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Mario the lone bookwolf's Reviews > World War Z: An Oral History of the Zombie War
World War Z: An Oral History of the Zombie War
by
by
Mario the lone bookwolf's review
bookshelves: horror
Mar 03, 2018
bookshelves: horror
Read 2 times. Last read December 16, 2022.
A perfect vivisection
Of the social, economic, environmental, and political consequences of zombie outbreaks
One day, it might be a helpful or even lifesaving work one hopefully has as a paperback and not on an ebook reader. The seriousness and attention to detail Brooks put in his work are part of the satire, because it really feels as if a real reporter is investigating a story.
Each one reacts differently
As in the ironic Zombie survival guide, Brooks uses all possible aspects of a zombie apocalypse, from its beginning until how it could end, including each human's individual reaction to it to describe the happenings.
Less action, more characters
Switching between the interviews, the book gives a new and more personal view on this very prominent topic, avoiding stereotypes and overused tropes, and is instead telling it from the points of view of very different people that wouldn´t normally be used to write the standard book or movie script.
Could be used in other genres too
The idea of using interviews as the main element for telling a story is a rare style element, but full of potential for more frequent use in fiction, although it might get very tricky to integrate it in a way that doesn´t interrupt the flow. But a Fantasy or Sci-Fi novel told from those perspectives would be a nice variation of the scheme.
Not as superficial as the Zombie survival guide
While the zombie survival guide was more a pure fun read, Brooks pimps his writing this time with innuendos, criticism, and social commentary.
It´s maybe also a satire of journalism itself
But I haven´t enough expertise to be competent in that. So maybe Brooks even imitated and satirized the tone of autobiographical monologues and endless introspections that are often unintentional satires already, when reporters are losing rhetorical control.
Tropes show how literature is conceived and which mixture of elements makes works and genres unique:
https://tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pmwiki.ph...
Of the social, economic, environmental, and political consequences of zombie outbreaks
One day, it might be a helpful or even lifesaving work one hopefully has as a paperback and not on an ebook reader. The seriousness and attention to detail Brooks put in his work are part of the satire, because it really feels as if a real reporter is investigating a story.
Each one reacts differently
As in the ironic Zombie survival guide, Brooks uses all possible aspects of a zombie apocalypse, from its beginning until how it could end, including each human's individual reaction to it to describe the happenings.
Less action, more characters
Switching between the interviews, the book gives a new and more personal view on this very prominent topic, avoiding stereotypes and overused tropes, and is instead telling it from the points of view of very different people that wouldn´t normally be used to write the standard book or movie script.
Could be used in other genres too
The idea of using interviews as the main element for telling a story is a rare style element, but full of potential for more frequent use in fiction, although it might get very tricky to integrate it in a way that doesn´t interrupt the flow. But a Fantasy or Sci-Fi novel told from those perspectives would be a nice variation of the scheme.
Not as superficial as the Zombie survival guide
While the zombie survival guide was more a pure fun read, Brooks pimps his writing this time with innuendos, criticism, and social commentary.
It´s maybe also a satire of journalism itself
But I haven´t enough expertise to be competent in that. So maybe Brooks even imitated and satirized the tone of autobiographical monologues and endless introspections that are often unintentional satires already, when reporters are losing rhetorical control.
Tropes show how literature is conceived and which mixture of elements makes works and genres unique:
https://tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pmwiki.ph...
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Reading Progress
Finished Reading
March 3, 2018
– Shelved
Started Reading
December 16, 2022
–
Finished Reading
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by
Julia
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rated it 5 stars
Dec 08, 2019 09:01AM
I found the interview style of this book unique as well. It added a degree of credibility to a trope that doesn't always earn a lot of respect. I enjoyed this one, too :)
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I enjoyed how complex this book was. Not just "zombies! everybody run and kill them." But I liked how the society evolved, loved the insight how people who used to be the top of society suddenly were useless because their work-skill was not needed anymore. And while at first I was unsure about the interview style, it was so cool that you could get so many stories in one book and it still made sense.
However, I have to say that low key the guy in Japan? or was it South Korea? who almost missed the zombie wave because he spend all the time on his computer. That was brilliant.
Julia wrote: "I found the interview style of this book unique as well. It added a degree of credibility to a trope that doesn't always earn a lot of respect. I enjoyed this one, too :)"Yes, it was far less stereotypical and standardized, because it could deal with complex topics that would be too comprehensive for the average zombie movie.
MischaS_ wrote: "I enjoyed how complex this book was. Not just "zombies! everybody run and kill them." But I liked how the society evolved, loved the insight how people who used to be the top of society suddenly we..."The idea with the suddenly useless skills is often mentioned in Sci-Fi and I like the idea that the mightiest and most well-payed people on earth are suddenly average joes because there is no country to rule anymore, money worthless and many just theoretical skills useless.
The "in his own world" trope has hardly been shown in such both funny and tragic way, but I take it as in inspiration of how I would like to deal with such a scenario.
Khalid wrote: "Excellent review."Thanks!
