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A review by lauraborkpower
Zone One by Colson Whitehead
3.0
I was hoping to like this more than I did. The idea of it--of starting a zombie apocalypse story when society has started rebuilding its bureaucracy and is cleaning up the city zone by zone--is interesting. But that framework made this story different from other Z.A. stories in another respect: for most of the story there didn't feel to be a very serious threat. It's quiet. And that is, in this type of book, a little disappointing.
In other Z.A. stories, the zombies are there and a force to be reckoned with, but the real threats are the other groups of people fighting for survival. And they're threatening because society has lost its structure, its rules. It's anarchy, and we follow the survivors as they try to piece together a life within that lawlessness.
But in Whitehead's story, the structure is being rebuilt, there are rules, and people seem to follow them. The zombies ("skells") are few, and there are even skell "stragglers" that seem to pose no threat at all. And that's where I was having a problem with this book; it's a bit low-stakes. There are, though, many flashbacks that our protagonist, Mark Spitz (a nickname), goes through to explain the night of the apocalypse and his fight for survival following it. But, and this might be because I listened to the audiobook, I found these to be confusing and hard to follow. He slipped in and out of present and flashback that I had trouble following where we were and who the narrator was talking about. I'd have had an easier time with it in hard copy, but there shouldn't have been that much of a difference.
I also never felt too close to Mark Spitz. He had a good story, and I liked him--and I really liked that we finally have a black hero in a Z.A. story--but I never really felt connected to him. The narrator, Beresford Bennett, does a good job, and it's an interesting addition to the genre. But it's atypical, for better or for worse, so be warned.
In other Z.A. stories, the zombies are there and a force to be reckoned with, but the real threats are the other groups of people fighting for survival. And they're threatening because society has lost its structure, its rules. It's anarchy, and we follow the survivors as they try to piece together a life within that lawlessness.
But in Whitehead's story, the structure is being rebuilt, there are rules, and people seem to follow them. The zombies ("skells") are few, and there are even skell "stragglers" that seem to pose no threat at all. And that's where I was having a problem with this book; it's a bit low-stakes. There are, though, many flashbacks that our protagonist, Mark Spitz (a nickname), goes through to explain the night of the apocalypse and his fight for survival following it. But, and this might be because I listened to the audiobook, I found these to be confusing and hard to follow. He slipped in and out of present and flashback that I had trouble following where we were and who the narrator was talking about. I'd have had an easier time with it in hard copy, but there shouldn't have been that much of a difference.
I also never felt too close to Mark Spitz. He had a good story, and I liked him--and I really liked that we finally have a black hero in a Z.A. story--but I never really felt connected to him. The narrator, Beresford Bennett, does a good job, and it's an interesting addition to the genre. But it's atypical, for better or for worse, so be warned.