In 2006, a friend of mine gave me his copy of World War Z: An Oral History of the Zombie War by Max Brooks and said, “You have to read it!!!” (I know I put three exclamation points there, but his enthusiasm was that high!)
Don’t be put off by the word ‘zombie’ in the title. This book is not your usual ‘face-dripping, teeth-gnashing, ‘eat-your-brains‘ zombie story.
Instead of a straight narrative, World War Z is structured as a series of interviews with various people. Set ten years after the initial outbreak, the interviewer is working for the United Nations. His goal is to document the history of what happened. Humankind was almost destroyed by this virus that turned people into undead creatures whose only goal was to destroy the living. In order to preserve the events for later generations, or to warn them, our narrator talks to several people – children, civilians, the elderly, military personnel, reporters, doctors, nurses, politicians… people from all walks of life and various life experiences. From patient one – a young child in remote China to astronauts on the International Space Station, each person’s story will move you as they recall tragedy and despair. I honestly cried and got mad /scared/frustrated. After a bit, this is no longer a book. You feel like you are in the room with each person, living their story with them.
This was 2006. We didn’t know what COVID was. Pandemics like the Spanish Flu or the Plague were abstract events we learned about in school. I was a preteen when HIV became widespread. Without the internet, I was much more concerned with band practice, homework, and my current crush.
So the sickness aspect for most of us was a make-believe fairy tale. But the government’s actions? Lying, misdirection, failure to acknowledge, military offence gone wrong? We grew up with the Soviet invasion of Afghanistan, the invasion of Grenada, and the Cold War between the US and Russia. We also saw the fiascos of the Iran-Contra Affair and the unsuccessful attempt to rescue hostages from Iran. We were no strangers to the misdemeanors and fallacies of military institutions.
This was the first book I also experienced ‘in the wild’, so to speak. I read the physical copy during my lunch hour at a local restaurant. It was a best seller at the time, so I wasn’t the only person reading it. More than once, people would stop briefly and wiggle their copy at me. “Riveting.” “Scary as —!” “I can’t put it down!” I heard all these and more. One man stopped by my table and asked me what part I was reading. When I told him, he gently pushed the napkin holder closer and said, “You are going to need tissues soon.”
I can honestly say thank you to Ian, who gave me the book. I protested heavily, exclaiming, “I hate zombie stuff!” He just held the book out and asked me to trust him. You were right, Ian. This book was fabulous.
Note: In 2013, a highly successful movie adaptation starring Brad Pitt was released. It is the highest-grossing zombie film ever and received mixed reviews from critics and the audience. I went, and I did enjoy it even though I don’t always like Brad Pitt movies. The author Max Brooks has been quoted as warning people that the movie and his book share only one thing in common – the title. And he is right. The novel takes place ten years after the outbreak. The movie opens with a zombie attack in downtown Philadelphia and quickly evolves into high action with daring helicopter rescues, zombie hordes, and Navy Seals. We experience what the characters do in real time. Its tension comes from the fight for survival and the search for a cure. There aren’t many small, quiet moments like the book. So don’t watch it looking for a faithful adaptation. If you are looking for a fun, low-involvement, popcorn-munching good time, I do recommend streaming it. It is currently available on Disney+, Tubi, Hulu, Amazon Prime Video, Paramount+, and a few others.
From Amazon – We survived the zombie apocalypse, but how many of us are still haunted by that terrible time? We have (temporarily?) defeated the living dead, but at what cost? Told in the haunting and riveting voices of the men and women who witnessed the horror firsthand, World War Z is the only record of the pandemic. The Zombie War came unthinkably close to eradicating humanity. Max Brooks, driven by the urgency of preserving the acid-etched first-hand experiences of the survivors, traveled across the United States of America and throughout the world, from decimated cities that once teemed with upwards of thirty million souls to the most remote and inhospitable areas of the planet. He recorded the testimony of men, women, and sometimes children who came face-to-face with the living, or at least the undead, hell of that dreadful time. World War Z is the result. Never before have we had access to a document that so powerfully conveys the depth of fear and horror, and also the ineradicable spirit of resistance, that gripped human society through the plague years.
