LogFAQs > #946241104

40. World War Z (book) (19 points)
Nominated by: Xeybozn (2/5 remaining)


Importance: 6
Fear: 6
Snake: 7

World War Z is one of the most important pieces of zombie media to come out in the past 20 years. Together with other landmarks like 28 Days Later, Shaun of the Dead, The Walking Dead, & Left 4 Dead, World War Z defined a new era of the classic baddies, one that took to examining the individual stories of survivors in the thick of it, recounted as if a documentary or clinical report. This rewriting of the zombie canon into something more concrete, more real, was devised by Max Brooks, whose previous work The Zombie Survival Guide helped inform this sort of sequel. Whereas that book was a more humorous take with an alternate history slant, World War Z is a totally serious novel, deftly examining Brooks' deep seated fear of zombies and the various forms of terror they can represent. It was written with total accuracy in mind, especially when it came to military tactics and the other cultures represented in the world. Some of its greatest themes are that of isolation however, as the rich barricade themselves in ultra-fortresses, or in Canada where the ultra-cold weather would freeze zombies but had the averse effect of dwindling resources and cabin fever which made people resort to cannibalism. It's situations like this that Brooks dominates you by putting that pit in your stomach, drawing comparisons to the real world, and ultimately immersing you into a zombie story that reads like a piece of history. It's a great read and a powerful allegory, and if you're going to catch any zombie story of a recent memory, better make it this one.

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