“It goes by many names: 'The Crisis,' 'The Dark Years,' 'The Walking Plague,' as well as newer and more 'hip' titles such as 'World War Z' and 'Z War One.'”
The zombie genre is amazing. 'Shaun of the Dead' is hilarious, 'The Walking Dead' is one of the best shows on TV, and 'The Last of Us' is the closest you can get to a movie within a video game. However, all of these examples leave a lot of unanswered questions about the worlds which they try to create. That’s not their fault! But by following a single group or a single person in a single area of the world, we're inevitably left with a restricted perspective of the overall conflict. We never find out how the rest of the world is coping with the outbreak. 'Pandemic' and 'global' are words which we take for granted, but we never get to see the true scale of the disease.
However, in 'World War Z', there is no such problem. This book takes form as a series of interviews, which give a platform to a vast array of voices and perspectives. No question is left unanswered, and no rock is left unturned. Brooks seizes the Zs by the throat, and draws the most comprehensive and multi-sided account that has ever been written in this genre. We hear about celebrities in a safehouse, which was televised like a reality TV show; the astronauts in the International Space Station, who watched the entire conflict unfold through their telescopes; a Chinese nuclear submarine, which went into hiding for deserting her country; a British historian, who became an expert in the use of castle defences... and the list goes on and on. Brooks reports everything, from origins to outbreaks to resolutions, from science to history to politics, from Asia to Europe to America to Africa and back again. Some of the interviews are slightly less engaging than others, but that is to be expected. And to be perfectly honest, the vast majority of them really hit the mark.
Perhaps this is due to Brooks' refreshing attention to detail. This doesn't feel like a work of fiction. Every single character feels real, and believable, and is surrounded by authenticity. There are so many technological, military, cultural, linguistic, economic and political references, and all of them feel accurate and convincing. It is clear how much research went into this book. Sometimes, particularly in science fiction, it can be tempting to gloss over the finer details. But this isn't a vague and speculative work - it genuinely feels like the oral history of a real event in human history. That isn't to say that 'World War Z' is dull, or dry, or tedious. Despite the intense accuracy, this is still a gripping work of horror. Aspiring writers should definitely take note: Brooks demonstrates how to create suspense without simply being vague about your subject matter. And the ending doesn’t disappoint either. This is more than just an oral history, but also a powerful parable about the human condition. It contains so much hope, which other apocalyptic narratives are often completely devoid of. This book is uniquely detailed, horrific and simultaneously uplifting.
And in this way, 'World War Z' takes the concept of the zombie to previously unimagined heights. It may even prove to be the ultimate pinnacle of this genre. It's highly unlikely that any other book will be able to capture the concept with as much depth, and detail, and poignancy. Of course, a film adaptation has already been made, and it isn’t too awful. But by following the journey of a single protagonist, the film loses the scope which makes this book so brilliantly unique. It would have been fascinating to see a gritty pseudo-documentary, featuring interviews and reenactments from a variety of characters, to build a genuine ‘history’ of World War Z. The early scripts were going to follow this format, only for later rewrites to strip away the core of the book... in the end, the only thing which the book has in common with the movie is its name.
However, in 'World War Z', there is no such problem. This book takes form as a series of interviews, which give a platform to a vast array of voices and perspectives. No question is left unanswered, and no rock is left unturned. Brooks seizes the Zs by the throat, and draws the most comprehensive and multi-sided account that has ever been written in this genre. We hear about celebrities in a safehouse, which was televised like a reality TV show; the astronauts in the International Space Station, who watched the entire conflict unfold through their telescopes; a Chinese nuclear submarine, which went into hiding for deserting her country; a British historian, who became an expert in the use of castle defences... and the list goes on and on. Brooks reports everything, from origins to outbreaks to resolutions, from science to history to politics, from Asia to Europe to America to Africa and back again. Some of the interviews are slightly less engaging than others, but that is to be expected. And to be perfectly honest, the vast majority of them really hit the mark.
Perhaps this is due to Brooks' refreshing attention to detail. This doesn't feel like a work of fiction. Every single character feels real, and believable, and is surrounded by authenticity. There are so many technological, military, cultural, linguistic, economic and political references, and all of them feel accurate and convincing. It is clear how much research went into this book. Sometimes, particularly in science fiction, it can be tempting to gloss over the finer details. But this isn't a vague and speculative work - it genuinely feels like the oral history of a real event in human history. That isn't to say that 'World War Z' is dull, or dry, or tedious. Despite the intense accuracy, this is still a gripping work of horror. Aspiring writers should definitely take note: Brooks demonstrates how to create suspense without simply being vague about your subject matter. And the ending doesn’t disappoint either. This is more than just an oral history, but also a powerful parable about the human condition. It contains so much hope, which other apocalyptic narratives are often completely devoid of. This book is uniquely detailed, horrific and simultaneously uplifting.
And in this way, 'World War Z' takes the concept of the zombie to previously unimagined heights. It may even prove to be the ultimate pinnacle of this genre. It's highly unlikely that any other book will be able to capture the concept with as much depth, and detail, and poignancy. Of course, a film adaptation has already been made, and it isn’t too awful. But by following the journey of a single protagonist, the film loses the scope which makes this book so brilliantly unique. It would have been fascinating to see a gritty pseudo-documentary, featuring interviews and reenactments from a variety of characters, to build a genuine ‘history’ of World War Z. The early scripts were going to follow this format, only for later rewrites to strip away the core of the book... in the end, the only thing which the book has in common with the movie is its name.
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