What I Liked About It & Whether I’d Recommend It
If you’ll recall, I recommended ten different apocalyptic or post-apocalyptic books for 2024—The Year of the Apocalypse. Since World War Z by Max Brooks is one of those books, in this post we’re going to talk about whether I liked or disliked this book and, regardless, whether I would recommend it. The answer is more complicated than you might assume do to the nature of this book. Join me for my spoiler-free review of World War Z!
But first, let me address the book from a high-level, because this is a very different type of novel.
Synopsis
World War Z is a fictional account of a decade-long zombie war. However, it’s told by the survivors, after the war is over. It’s also told as a series of interviews, as if the writer is a journalist traveling the world and collecting the stories of what they endured.
It’s organized chronologically beginning with the initial outbreak in China and ending with the final war and the aftermath. Brooks moves from one interviewee to another so that each scene is told from a certain character’s perspective. Other than a few closing remarks from some of these at the end of the book, we never hear from a given character a second time after their scene is over. This lack of any character arcs is quite distinct from a typical novel.
The zombies are also distinct in that they possess finer motor skills than I’ve seen in other zombie tales such as The Walking Dead. In Brooks’s zombie world, the undead are able to open doors, climb walls, and maneuver around obstacles more adeptly than readers might expect. This makes them more of a threat. They’re harder to obstruct, elude and kill.
But did I like it? Yes and no.
What I Liked
Character Voices
Brooks’s ability to tell a story in a slightly different voice across so many characters stood out. For example, the compassionate and pragmatic doctor, Kwang Jingshu tells his story in an observant, compliant manner. He’s reserved, a bit skeptical, but eager to help once he sees how great the need is. His tale is told in a relatively matter-of-fact manner befitting a man of science.
In contrast, Philip Adler, the battle-worn West German soldier whose general ordered them to abandon the civilians, recounts his portion of the tale with all of the bitterness you might expect from someone who felt compelled to do what he knew was wrong. We meet up with him in the likeliest of places: on a pilgrimage to see the pope at Saint Patrick’s Cathedral. His story is one laced with emotion and regret.
Since this is a story of a war-torn land and its survivors, all of the characters have something of a battle-hardened perspective. However, within that cross-section, Brooks manages a fairly broad range of perspectives that I found impressive.
Military Knowledge
If all you know about Max Brooks is that he’s the son of Mel Brooks, you’ll be blown away by his knowledge of both military operations and strategy. I’ll admit that I knew nothing about him prior to reading this book. However, when you discover that he holds dual fellowships at the Atlantic Council’s Brent Scowcroft Center for Strategy and Security and the Modern War Institute at West Point, it all makes sense. [You can find more information about him here.]
This is a man who knows a lot about warfare. And it shows. What the book lacks in character arcs it makes up for in a deep knowledge of military tactics, weapons and strategy. Thus the story comes across as profoundly realistic, perhaps even predictive.
Geographical Breadth
And lastly, my favorite aspect of the book is its geographic scale. Brooks takes readers across every continent on earth, to islands in the ocean, on ships, and to many different countries. I’m the type of reader who researches as I read. (I can’t resist.) I learned about so many different places despite the fact that we visit each one for only that character’s relatively brief scene.
This gives the book a truly epic and global feel.
What I Didn’t Like
Character
If you read for character, this book might disappoint you. Though the range of character voices is great, readers see each character for only a few pages. There’s no character change or growth at all. After all, they’re telling a brief synopsis of their participation in the war. Since the story is told in retrospect, there’s really no chance for that character journey that’s the beating heart of almost all literature.
That makes this novel profoundly different. We also hardly see any character relationships or the ways in which different people move through life together. There were moments of bitter disappointment or regret—characters who were left despairing rather than hoping for the future. However, it’s quite minimal compared to what we’re used to seeing in a novel.
Distance
And my least favorite aspect of the book is the distance from the story. As much as I enjoyed the geographical journey and Brooks’s military acumen impressed me, I was almost never immersed in the story. This goes hand-in-hand with the character matter I just mentioned. Since the story is told in retrospect and we aren’t traveling in the shoes of a given character or two, I always felt as if I was removed from the story.
That meant that it wasn’t terribly suspenseful, the story didn’t grip me, and I didn’t feel like I had any real emotional experience while reading it.
Did I like It/ Would I Recommend It
So did I like it? No, for the most part I didn’t. I respect it, but it isn’t a story I’d revisit for an enjoyable literary experience.
HOWEVER, that doesn’t mean that I wouldn’t recommend it. It really depends on what kind of reader you are. I know a lot of people who love military history or strategy along with weapons and tactics. Someone like that would probably eat this up.
I’d even recommend it to those readers who are more like myself: lovers of literary-quality genre fiction. This is a smart book. There’s a lot that I appreciate about it and Brooks’s style despite the fact that it’ll never be one of my favorites.
If you’ve read it, leave me a comment. I’d love to hear what you did or didn’t like about it and whether it was your cup of tea!
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