(no subject)
I finally finished World War Z. It was amazing. I thought the way the story was told was rather clever and well put together. It was set up to look like a non-fiction book (down to the author including his previous book, The Zombie Survival Guide as something that was used in WWZ). Instead of chapters, every few pages was from a different point of view from around the world. There was a short introduction in front of each section telling you whose interview had been transcribed. In some of them, the interviewer interjects questions. However, he does a phenomenal job staying pretty neutral and never leading the reader to any sort of conclusion (sometimes it was frustrating). It gave the entire book a very realistic feeling.
Spoilers under the cut.
Most of the stories were pretty depressing and the only optimism I got out of them was knowing that the interviews took place after the war so everyone interviewed had actually survived. My favorite story was from a USAF pilot's point of view. She survived because a civilian kept her going through communication on her ham radio to the pilot's radio. Except, at the end, you learn that no one had the operator's tag, the pilot's radio had broken and the civilian knew way too much about the pilot's training. True to the style of the book, the interviewer never adds opinion or leads the reader to any specific conclusion. The entire thing could have been the pilot's sanity fracturing or it could have been a miracle or anything else, really.
I really liked one of the Chinese stories. The man telling the story was an officer on a submarine that smuggled civilians on board and then pretty much deserted just to stay alive. They end up on an island refuge where they trade the people there electricity through their generator. At one point, they hide at the bottom of the ocean to escape another Chinese sub and the zombies start knocking on the sub hull, trying to break in. The encounters with the zombies under water were especially chilling.
The Russian stories were heartbreaking, but I really liked them, as morbid as it probably sounds. To quell a mutiny, one soldier recounts how her commanding officer broke the entire squad into groups of ten and then told them that they had to vote on one person to be stoned. It was twisted and chilling and pretty disturbing. Then there was the chaplain that began executing the infected soldiers rather than letting them commit suicide so they wouldn't be condemned to hell. Then, one of the last interviews in Russia (the Holy Russian Empire that's absorbing former Soviet states) was with a pregnant woman. Healthy women were encouraged to have as many babies as they could and it's strongly hinted that the women never knew who the fathers were or knew their children after they were born. Honestly, I didn't know what to think about that, but it was well-written (if a little disturbing).
I think I was most impressed that he actually included an astronaut in the book. He and two other astronauts were strand at the ISS for at least three years.
I could probably go on for pages just summarizing the book. I can't recommend it enough.
Spoilers under the cut.
Most of the stories were pretty depressing and the only optimism I got out of them was knowing that the interviews took place after the war so everyone interviewed had actually survived. My favorite story was from a USAF pilot's point of view. She survived because a civilian kept her going through communication on her ham radio to the pilot's radio. Except, at the end, you learn that no one had the operator's tag, the pilot's radio had broken and the civilian knew way too much about the pilot's training. True to the style of the book, the interviewer never adds opinion or leads the reader to any specific conclusion. The entire thing could have been the pilot's sanity fracturing or it could have been a miracle or anything else, really.
I really liked one of the Chinese stories. The man telling the story was an officer on a submarine that smuggled civilians on board and then pretty much deserted just to stay alive. They end up on an island refuge where they trade the people there electricity through their generator. At one point, they hide at the bottom of the ocean to escape another Chinese sub and the zombies start knocking on the sub hull, trying to break in. The encounters with the zombies under water were especially chilling.
The Russian stories were heartbreaking, but I really liked them, as morbid as it probably sounds. To quell a mutiny, one soldier recounts how her commanding officer broke the entire squad into groups of ten and then told them that they had to vote on one person to be stoned. It was twisted and chilling and pretty disturbing. Then there was the chaplain that began executing the infected soldiers rather than letting them commit suicide so they wouldn't be condemned to hell. Then, one of the last interviews in Russia (the Holy Russian Empire that's absorbing former Soviet states) was with a pregnant woman. Healthy women were encouraged to have as many babies as they could and it's strongly hinted that the women never knew who the fathers were or knew their children after they were born. Honestly, I didn't know what to think about that, but it was well-written (if a little disturbing).
I think I was most impressed that he actually included an astronaut in the book. He and two other astronauts were strand at the ISS for at least three years.
I could probably go on for pages just summarizing the book. I can't recommend it enough.