Reviews tagging 'Mental illness'

World War Z: An Oral History of the Zombie War by Max Brooks

9 reviews

mjones14's review against another edition

adventurous dark sad slow-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Plot
• Strong character development? No
• Loveable characters? No
• Diverse cast of characters? No
• Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated

3.75

Really though I was going to like this more than I did. I think all in all the film is better than the book, but I presume this is because I don't read much nonfiction which this is in the style of. Beautiful world building though and impressive in its global scope

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Blood, Death of parent, Gaslighting, Death, Suicidal thoughts, Grief, Suicide attempt, Murder, War, Gore, Mental illness, Injury/Injury detail, Self harm, Suicide, Violence, and Gun violence

Moderate: Abandonment, Mental illness, Police brutality, Religious bigotry, Alcohol, Addiction, Animal death, Child death, Forced institutionalization, and Drug use

jazhandz's review against another edition

challenging dark medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Plot
• Strong character development? No
• Loveable characters? It's complicated
• Diverse cast of characters? It's complicated
• Flaws of characters a main focus? No

4.5

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Injury/Injury detail, Violence, War, Gore, Gun violence, Pandemic/Epidemic, Blood, Body horror, and Death

Moderate: Grief, Medical content, Mental illness, Schizophrenia/Psychosis , Animal death, Child death, Death of parent, Excrement, and Suicide

Minor: Cannibalism and Pregnancy

mirandyli'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? No
• Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated

2.75

Fun premise. The audiobook has a good cast. Interesting take on how different countries would handle a zombie outbreak.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Blood, Cannibalism, Death, Body horror, Medical trauma, Pandemic/Epidemic, Violence, Gun violence, Injury/Injury detail, and Mental illness

percys_panda_pillow_pet's review against another edition

adventurous dark hopeful reflective sad tense fast-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? A mix
• Strong character development? Yes
• Loveable characters? It's complicated
• Diverse cast of characters? It's complicated
• Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated

4.0

Almost a year ago I picked up Max Brooks' book, Devolution. I hadn't even realized it was a horror book, nor that it was by the same author who wrote the New York Times Bestseller World War Z. Since, finishing Devolution in all its gory, terrifying glory, I decided I had to check out his previous, most famous work. 

Despite being written 14 years prior to Devolution, I didn't see much change in style and prose. It's not unusual to feel like an author's previous books are less well-written than their latest, many authors grow into their craft like any other author. However, World War Z was just as well written as the later book, which I really have to commend him for. This is not to say the books aren't different.

While World War Z took a more global perspective on the events within it, Devolution was much smaller and more personal. This heavily affected the horror in both books. The latter book was much more terrifying for its close perspective and heavy circumstances. The former, however, had a bit of a lighter tone at times, as there were so many victories to weigh out the losses in the war on Zombies. I would say that while Devolution is more frightening and makes for a better horror book, World War Z makes for a great introspection into humanity and has a bit more hope in it, which I actually preferred. I have to note that I actually rated Devolution lower because it was so heavy at times that I had to take mental breaks, which made the experience not as much fun.

I really liked the retrospective I had while reading this book post-COVID and many other important events that have happened between now and 2006 when the book was first published. I think it's amazing how Brooks actually captured certain pandemic ideologies that cropped up during COVID, and the way the government didn't do as much until trouble was beyond the doorstep and into the house, so to speak. So many plague/apocalyptic books failed to accurately predict what pandemic life was actually like, but Brooks got fairly close. I also really enjoyed the meta aspect as well and all the worldbuilding.

I think my only gripe was that I had an issue remembering all the new names for countries, as well as the names and places where the "author" was interviewing various characters. I had known that several of them repeated eventually, but I was only able to follow a few. I think perhaps a character list and map would've really helped this book.

Otherwise, I had a great time reading this and could picture myself rereading it in the future. I definitely want to check out the movie that was made and see how that is.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Death of parent, Eating disorder, Injury/Injury detail, Mental illness, Violence, War, Confinement, Gun violence, Murder, Self harm, Suicidal thoughts, Suicide, Suicide attempt, Body horror, Blood, Death, Gore, and Grief

Moderate: Alcohol, Animal death, Drug abuse, Fire/Fire injury, Medical trauma, Excrement, Religious bigotry, Sexual assault, Sexual violence, Domestic abuse, Medical content, Pregnancy, Abandonment, Cannibalism, Child death, and Drug use

Minor: Ableism, Cancer, Panic attacks/disorders, Pedophilia, Terminal illness, Alcoholism, Deportation, Emotional abuse, Islamophobia, Car accident, Classism, Cursing, Addiction, Animal cruelty, and Antisemitism

asipofcozy's review against another edition

adventurous dark hopeful tense medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? A mix
• Strong character development? It's complicated
• Loveable characters? Yes
• Diverse cast of characters? Yes
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

4.0

Usually, most people pick up a cozy Christmas read or romance book during the winter. I am definitely not one of those people.

I have seen the World War Z movie multiple times and while not the best zombie movie out there it was really good and gave a new perspective to the zombie apocalypse. So finally, after many years, I decided to pick up the book. Please be aware the book is nothing like the movie as the book is told in a documentary/interview style and the movie follows one character...who isn't even in the book.

I really enjoyed the style of writing. It brought us closer to the situation and gave us many perspectives on the zombie war and what happened in those beginning days of the spread. 

