2024:

I would like to think I'd do great in a Zombie

CORONAVIRUS UPDATE: Author Max Brooks had a fascinating editorial in the Washington Post fully two weeks ago explaining why he set his original outbreak in China - a hunch obviously proved correct in Beijing's original mishandling of the Coronavirus. Can see it here: https://www.washingtonpost.com/outloo.... And then just this morning, Michael Smerconish on CNN did a segment on how the rich are going to their luxury retreats or fortifying their residences or building bunkers to "ride it out" - also something included in the book, (along with the expected very negative consequences!).

ORIGINAL 2009 REVIEW: A genuine tour-de-force by the son of Mel Brooks. The best oral history I've ever read, even if it is fiction - and about zombies! Both my teenage sons loved it as well (neither of whom likes to read), and are spreading it among their friends. Soon to be a Brad Pitt movie - although not sure how, since there's no one character that runs through more than a chapter or two.

UPDATE: Back in 2013, I listened to the original audio version of the book; and while it was good, it was also a heavily abridged version which left out nearly half the story. However, turns out that just around the same time they finally did an unabridged audiobook as a tie-in to the movie, which I have finally listened to and IT IS FRICKIN' AWESOME! As good as the print book was, listening to the full audio is like experiencing it again for the first time - I just cannot recommend it highly enough.

It certainly helps that the whole project is narrated-Lincoln in the Bardo style, with an outstanding cast that Hollywood could only dream of pulling together: Nathan Fillion, Mark Hamill, Kal Penn, Carl Reiner, Alan Alda, Common, Alfred Molina, Simon Pegg, F. Murray Abraham, Jürgen Prochnow, John Turturro, Martin Scorcese, and many more. And sure, some reviewers have criticized Max Brooks for narrating the recurring role of the interviewer; and yes, his reading comes off a little lightweight compared to the stars he's surrounded with - but he wrote the damn book, so cut him a little slack!

i've read this book so many times i think i'll have to invest in a hardback copy soon.


it's always nice to re-read something you know you like after a disappointing book.

I read this book a few years ago - the Zombie Survival Guide was super-hyped so I wanted to check this followup out as soon as it came out. I love the documentary format. Brooks did so well in telling it in such a way that it really did feel like non-fiction.

One of my favorite parts of the zombie genre is not necessarily the horror and gore, but how the survivors deal with the threat and rebuilding. The before, during, and after stories in this book are raw and real. Because of this, this zombie tale will likely appeal to more than just horror fans.

Concerning the movie: I enjoyed the movie, but it is barely like the book. They are each enjoyable in their own right.

Max Brooks: Probably the most entertaining fact about this book is that it is written by Mel Brooks' son (but don't expect any comedy!)

I am quite disappointed. I remember this book being so terrifying when I read a chunk of it when I was 12 but now that I've finally finished it. It's more of a political thriller with a side of zombies. On its own, World War Z is decent but it's not what I was looking for. Overall, I didn't not enjoy this but I didn't enjoy it. Better luck next time.

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Time to read a zombie book. It’s been too long

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World War Z: An Oral History of the Zombie War has been sitting on my shelves for close to a decade. It's survived many book unhauls in that time period, mainly because of how much I love this fiery orange cover.

Also, it features a zombie plague sweeping the world, so why wouldn't I read that? Who doesn't want to be petrified by the possibility of that?



Over the years, I have heard incredible things about the audio production for this book, so in spite of having a hard copy, I did decide to go with the audio format.

I'm delighted with that choice. It's full cast and includes music and sound effects. As an Oral History, it also makes sense that having it told in a variety of accents and tones from the various voice artists would add a certain level of authenticity to it you may not feel otherwise.



The narrative style is a bit unconventional, which may not work for some Readers, but I ended up enjoying that aspect. It truly is a world story; a story of humanity.

The overall story is told through a series of vignettes from characters living all across the globe. The different perspectives run in timeline order so that we are led through the start of, middle and end of this zombie infestation.

I did watch the World War Z movie years ago, but would like to go back and watch it again to see how much it was actually inspired by this book.



