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A review by eileen_daly_boas
Zone One by Colson Whitehead
5.0
No spoilers.
Blurb: This is the best zombie novel you'll read...ever. It's also one of the best social commentaries you'll read this decade. There's violence and gore, so weak stomachs need not apply.
Longer version: I'll admit that I should know Colson Whitehead from his books "Sag Harbor" and "The Intuitionist." I don't. I know him from twitter. And he's sharp, funny, and sometimes a little too harsh for my taste. But he's a wordsmith. He's in that room, apron covered with soot, banging away at sentences fresh out of the glory hole and sparks are flying and what comes out is a beautiful, shiny, complex world that twists and echos on itself with grace and power.
Oh, the story, right. There's a plague. It's zombies. You can hope to outrun them and get to a haven, but don't bet on it. The backstory comes out through the present telling, which wouldn't add an element of humor in any other novel but this one. Zombie coming at your face? Time for a trip down a Proustian memory lane.
I loved this for its social commentary, and to be honest, the only kind of social commentary I can stand is John Stewart's. But that's what this is - a satire. But one that works on many levels, and the main level it works on is that I CARE ABOUT MARK SPITZ. (The main character. No,not that Mark Spitz, but he's relevant to the nickname). There is no reason that one should actually get emotionally connected to a character in a zombie novel that's really a satire on your life as you live it today. Like, nobody gets a crush on Gulliver because (a) he's a tool (in both senses of the word), and (b) you never forget you're in a satire. For heaven's sake, you might as well fall in love with the nerdy virgin in a horror flick, but you don't because s/he may be just your type, but there's a really good chance that s/he'll be dead. Because these characters are supposed to be tropes, not real people. But you care about Mark Spitz because Colson Whitehead can write the stuffing out of a sentence, a paragraph, a chapter and a whole bloodspurting, ridiculous, apocalyptic novel.
Once again, if you're a touch queasy about missing faces, or arterial blood...just move along. Nothing to read here, folks. But if you've got the stomach for it, go for it.
A final note: I listened to this as an audiobook and that helped make it amazing. It also made it a little confusing, as the story does jump back in time, leave parts of tales unfinished until later, and I've found, the better the literature, the harder it is to appreciate it fully on an audiobook. That said, it's possible that Whitehead's liberal (yet amazing) use of similes and metaphors might be overwhelming when seen in print. Possibly. Not definitely. In fact, their sheer genius might be more amazing, and you might find yourself going back for seconds. You might find, like some new form of zombie, that you need to devour this book even more.
Blurb: This is the best zombie novel you'll read...ever. It's also one of the best social commentaries you'll read this decade. There's violence and gore, so weak stomachs need not apply.
Longer version: I'll admit that I should know Colson Whitehead from his books "Sag Harbor" and "The Intuitionist." I don't. I know him from twitter. And he's sharp, funny, and sometimes a little too harsh for my taste. But he's a wordsmith. He's in that room, apron covered with soot, banging away at sentences fresh out of the glory hole and sparks are flying and what comes out is a beautiful, shiny, complex world that twists and echos on itself with grace and power.
Oh, the story, right. There's a plague. It's zombies. You can hope to outrun them and get to a haven, but don't bet on it. The backstory comes out through the present telling, which wouldn't add an element of humor in any other novel but this one. Zombie coming at your face? Time for a trip down a Proustian memory lane.
I loved this for its social commentary, and to be honest, the only kind of social commentary I can stand is John Stewart's. But that's what this is - a satire. But one that works on many levels, and the main level it works on is that I CARE ABOUT MARK SPITZ. (The main character. No,not that Mark Spitz, but he's relevant to the nickname). There is no reason that one should actually get emotionally connected to a character in a zombie novel that's really a satire on your life as you live it today. Like, nobody gets a crush on Gulliver because (a) he's a tool (in both senses of the word), and (b) you never forget you're in a satire. For heaven's sake, you might as well fall in love with the nerdy virgin in a horror flick, but you don't because s/he may be just your type, but there's a really good chance that s/he'll be dead. Because these characters are supposed to be tropes, not real people. But you care about Mark Spitz because Colson Whitehead can write the stuffing out of a sentence, a paragraph, a chapter and a whole bloodspurting, ridiculous, apocalyptic novel.
Once again, if you're a touch queasy about missing faces, or arterial blood...just move along. Nothing to read here, folks. But if you've got the stomach for it, go for it.
A final note: I listened to this as an audiobook and that helped make it amazing. It also made it a little confusing, as the story does jump back in time, leave parts of tales unfinished until later, and I've found, the better the literature, the harder it is to appreciate it fully on an audiobook. That said, it's possible that Whitehead's liberal (yet amazing) use of similes and metaphors might be overwhelming when seen in print. Possibly. Not definitely. In fact, their sheer genius might be more amazing, and you might find yourself going back for seconds. You might find, like some new form of zombie, that you need to devour this book even more.