Book: World War Z

I recently finished listening to the World War Z audiobook. I mainly listened to it while on short, 30' runs, but the many breaks did not bother me, as the book itself is broken up in relatively small chapters.

I really liked the whole 14+hour novel, right from the start, and it kept me until the end.

The book is a series of interviews with various survivors of the “Zombie War” - a pandemic caused by a virus that first appeared in China, that pretty-much raised the dead and made human-biting-zombies that many of us are already familiar with from Hollywood movies.

Every chapter is interesting to read, its plot captivating and hard to put down (…or press “pause”). From the nuclear war of Pakistan vs Iran, and the South African “Redeker” contingency plan, to the Cuban and Tibetan “reborn” nations, and the Japanese “hero” stories, everything seems logical, natural and human.

It is easy to accept tha variety of survival methods that the interviewees describe, especially since every one of them comes from a different background, from a different part of the world. The rich, the physically strong, the mentally strong, the fighters, the survivalists, the soldiers… Everyone assumes the role that fate requires of them in order to survive or they perish by Z bites.

Fear is prevalent in every page. Zs crawl in the tall grass, swim in the sewers, form huge flocks that roam deserts, walk the seabed and appear on coasts at any time. They are seemingly unstoppable, and have to be completely eradicated.

I would find it very interesting if the author, or someone else, would come up with a follow-up story of how the world was rebuilt after the war started to end. Max Brooks does a totally great job overall, and there are a few pages dedicated to this here and there, but by the end I was left wanting more. More Zombie stories like this, and more of a similarly well-thought-out plot.