I would recommend this to anyone who would enjoy more of a Literary Zombie story, as opposed to a more Horror-based story; although heavy Horror Readers could enjoy this as well, particularly the audiobook.

It's terrifying to imagine something like this becoming reality, but I feel like Brooks did a great job examining what the overall world reaction would be. Well done!

One of my hobbies is film adaptations - comparing source material with the movie script to see how they differ. I wanted to read World War Z because I saw the movie version and had heard it was very different from the book. This is true.

The book as written is unfilmmable -- it's a series of interviews with people around the globe and their experience during the zombie apocalypse. Chunks of the book are very militaristic and we hear from soldiers, commanders and other government agents about the battles with the undead. The scenes are vivid and engaging, but the writing got bogged down with acronyms and other minutiae. The sections I liked best were the discussions of how people reacted to the attacks, how society crumbled and then slowly tried to build itself back up again. Because everyone interviewed in the book is a survivor, they all had different stories about how they actually made it through.

This novel gets at the heart of some truths of human nature, such as that when threatened, people will act in their own best interests. Or how quickly fear can spread and cause a massive panic, disrupting all forms of civilized life. Early in the book there is a description of a battle at Yonkers, where the army has decided to take a violent stand against the zombies. But when the undead seem to keep coming and coming, fear spreads among the soldiers, the line crumbles and the whole battle goes south.

Another example is what is called the Redeker Plan, which was South Africa's plan for the military to temporarily retreat, and to only save a selected "valuable" number of the civilians. Other countries adopted their own versions of this plan. Anyone who has studied the history of genocide knows that governments and armies will willingly allow entire sections of a populace to be sacrificed, if they think it supports their own goals and survival.

"First of all, there was no way to save everyone. The outbreak was too far gone. The armed forces had already been too badly weakened to effectively isolate the threat, and spread so thinly around the country, they could only grow weaker with each passing day. Our forces had to be consolidated, withdrawn to a special safe zone."

Overall the book was interesting and thought-provoking, but too many sections felt superfluous and dragged on. I think the narrative would have been improved with some sharper editing.

For those who have seen the movie, there are only a handful of scenes in the book that were kept in the film -- the two versions are so different that the title should have been changed.

Update May 2014:
After hearing positive reviews, I listened to this on audiobook, and it was an improvement over the print. They used a cast of actors to narrate the different voices and stories, and most of the performances were great. The cast included Alan Alda, Carl Reiner, Henry Rollins, Mark Hamill, John Tuturro and Rob Reiner.

The description of the Battle at Yonkers was particularly well done. Another strong section was the story of Colonel Christina Eliopplis, who survived a zombie attack with some guidance from an unknown voice on the radio. And Rob Reiner has such a great voice that I wish he recorded more audiobooks.

However, the one sour note was the voice of author Max Brooks, who read the part of the interviewer. Poor Max. With talented parents like Mel Brooks and Anne Bancroft, I expected his performance to be less contrived.


First read: June 2013
Second read: May 2014

Ingeniously designed, supremely well crafted and highly entertaining horror thriller with scope to refashion the zombie tale -- in film and TV typically confined to a farm, a shopping mall or prison fortified against the walking dead -- into a global pandemic with many individuals, many stories.

Max Brooks takes the conceit of documenting the spread, the destruction and the containment of a plague to end all plagues very seriously; the novel has the spirit of a "Why We Fight" newsreel from World War II and is gloriously detailed. The reader could expend considerable thought comparing the 2013 film version (in name only) starring Brad Pitt to its source material; the novel is more like a playbook from which a dozen different franchises could be called, which may be what attracted Pitt to the property in the first place.

Brooks barely takes a breath to cross the globe from one elaborate set piece to the next:

China, where a dam project, sunken village and human necessity are the start of the plague.

South Africa, where riots attributed to a rabies outbreak lead an Apartheid era security expert to devise a controversial plan for mankind's survival.

Israel, the first nation to appreciate the threat and take steps to protect its people, including the Palestinians.

New York City, the first metropolis to fall when the United States underestimates its ability to pacify the zombies using conventional military tactics.

