World War Z: An Oral History of the Zombie War

WORLD WAR Z: AN ORAL HISTORY OF THE ZOMBIE WAR: Max Brooks: Three Rivers Press: 2006: SCI-FI: 342 pages

Set in the near future, this is the story of the world’s battle against the Zombie plague. The author never fully explains how the first human was infected and then reanimated as an undead Zombie except that it started in China, but once a Zombie is created it has only to inflict a wound to turn any human into another Zombie.

The story is told in a series of first-person accounts as the survivors are interviewed by the author 10 years after the war. These people are from all over the world and their stories are from different points in the war. A picture of the Zombie war slowly unfolds as you learn the mistakes made and how each country dealt with the threat.

I really enjoyed reading this novel. Since the story is told after the events occurred there are few gruesome descriptions. I liked that each survivor interviewed had a unique voice, but what I found most interesting were the parallels to what might happen in a real pandemic.

AJ