Move over George Romero, your zombies are pups compared to what Max Brooks has created. World War Z, an Oral History of the Zombie Wars, is more shocking than anything you’ve ever read or seen, because it seems so real. The novel is made up of a series of interviews of survivors from around the world. Generals, world leaders, smugglers, charlatans, astronauts, housewives and teenagers form the Diaspora of fear. Their words take you to the source of the horror and splatter your brains across the globe.
On an overcrowded planet where epidemics spread at the speed of a sneeze, the plague of the undead washes across the people like a giant moaning, groaning, bone crunching Tsunami. They bite you, you become one of them. Humanity as we know it is brought to the brink of extinction because of this.
Now, take the typical Zombie tale and envision the worst case scenario. Conventional weapons of war don’t hurt these creatures. They only die when their brains are pulped. They can exist underwater, legless they crawl in the bushes, they have only one objective, to feed on you. They never quit. They are stupid, but they are strong and their numbers grow every time ours shrink.
We follow the interviews through a series of events involving a complete break down of socio-political machinery. In a world faced with such horror, the rules of existence have changed. For instance, Cuba emerges as a super power, and Max Brooks convinces you how. A nuclear attack from an entirely unexpected direction wipes out Pakistan. White collar workers, IT specialists, investment bankers, media executives are all rendered useless at a time when the only clubs you know are the ones you bring crashing down on Zombie heads.
World War Z is a brilliant social commentary of our times. It’s chilling to the bone, not just because of the ghouls, but also because of how humans react to them. Max Brooks has managed to capture human intentions and motivations in his book and he holds it as a mirror before us.
I say read it now, and then watch the movie in 2010. It’s being directed by Marc Forster of the Quantum of Solace fame. Sleep with the lights on. If you still can’t sleep, click here and calculate your chances of survival against a zombie hoard. Max Brooks has also authored the Zombie Survival Guide, he clearly knows the undead very well.