Brooks really touched on the basic human instinct of survival, fear, and what would you do to survive. What many of these characters went through and what they had to do to survive was quite appalling at times. Brooks also touched on how society reacts to a global pandemic and war. While this book was written in 2006 it's like Brooks foreshadowed our own pandemic and how we as a real society would react...it's sad and upsetting to think about.

There were so many times where I underlined a part of the book because it reminded me of our own situation and pandemic. And while I get this was a piece of science-fiction, it really highlighted on humans' basic instinct and survival. In the end we are just like any animal doing what it takes to survive in a vicious world. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Blood, Body horror, Gore, Grief, Mental illness, Abandonment, Animal cruelty, Colonisation, Death, Death of parent, Panic attacks/disorders, Sexual assault, Suicide, Suicide attempt, Torture, Gun violence, Injury/Injury detail, Murder, Violence, Cannibalism, Child death, War, Animal death, Cursing, Rape, Genocide, and Suicidal thoughts

rynstagram's review against another edition

4.5

This book was a pleasant surprise. I didn't think it was gonna be bad by any means, but it really surpassed all expectations. The narrative is so wide-reaching and exhaustive, discussing things about a zombie war/infestation that I never would have thought of--religious repercussions both personal and community-wide, people who take advantage of disaster situations for personal gain, feral children and animals, new mental illnesses, etc. The "interviewer" goes all over the world to interview people who were involved in the war in all sorts of different places--not just different countries and regions, but different climates, under the sea, in isolation in the wilderness, even at the International Space Station. If this were real, I would be impressed by the interviewer's thoroughness. 

I think the main thing that was missing was more exploration of more indigenous communities. There's not a dearth of indigenous characters, but the communities' responses to the zombie plague isn't really explored. 

I like how self-aware this book is. There's bigotry, but only on the part of the characters. The author seems to include bigotry or fanaticism or general assholery to give a more comprehensive view of humanity dealing with a crisis. Without this, I wouldn't believe the story, even if it's not fun to read that part. 

The biggest problem I have with this book is that characters' POVs are rarely repeated. Only a couple have more than one interview section throughout the book until the last chapter called "Good-Byes". I ended up forgetting names easily because of this, and when they showed up in other people's stories or as interviewees, I had to do a lot of flipping back. In order to get the full experience, I think I would need to reread this book at least once more. 

All the interviewees sounded like real people, and sounded different from each other, which is hard to do just with a couple POVs, let alone dozens. And I am a big fan of the whole meta-media thing where creators pretend that their fiction is a real thing, hence the "oral history" part of the title and the "Introduction" describing the circumstances of the collection of these interviews. I love a good footnote, and the organization of interviews into related sections made the narrative more cohesive. 

Damn, who knew a zombie book could be so cool? (Not me, that's for sure!)

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Injury/Injury detail, Death, Abandonment, Suicide, Violence, Suicidal thoughts, Mental illness, Medical trauma, War, and Body horror

Minor: Animal death, Cannibalism, Child death, Colonisation, Alcohol, Cancer, Forced institutionalization, Addiction, and Classism

akira_outofthegravity's review

dark hopeful informative inspiring reflective sad slow-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? A mix
• Strong character development? It's complicated
• Loveable characters? Yes
• Diverse cast of characters? Yes
• Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated

4.25

I’ve been really into zombies lately, and I found that there’s usually a formula for these types of stories. 

Unlikely middle class straight cis white guy becomes hero, does thing, saves world. End film. Roll credits.

This is nothing like that- which is what makes it so good. It is set in short bursts, with the “author” interviewing people who all were around when World War Z was happening. This ranges from suburban moms to illegal organ harvesters, those who were there at the beginning and the end. The soldiers, the general. The good and the evil. Those who purposefully sent people to die, those who purposefully made a false cure, those who- in the beginning- their government tried to cover up what they found.

It is fascinating and brings up points like economics, how would people survive, what an armed response would be like, the lasting damages to the planet, feral people, feral animals, people who were so convinced they were zombies that they’d actually bite people. It mentions the traitors, the loyalists, the heroes and the villains and manages to paint an entire story of a 10 year war in just over 300 pages. And for that I think this book is spectacular. But most of all it’s hopeful. The war ends, and people are allowed to move on. I think the horror in this book comes more from the human side of the war, but nevertheless this is a fantastic read and a must for any zombie lover- such as myself.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Body horror, Death, Gore, Grief, War, Blood, Cannibalism, and Suicide

Moderate: Animal death, Drug use, Injury/Injury detail, Mental illness, and Forced institutionalization

sarahholliday's review against another edition

adventurous challenging dark emotional informative sad tense slow-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? N/A
• Strong character development? N/A
• Loveable characters? No
• Diverse cast of characters? Yes

4.0

This brilliantly constructed book has become a horror classic for a reason. The complexity of Brooks' story, the detail with which he illuminates all aspect of life during and after the Zombie War, the wide range of moral codes he explores...it's utterly unique and will leave you in awe of the mind that came up with it all.

Because of that complexity it can occasionally feel like a slog to get through, especially the middle chapters, but it is still an expertly crafted and well-written book. Perfect for anyone looking for a horror novel without the jump scares or high tension.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Animal death, Blood, Body horror, Cannibalism, Child death, Cursing, Death, Excrement, Gore, Injury/Injury detail, Mental illness, Suicide, Violence, and War

brennaa's review against another edition

adventurous dark emotional reflective sad tense medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Character
• 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

5.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: War, Death, Death of parent, Violence, and Gun violence

Moderate: Child death, Mental illness, Grief, and Animal death

Minor: Cannibalism