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holistichistorian's review against another edition
adventurous
dark
emotional
funny
inspiring
sad
tense
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? It's complicated
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated
4.75
World War Z is unlike any book I’ve ever read. As a work of historical fiction, I find it extremely interesting. I thoroughly enjoy its interview style, it kept me turning pages and made for an interesting and surprisingly fast read. I found the excerpts from other countries (such as in the Around the World, and Above chapter) much more interesting than the many from America, the interview of Mister Khan from Rajasthan in particular. I felt that the ‘show, don’t tell’ aspect of this novel worked quite well in parts, eluding to certain world events and leaders as if the reader were a part of that universe and was already familiar with them. The emotional beats were well placed and fitting, I never felt overwhelmed but the grief and despair of the characters were warranted and written well. As a fan of horror, gore and all that comes with it, I am satisfied. There were plenty of gruesome depictions of zombies and battles, I found the retelling of combat just as gripping and tense as if I were watching it in real-time.
As for my gripes, there are only a few. I found some of the characters, especially from the military, to be slightly too similar in their personality which, at points, made it difficult to differentiate accounts. Furthermore, as previously stated, I found that there was too much focus on America, both in its status during the war and in the amount of Americans interviewed. However, I do understand this novel’s fixation since the author is himself American. I’m sure a British author would have written too much about Britain. As for the depictions of other countries and cultures, I felt like this was absolutely necessary for a novel about a world war. I am interested to hear how other people feel about the accuracy of this representation.
Overall, I thoroughly enjoyed this novel. I wish there was more on Scotland but I found some form of comfort or relatability in most of the characters in any case. I feel like it’s a must-read for any zombie nut and, possibly, for any aspiring historian as a fun bit of fiction. I recommend this to anyone who likes their action adventure on the dark side - it has depressingly realistic moments. Proceed with caution if you find mental health difficult to read about. I hope many more find World War Z as exhilarating a read as I have!
Content Warnings
Graphic: Colonisation, Death of parent, Grief, Forced institutionalization, Medical content, Sexism, Body horror, Death, War, Cannibalism, Murder, Physical abuse, Confinement, Pandemic/Epidemic, Animal death, Blood, Mental illness, Abandonment, Gore, Child death, Genocide, Injury/Injury detail, Fire/Fire injury, Gun violence, Suicidal thoughts, Suicide attempt, and Suicide
Moderate: Islamophobia, Religious bigotry, Racial slurs, Sexual assault, Animal cruelty, Self harm, Slavery, Sexual harassment, Classism, Colonisation, Emotional abuse, Misogyny, Panic attacks/disorders, and Racism
Minor: Addiction, Drug use, Ableism, Alcohol, Chronic illness, Homophobia, Torture, Pregnancy, and Terminal illness
gawdz0rz's review against another edition
adventurous
dark
tense
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Plot
- Strong character development? No
- Loveable characters? No
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? No
3.75
decent book, well-written, interesting pov.
i appreciated the (brief) mention of environmental impact of the war. i also learned some historical things while reading this.
there were quite a few stereotypes of the characters that were not great, unfortunately. i also felt my brain and eyes glaze over every time there were details pertaining to military equipment or anything like that.
i don’t remember the movie very well but from what i do remember, the book is not like the movie, which certainly isn’t a bad thing!
i appreciated the (brief) mention of environmental impact of the war. i also learned some historical things while reading this.
there were quite a few stereotypes of the characters that were not great, unfortunately. i also felt my brain and eyes glaze over every time there were details pertaining to military equipment or anything like that.
i don’t remember the movie very well but from what i do remember, the book is not like the movie, which certainly isn’t a bad thing!
Content Warnings
Graphic: Murder, Death, and Gore
Moderate: Child death, Cannibalism, Suicide, and Animal death
Minor: Classism, Homophobia, and Racism
corncake's review against another edition
I started reading this “zombie” novel for a book club, and I really tried to read it, I did, but could not finish this book. Although the interview layout is an interesting concept, I personally found it boring here.
The people who were being interviewed all had the same exact voice, so when a new chapter started with a brand new interviewee, it would be another boring male character (and so often a stereotype) presented as a horrible human being. After a while, that was very exhausting to keep reading.
