Max Brooks describes a world overwhelmed by reanimated corpses as the human race rapidly declines and struggles to survive against the rising numbers of the undead in World War Z: An Oral History of the Zombie War.
The story is told from a very different point of view. It is first person point of view, but the people explaining their side of the story are being interviewed. Occasionally a line is italicized and bolded which indicates the reporter asking his question. The interviewer, or reporter, is never given a name throughout the book.
The plague starts with patient zero in China, a young boy. Nobody knows how this young boy was infected but it was said he was exploring in a forbidden zone, a village or town that was abandoned because of a dam that was built that would redirect the water flow to flood the town. The Chinese government attempts to control the disease, but it is spread through the black market dealing of organs, refugees, and a larger outbreak in South Africa.
At first nobody really cares about these outbreaks, except Israel who closes their borders to all except uninfected Jews and Palestinians, also building huge walls in order to prevent anybody sneaking through the borders. Eventually the disease spreads to different areas around the world falsl to the infected, and a period known as “The Great Panic” sets in. Soon after the start of “The Great Panic” America witnesses the fall of New York.
In response to this the military sets up defenses in Yonkers which turns out as a disaster as modern tactics prove to be completely useless against the zombies who keep coming unless their brain is destroyed. The infected overrun the military and the civilians of The United States of America see on television the devastated soldiers and many begin to lose hope.
Max Brooks’ writing style for the novel is very interesting to read. The story is not taking place during the time the book is about, and there are many different main characters. The reporter asks questions of many different people, each chapter is a different person, and as these people answer the questions and tell their story the history of this plague is uncovered to the reader. This different writing style shouldn’t keep anyone from reading the book. The author writes it very well despite this style.
Along with this popular book it has been developed into a Hollywood movie starring Brad Pitt. This film is extremely different from the book. In a 2012 interview Brooks claimed that the film had nothing in common with the book other than a title.
Picture Credit: Photo via staticfilckr.com under the Creative Commons License. This picture is from the World War Z movie title with Gerry Lane (Brad Pitt) sitting in the back of a plane looking over one of the cities fallen to the chaos of the infected.
Although it is recommended, as with any book that is transferred to the big screen, you should read the book first. However, no matter what you do you will be pleased with World War Z whether it’s on the screen or on the page.
