I finally read this book, and all I can say is wow. I was surprised at how engrossing and affecting it was. The depiction of how people and governments responded to the growing crisis felt quite realistic, sometimes depressingly so. I’ve always loved books about survival in terrible circumstances, but I don’t much like gore, so I had hesitated to pick this up. As it turns out, it was right up my alley.
I’m going to get The Zombie Survival Guide at the next opportunity. You can never be careful enough, right? Knowledge is power!
I know there was at least one thread about World War Z in the past, but search doesn’t seem to be working for me. Is there a kind soul with stronger search-fu who could link to it?
One of the interviews that stayed with me was that with Sharon, the girl who had been holed up in the church with her mother and the other people. I had to read the last several paragraphs twice to realize exactly what she was describing after the zombies started to break in to the room. “They were big, soft arms.” Dear me.
I loved World War Z so much that I bought it as a book and audiobook. My favorite interviews were with the female pilot and the Japanese computer geek and the gardner.
I bought WWZ and thought I would not like it. It turns out the book is paper based crack cocaine. I could not put it down.
I loaned it to a friend. His response was “What is this shit?”
I told him to read the first two chapters.
He came back and told me he could not put it down.
(BTW he is ex-military)
I love the interviews with Todd, the regular army grunt and the guy who was at Windsor Castle with the queen.(sorry I can’t be more specific, I left my copy at the office). I would like to believe that the military would be a bit more effective in dealing with the outbreak and large stand-up type engagements than they were in the book. Of course a zombie uprising would never happen in real life. No, no of course not. heh heh…
The way Brooks describes the outbreak and panic is eerily close to what would happen in reality.
I concur that World War Z was a good book, and that the unique interview style worked well (each chapter focused on a different aspect of the zombie infection, as told by different interviewees). I was also surprised at how haunting some of the stories were – not something I expected from zombie fiction.
By comparison, the Zombie Survival Guide was disappointing. Most of the interesting material was revealed in WWZ, and at times the book seemed as if it was a poorly written role playing game manual. I believe the Survival Guide was written a few years before WWZ, and Brooks clearly improved his writing skills in the intervening years. Also, please note that the Survival Guide does not contain any stories or narratives – it is written in the style of an army training manual.
If you are a die-hard Zombie fan, then you will probably find the Survival Guide worth having. If you are expecting another WWZ, you will most likely be disappointed.
If this works, here’s a search. It took multiple tries not to get error messages, with a 5-minute wait each time. I’m starting to evaluate whether any given search is “spongeworthy”! This one searched for “world,” the closest I could get oin title search, but you’ll find several relevant threads.
It’s been a while since I read the book but yea, it was fun. I remember one chapter about some blind japanese sensei guy that kind of fell flat (he had some kind of sixth sense for killing zombies animatrix style?)–what’s everyone’s take on that? Or am I even remembering it right?
Heres the thing, it was not a unique style. It was copied directly from Studs Terkel’s The Good War. I’m not saying that is a bad thing. I heard it was a zombie Good War, thats why I bought it. And Brooks acknowledges Terkel in the book. As I mentioned in a recent thread, what disappointed me about the book was that it did not go into the depth that Terkel did. TGW showed WWII from all aspect, mundane to the amazing. Terkel did an incredible job of finding people from all parts of the war, homefront and battlefield. I can not say enough about it. Too many holes in WWZ. There needed to be more. If this was not patterned off of TGW then I probably would not have had this problem.
The story that I liked that best was the South African that came up with the plan. i thought that was well done. I guessed what was happening to the female pilot almost from the first paragraph.
It wasn’t so much a sixth sense as it was using his other 4 senses. He wasn’t a sensei, either. He was blind because he saw the blast at Hiroshima. My problem with that story is when he describes that he learned to hit them with his weapon right across the bridge of the nose. How would he know?
The book ended up being a lot better than I thought it’d be. I looked at it and thought the pages would take some time to trudge through, but it goes by rather quickly.
FINE! I’ll add it to my reading list! Geesh, people, can’t a girl recover from a recent apocalyptic fiction thread for at least a week before you shove another glowingly reviewed book at me? (I’m reading The Giver right now, but it is a quick read, on to WWZ)
I was stoked to read this book from my brother raving about it. I was disappointed. The best parts were no better than okay. The worst parts were retarded.
You are. Brooks is a little worshipful of Japanese martial arts and weapons, both in World War Z and in The Zombie Survival Guide. That got a little tiring in my mind.
World War Z was a fun and engaging read, I’ll admit, but there were holes and problems. I’d read it again, though.
Actually, the Survival Guide, at least my edition, has an appendix with several “historical” accounts (such as a Roman legion pragmatically and effectively dealing with a zombie outbreak in ancient Britain). I found those the most interesting part.
My only problem with World War Z was that I wanted it to be twice as long, with interviews with, say, biological scientists. And there really ought to be a whole book about the Hero City. (In the USSR, twelve cities were designated “Hero Cities” by Stalin for the way they resisted the Germans; in World War Z, “Hero City” seems to refer to NYC.)
One part of World War Z that kept coming back to me was the interview about the dogs.
Thanks again for turning me on to Terkel’s book. The exerpts I’ve read look great, and I’m ordering it.
The part with the female pilot didn’t completely work for me. I mean, the narrative of survival was great, but the “twist” seemed like an unnecessary melodramatic addition. (Then again, who can say what the psychological effects of dealing with actual, walking dead people would be? I remember one interview talked about radio operators with a nearly 100% suicide rate after weeks of listening to the last broadcasts of people they couldn’t help.)
I had a Barnes and Noble gift card sitting on the counter since Christmas. Today, I used it to purchase World War Z. I cannot wait to start reading it.
