World War Z, Book Review

by Max Brooks
ISBN: 9780307346612

Pros: clever writing, multiple viewpoints each written in a distinctive tone, Brooks knew his Earth & its history thoroughly

Cons: too short!, the stories are so interesting I could have read twice their number

I resisted reading this when it first came out because I'm not a fan of zombies, and there was too much hype about it (which generally kills my desire to read something).

World War Z deserved the hype. It's a brilliantly written 'oral history'. Basically it's a documentary of personal experiences before, during and after the war.

Brooks's world building is impeccable, he 'interviews' people from all over the world, hearing their accounts of learning about, and dealing with, the infection that reanimated dead bodies.

Each voice is unique, with its own inflections, style of speech, use of profanity, etc. It reads like history, You don't know the full story, there's too much to tell, so you have to fill in a lot of gaps yourself. The interviewer's stated purpose is the put a 'human face' on the crisis, and it is successful.