Book Review: World War Z (2006)

The World War III won't be fought between nations, nor be fought between pacts. The World War III won't be fought using nuclear weapons, or state-of-the-art military equipments. The World War III was the war when human being fought for their dear extinction survival. The World War III was the war where human fought against human, where living human fought against the living dead. The World War III was the World War Z.

Ten years after the World War Z that has taken almost 1 billions (some sources say that the dead tolls was higher) lives, Max Brooks travel around the world to do an interview with the survivors of the war, prominent figures that most has been the key persons to human retaliation against the undead.

Surely, everyone who has been exposed to the world of entertainment knows about Zombies, the living dead. The events of World War Z that depicted in this book, were of course, as its name already implied, World War Z(ombie) deal with the Zombies. And it's a freakingly a fun book to read. I had only read one other book about zombie, Stephen King's Cell. And if Cell had a great opening that quickly loses its steam halfway to the end, World War Z manages to keep the book interesting during the final end.

This book is written in a manner of interview's manuscript that recorded the event that leads to World War Z and some years afterwards. The book is opened with an interview with Doctor Kwang Jingshu of People's Republic of China that recounted his experience to find the earliest case of Zombie's outbreak (Patient Zero) in the Chinese rural area. From there, the interviews went on to various parts of the world (the interviews were conducted ten years after the War declared over) with various prominent key figures recounting the event chronogically.

The book consists of many intertwined stories that crosses many genres and touches many popular references. For instance, the Chinese sub-marine story could easily fit into a sci-fi story. As well as the young Japanese adventure which easily recongnized the cyberpunk culture. It also touches some of the heavier subjects such as religions (my favourite one was when the Russian priest went outside his home with a rifle and a bible), environmentalists ('Fuck it. Say it to the whales') and philosopy. The problem of a story that consists of several other little stories were of course evident and unavoidable here, as well. Some of the story could be bored, but some of them, most, would stand out. I, personally liked the story of a Russian military dicipline (it was awesome), the New York's celebrity hideout and the beginning of the end at Hope City.

I can't praise this book enough. Released on September 2006, the Paramount Pictures has bought the right to this book, and Brad Pitt's Plan B Production would be the one to produce the film based on this book scheduled to release on 2008.

For those of you who claimed to love Zombies, grab this book, it won't disappoint, and while at it, also get yourself Max Brooks' Zombie Survival Guide (2003). It could prove handy when there's a Zombie outbreak in your neighborhood. Seriously.

My Rating: *** / **** - A fun, and light book to read