One of the best vignettes in World War Z involves a female USAF pilot tasked with running resupply missions who crashes behind enemy lines in Louisiana, forcing her to sneak through the zombies with only a radio dispatcher to guide her to safety. Brooks addresses the role canines and their highly loyal handlers play in the war, how white collar workers become "unskilled labor" overnight and are put under the command of immigrant laborers whose manual skills elevate their social status in the war effort, and how a few survivors simply go crazy and adopt behavior of the zombies in a bid to survive.

There's no room for characterization here as Brooks jumps from one event to the next, but any fan of the zombie genre should relish the ambition, the sobriety and detailed research that the author devotes to the walking dead.

به نصف کتاب نرسیده ولش کردم!! شدیدا خسته کننده! نمی‌دونم شاید فرمت کتاب برای یکسری افراد مشکلی ایجاد نکنه ولی برای من که با انتظار یه رمان رفتم سراغش شدیداً ناامید کننده بود. نه داستان بهم پیوسته‌ای، نه شخصیت پردازی، نه نقطه فراز و فرودی، نه ارک داستانی،...! رسما هیچی! انگار داری بخش آگهی های خرید خانه روزنامه همشهری رو میخونی.

I admire the author for his extremely detailed perceptions of a future world recovering from a mass zombie plague, but I just couldn't finish this one. It is written like a case report, with each chapter functioning as a monologue/interview with people of various nations and occupations, all of whom lived through "World War Z." Because the author goes into such incredible detail about the political policies that are put into effect, the military strategies, medical procedures, pharmaceutical advancements, marketing campaigns, etc., it all seems totally plausible because the details are realistic, which I loved. Attack-by-zombies is one of the more exciting forms of apocalypse, in my opinion. But this book was not very exciting. Not enough thrills and chills to keep me reading. In fact, at some points there is so little mention of the zombies or the carnage, that you have to stop and think, "Why is this guy prattling on and on about government jurisdictions over international travel and what not? ...Oh, yeah! There was a global zombie infestation." Lame. I want to be apprehensive of the zombie attacks, not longing for them!

"This book is so good that you might even come back from the dead to read it. " The Zombie Weekly

"More satisfying than gnawing on your neighbours leg bone and meatier than the cast of "the Biggest Loser USA". " Moan Magazine

"A great insight for any living dead who want to out think the living er living" Corpse Chat

"I was so amazed by this i ate my own arm" Ghoul Housekeeping

"Settle back with some chips, crack open a skull for a bit of brain dip and enjoy world war z" ZQ Magazine

Besides the odd Lovecraft, this is the first horror book I've read since tearing through dozens of Stephen King novels in high school.

I really wanted to like it, but the writer had a couple of ticks that drove me crazy. First of all, the CAs - constant acronyms. Nearly every page, there's an aside in which the character who's being interviewed tells us what an acronym means. It's the worst kind of exposition. If you were gathering a comprehensive oral history of the 00s, and you were talking to someone about WMDs or 9/11, you (and they) would never, ever, ever in a million years stop to explain what those were. If someone's around to interview someone else about it, you both already know.

Others have also noted that all the characters talk the same. One thing that's refreshing about the Studs Terkel book(s) on which this is based is that every voice is remarkably different from all the others. Every single one has its verbal fingerprint. We all have things we do conversationally, whether we know it or not, to distinguish ourselves. I tend to offset subclauses in commas or parentheses, and I tend toward run-ons, God knows. Everyone does something like this. There're as many tells in what you say as in how you say it; people (like me) with lots of parentheticals are usually intellectually insecure college graduates. In Terkel, this is all perfectly obvious. But in World War Z, everyone just sounds like Max Brooks is writing a tremendously self-conscious novel.

All that said, toward the end I was kind of swept away by the narrative. The guy whose job it was to clear the underground of zombies, the Japanese otaku, some of the people here become individuated enough that you really want to read more about them, even if their self-expression is often clunky and full of Americanisms that you would never hear in the context presented. I just wish it hadn't been so badly written.

World War Z would have been perfect if it'd been presented as a series of interlocking short stories or novellas in third person. Who would want to read the otaku's story if it actually sounded as it would coming through a translator? No one. Honestly, I think Brooks just set himself too hard a task.