubby hasn't read it yet (if I'm honest he probably won't, I'm trying to force him in the direction of The Martian at the moment. One day hopefully). Ooh by the way did you know that Andy Weir has a new space book out - Artemis, based on a crime taking place on a habited moon. Has anyone read it? Anyway, what was I saying? Oh yes, not just because of hubby but because it's good. I love a good zombie!
The book was a series of peoples recollections of their experiences during the 'zombie war' that had taken place 10 years ago and had devastated the world and I loved how Brooks never slipped from this premise - from the forward to the dedication at the end of the book the reader was totally submersed in the fact that the war had taken place. Even the blurb at the back of the book didn't break character.
You could tell that Brooks had really spent time in putting these individual stories together. He had thought of everything from how it affected the deepest oceans, to what happened to those astronauts who were (un)lucky enough to be in orbit when the war took place, which countries went nuclear, to who was worse affected and why (Iceland apparently, I'll let you read why). Everyone's perspective was covered, soldiers, officials, Joe Blogs on the street right from the very early outbreaks of' African Rabies' to the winning of the war and the slow recovery. The detail was excellent and a few history books could learn from Brooks' style of setting out 'facts' in amongst story telling. So many zombie books/films don't take you past what happens once you have survived the night or made it to the supposed safe harbour. This book did and I really enjoyed reading about things like the spring sweeps and the changes in societies.
Brooks captured the horrors of a zombie war brilliantly and really gave pause for thought as to how easily the epidemic spread, people trafficking, illegal organ donation, misinformation how many of those are happening right at this moment? I loved how events such as The Great Panic and Yonkers were described and then ingrained into the narrative throughout the book. Humans were shown as very flawed, very unprepared and very naive yet they survived with ingenuity such as the training of dogs, the moral boosting documentaries and zombie proof armour.
I liked the short sharp snippets that each story revealed (very much like Scotland the Autobiography which is totally NOT about Zombies). I'm not sure when this book was written but I particularly enjoyed the ending of the celebrity big brother style house how perfect that there was one in this reality saturated world we live in.
My only real criticism was there were too many males as the heroes. In fact they weren't just portrayed as heroes as a few were pretty questionable but there was just a lot of men in general telling stories from positions of power. The woman's story who most stood out for me was the Russian lady who was selling her womb to help repopulate Russia. Women are so much more than a womb and it was disappointing that a few more of the officials interviewed weren't female.
It was a really different book to read, both from what is on the market and to the film starring Brad Pitt. In the film Pitt was searching for the start of the disease with the hope of finding a cure, in the book the main character had written a government report and wanted the voices of those who experienced the war to be heard. The main character's presence was only felt via the introductory sentences of each section with occasional questions interposed to help with the narrative, something no Brad Pitt fan would have wanted!
In case you haven't gathered from above, I really enjoyed this book and have returned it to my shelf. Not just because hubby hasn't read it yet (if I'm honest he probably won't, I'm trying to force him in the direction of The Martian at the moment. One day hopefully). Ooh by the way did you know that Andy Weir has a new space book out - Artemis, based on a crime taking place on a habited moon. Has anyone read it? Anyway, what was I saying? Oh yes, not just because of hubby but because it's good. I love a good zombie!
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