What really halted my continuation of this reading was the Israel/Palestine chapter. I have tried to look at this section of the book from all angles, and even angrily wrote in this review before an edit that the chapter felt like Zionist propaganda before taking a breath and writing down my thoughts better. In the chapter a young Palestinian character (our stereotyped male interviewee for this section) wants the destruction and death of Jews from the zombie apocalypse because of everything that Israel has done, while the Israeli leaders are the ones who want peace with Palestine and to shelter everyone. This just felt uncomfortable reading as the genocide of thousands of Palestinian people has been happening for months IRL as I write this review. I understand this book was written before the major ethnic-cleansing of Palestinians in the Gaza Strip, but the conflict between Israel and Palestine has been going on for a long time, and it just feels as if the author was not condemning Israel and portraying their leaders as the "good guys," because they would never want any harm to actually befall the Palestinians. It’s the young, influential Palestinian folks who misunderstand the conflict and don't believe peace is an option. Hmmmmmmm... So for me, this chapter did not age very well, and thus I decided to stop reading.
Personally, I do not recommend reading this book. There are way better novels to spend your free time with.
The people who were being interviewed all had the same exact voice, so when a new chapter started with a brand new interviewee, it would be another boring male character (and so often a stereotype) presented as a horrible human being. After a while, that was very exhausting to keep reading.
What really halted my continuation of this reading was the Israel/Palestine chapter. I have tried to look at this section of the book from all angles, and even angrily wrote in this review before an edit that the chapter felt like Zionist propaganda before taking a breath and writing down my thoughts better. In the chapter a young Palestinian character (our stereotyped male interviewee for this section) wants the destruction and death of Jews from the zombie apocalypse because of everything that Israel has done, while the Israeli leaders are the ones who want peace with Palestine and to shelter everyone. This just felt uncomfortable reading as the genocide of thousands of Palestinian people has been happening for months IRL as I write this review. I understand this book was written before the major ethnic-cleansing of Palestinians in the Gaza Strip, but the conflict between Israel and Palestine has been going on for a long time, and it just feels as if the author was not condemning Israel and portraying their leaders as the "good guys," because they would never want any harm to actually befall the Palestinians. It’s the young, influential Palestinian folks who misunderstand the conflict and don't believe peace is an option. Hmmmmmmm... So for me, this chapter did not age very well, and thus I decided to stop reading.
Personally, I do not recommend reading this book. There are way better novels to spend your free time with.
Content Warnings
Moderate: Racism
karmachamillionaire's review
I gave it my best shot, but I’m giving up at 47%! This is heading towards 2/5 star territory for me. I’m not a fan of the pseudo government report style and I really don’t like that almost all of the characters have the same voice even though they are supposedly all from different places around the world. I think that the non-American characters are often built upon racist stereotypes. Dislike the Pro-Israel/Zionist messaging.
Content Warnings
Moderate: Racism
clarabooksit's review against another edition
The representation in this is super offensive. Nearly every character is a stereotype, they all spout offhand bigoted comments that often have no bearing on the narrative, and the racism and xenophobia go way beyond the in-story narrative elements that mirror real world responses to crises and pandemics. Not to mention the overt sexism and poorly written women. All this adds up to a big old “Nope” from me.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Gore, Religious bigotry, War, Child death, Gun violence, Cannibalism, Classism, Ableism, Racism, Violence, Injury/Injury detail, Xenophobia, Sexism, Death, Body horror, Suicide, Pandemic/Epidemic, and Abandonment
Moderate: Grief, Fatphobia, and Medical trauma
bri__'s review against another edition
challenging
dark
emotional
informative
mysterious
sad
tense
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated
4.5
The writing is exceptional and the post-war documentary format is different to any other book that I've read. The inconsistency of the characters (apart from the narrator), provided a more broad perspective of 'World War Z' and also helped to make the experiences of each character feel more individual and unique. The book itself is well thought-out and it is evident that Max Brooks has done his research. While some stories I found boring and confusing, there were others that I found thrilling and overall captivating. That is the beauty of this type of format with a variety of different stories, there are bound to be ones that are favoured over the others and that makes the experience all the more personal.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Death of parent, Drug use, Excrement, Genocide, Suicidal thoughts, Suicide attempt, Cursing, Death, Medical content, Murder, Self harm, Blood, Injury/Injury detail, Suicide, Violence, Vomit, War, Abandonment, Animal death, Body horror, Cannibalism, Child death, Fire/Fire injury, Gore, Grief, and Gun violence
Moderate: Racism
Minor: Racial slurs, Ableism, Classism, Confinement, Pregnancy, Rape, and Sexual assault
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