Book Babble - World War Z by Max Brooks

In 1984, the book The Good War gave an oral history of WW2. It comprised of a massive amount of interviews, ordered so that the reader had an idea of what happened before, during and after the war as well as the aftermath of it all. I haven't read it myself, but I definitely would like to.

This book inspired the one I actually want to talk twak about: World War Z. Subtitled 'An oral history of the zombie war'.

*insert groans - maybe even with almost throatless wheezes*

So let me establish my street cred (or lack of it) right here. I am not a horror fan. I have been following some Zombie stories, but it usually gets a :-/ reaction out of me. I understand they are scary beyond belief, but I don't want to sit and be scared. I'm just not one of those who get kicks out of it. So when it comes to horror stories, you bet my first reaction is to avoid it. This book was recommended to me by a friend. He lent it to me and I sceptically read the first couple of pages (just to humour him, y'know) and got hooked instantly.

You have so many arguments about Zombie outbreaks. Survival guides, what will work, what won't work. I recently glanced at an article on '7 Scientific Reasons a Zombie Outbreak Would Fail (Quickly)' Some non-Geekers out there would ask the question most of us would avoid answering: "Why on earth have such debates on things that aren't real and never will be?" But then, isn't that what scientists do too? (Well, on things not discovered yet, which is an argument we could apply here too).

So what's this book about?
Set in the near future, World War Z is an oral account of the war arranged in sections spanning the beginning, middle and end of the Zombie war (much like The Good War). That humanity won is a given (unless the Zombies had learnt to communicate, write, read and publish - ha). It starts off with the first infection, how the disease spread, denial, and blind panic. Then it starts moving towards overcoming the obstacles, learning, adapting and finally pushing back. The people who gave the accounts spans from all ages, races, countries, cultures and backgrounds: Doctors, body guards, various types of military & navy personnel, government agents, pilots, reporters, emergency broadcasters, film makers, services coordinators, senseis, clean-up crews and the simple refugees.

The good:There's a lot I could say about this book that I found awesome.

• Brooks did his homework... and then some. Nothing in this book felt thumb-sucked. Be it governmental structures, emergency procedures, military doctrine, the types of weaponry available to us and their most relevant specifications or simply what cultures might focus on differently. I can't imagine the months (years) he must have spent just getting all his facts in a row. Unconsciously, he just about answered every single problem mentioned in the article I linked above without even trying.
• Reading through the accounts, I never felt that it was the same guy giving the account with a different name. I can't go as far as to say that every person was so unique that I was immediately transported to their country and culture, but again, Brooks did his homework. Expressions, some speech patters, perspectives more unique to certain cultures, all of that he managed to bring to the table.
• South Africa has a huge part to play in his story: Yes, many others wouldn't find it a big plus point, but I enjoyed seeing names of places I know. The one Afrikaner who gave a few lines did it in exactly the way I have heard other men of my culture speak. It just made me smile. Paul Redeker and his Redeker Report doesn't exist (you'll understand if you read the book), but the mentality behind him and his report was so distinctly old-school Afrikaans that I (raised in a ahem traditional Afrikaans mindset) totally bought it. I could see the old farts of the National Party sitting down and asking the types of questions asked and making the same conclusions. That's nothing short of awesome in my mind.
• He hits very hard questions which makes you sit and puzzle it out for yourself. And sometimes, you don't even manage to find a suitable answer. Such as: my child is starving and there's no food to find anywhere. What would I resort to?
• It's not horror. It's about zombies taking over the world, but the actual accounts have to do about people. It has to do with how we respond to what's going on around us and not about how the creepy crawly is going to chew on you. That means that the horror abhorred reader will get as much of a kick out of it as the fanatic.

The bad:
I think there is only one thing I can say is 'bad' and that's that it can get a little dry after a while. I found myself reading through only one account a day at some point, until it gets interesting again and then I'd shoot through three. So that's the one thing that was a bit of a downer. It's not necessarily that the accounts aren't relevant or that you don't get some information through it that builds onto your perspective of the world you find yourself in. But I guess it's also just a preference to one guy's story more than to another.

The final verdict:
It's a book that I asked my brother to bring down from England as I finished the borrowed book. I think from a writer's perspective this book is a gem. For a more scientific mind where the technology might be far more important than the politics, I think this book will be gratifying. For the Zombie freak, this is a really good book to sink your teeth into.

So in short: GO READ IT!