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Jonathan Pongratz's Reviews > World War Z: An Oral History of the Zombie War
World War Z: An Oral History of the Zombie War
by
by
This is my first zombie book, and I had some real issues with it.
This book is structured as a kind of fictional documentary documenting the lives and experiences of people that survived World War Z or the Zombie apocalypse. The narrator doesn't really have his own story to tell, but just goes from country to country asking people questions. Simple premise, so it should work right? Wrong.
Let me start with the pros.
-Unique POV's. This book had a lot of solid POV's that I actually would've liked to see more of. Not every one can be amazing, but there were enough to keep the reader going.
-Concept. The concept of the entire world changing (kind of like a parallel universe) due to the zombie outbreak I found entertaining as well. Some nations crumbled while others thrived and rose to the challenge.
On to the cons.
-Too many POV's. Scratch that. WAY too many POV's. There were easily at least 20-30 different POV's, which in theory should work. However, all of these people are from different countries, so it's very jarring if you don't know about these countries. If the book was structured around less POV's in the single digits this probably would've worked a lot better. (-1 star)
-Governmental/Political references. This was the bane of my existence in this book. There were so many political and governmental references thrown around that I was seriously confused in some of the POV's. I don't read fiction to hear about politics and government, so if you're going to write about it, you better be damned sure that you're watering it down so everyone can understand it. This was not the case. (-1 star)
When you compound the pros versus the cons, it comes down to this. The structure of the book betrayed itself in the end. No one can keep up with 30 different POV's, especially from different countries. Though the premise and style of the book were interesting, in the end it's a flop for me.
(2.5/5, rounded up to a 3 because I didn't completely hate my experience.)
This book is structured as a kind of fictional documentary documenting the lives and experiences of people that survived World War Z or the Zombie apocalypse. The narrator doesn't really have his own story to tell, but just goes from country to country asking people questions. Simple premise, so it should work right? Wrong.
Let me start with the pros.
-Unique POV's. This book had a lot of solid POV's that I actually would've liked to see more of. Not every one can be amazing, but there were enough to keep the reader going.
-Concept. The concept of the entire world changing (kind of like a parallel universe) due to the zombie outbreak I found entertaining as well. Some nations crumbled while others thrived and rose to the challenge.
On to the cons.
-Too many POV's. Scratch that. WAY too many POV's. There were easily at least 20-30 different POV's, which in theory should work. However, all of these people are from different countries, so it's very jarring if you don't know about these countries. If the book was structured around less POV's in the single digits this probably would've worked a lot better. (-1 star)
-Governmental/Political references. This was the bane of my existence in this book. There were so many political and governmental references thrown around that I was seriously confused in some of the POV's. I don't read fiction to hear about politics and government, so if you're going to write about it, you better be damned sure that you're watering it down so everyone can understand it. This was not the case. (-1 star)
When you compound the pros versus the cons, it comes down to this. The structure of the book betrayed itself in the end. No one can keep up with 30 different POV's, especially from different countries. Though the premise and style of the book were interesting, in the end it's a flop for me.
(2.5/5, rounded up to a 3 because I didn't completely hate my experience.)
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Reading Progress
November 22, 2016
– Shelved
November 22, 2016
– Shelved as:
to-read
June 11, 2017
–
Started Reading
June 11, 2017
–
3.51%
"This book is a collection of stories from people during the zombie apocalypse essentially.
The first character is a male doctor, Kwang, from China, who arrives to a scene where a little boy is infected with something. The boy escapes his bonds and Kwang and everyone else is able to escape. The Ministry of Health comes by. Kwang already knows that the outbreak is worse than he thought."
page
12
The first character is a male doctor, Kwang, from China, who arrives to a scene where a little boy is infected with something. The boy escapes his bonds and Kwang and everyone else is able to escape. The Ministry of Health comes by. Kwang already knows that the outbreak is worse than he thought."
June 12, 2017
–
8.19%
"MC interviews a doctor that did a heart transplant with an infected heart. The man came back to life and tried to kill him, so he blasted his head off. That was a close one!"
page
28
June 12, 2017
–
10.53%
"MC interviews a man named Jurgen. Early on he saw what was going on and made a 100-page report with a friend of his. He reflects that if more people had read and taken the report seriously, that the outcome could've been much better than it was."
page
36
June 12, 2017
–
13.16%
"End of the first section entitled Warnings. Overall it set up the rising zombie crisis quite well with most of the stories.
The only real irritation I had was end of page 43 to the middle of page 44. Too much governmental/political jargon that I simply could not follow. Not everyone knows what you're talking about so keep it simple please!"
page
45
The only real irritation I had was end of page 43 to the middle of page 44. Too much governmental/political jargon that I simply could not follow. Not everyone knows what you're talking about so keep it simple please!"
June 12, 2017
–
17.25%
"MC has an interview with a pharmaceutical leader who created a fake cure for the viral epidemic. Man, this guy was SUCH an asshole. He made a fortune off the drugs that didn't even work and then blamed whoever exposed his lies for starting the Great Panic.
Just reminds me of that pharmaceutical douchebag not too long ago that raised prices by several times for those meds that tons of people take. Deplorable..."
page
59
Just reminds me of that pharmaceutical douchebag not too long ago that raised prices by several times for those meds that tons of people take. Deplorable..."
June 13, 2017
–
21.35%
"Shit really starts to hit the fan when the general population realizes that the zombies are real. Several haunting stories, one about a family enjoying a night at home then suddenly having to fight off zombies, another where there's a traffic jam and the zombies are eating their way through the traffic lanes. Haunting. Good stuff."
page
73
June 13, 2017
–
26.02%
"A funny side story. This guy is hired to protect celebs from zombies in this big house and everything starts off well except they insist on being in the limelight still. A horde of normal people come running up and want to live there, but the guards open fire and start killing them. Some people inside turn on each other at the same time. Utter chaos, and it was hilarious"
page
89
June 15, 2017
–
40.06%
"By using terrible tactics, parts of the world are able to cut off the zombies. A lot of people had to die as a sacrifice, but it worked. Next section is "Home Front USA""
page
137
June 15, 2017
–
42.69%
"The Americans start to make a plan to retaliate, but first they have to reeducate the white collar workers that are basically useless at the moment. Things start to get a little better."
page
146
June 21, 2017
–
Finished Reading
