World War Z: An Oral History of the Zombie War- Max Brooks

I have a lot of thoughts about this book… So many that I started keeping notes in my phone as I read. Not only is it an interesting plot, playing directly into the zombie obsessed America we’re currently living in, it’s told in a way that is exceptional to how many books are written: retrospective, as a reporter has been traveling around the world to interview subjects of the war (hence the subtitle). 

World War Z takes place in the not too distant future, shortly after Earth has narrowly survived a virus that creates the undead, which then bite uninfected humans to continue the virus’ spread across the world. The plot device is an unnamed and rarely heard from (except in occasional questions) reporter, interviewing subjects affected by the war, progressing from infection to the aftermath. The story is cynical. Kind of unbelievably so, and especially towards politics, the media, and the way that the general population treats and reacts to news. However, because of this, it is extremely interesting and can easily be applied to a life unaffected by a zombie apocalypse. It’s desolate, desperate, and horrifying. So much so that I’m not sure I want to see a movie based on this book. But you know the humans win. And you wonder the whole time how in the world they got out of it. So you keep reading. Usually I can't get involved in a story without any real main characters or plots, but this one is different. If there are books written like this about real wars I would be interested in reading them. It’s a documentary in book form.

The only thing keeping this book from a five is that I kept getting pulled out of the story. I don’t know if it was due to the way it was told, the specific person’s interview I was currently reading, or distractions in general, but I had occasional trouble with remembering who was talking and how they fit into the overarching plot. When I put the book down, it was hard to get back into. And the middle was by far the best part of the book. All in all though, a really interesting book, and recommended if you like this sort of thing. 4/5