Gerald Duckworth & Co Ltd 2006
Nutshell blurb: This book is a collection of stories in interview format from the survivors of a zombie apocalypse.
I really liked the idea behind this book. The stories were interesting, diverse and some of them were quite hair-raising. I liked the idea of having a collection of interviews from all over the world because it gave us a view of what was happening in more than one place. Many times, post-apocalyptic stories focus on the survival of a small group of people or even on just one person. This view of the zombie invasion gives us a great look at it from many different angles and it was really cool to read about the different ordeals various people went through.
I’m not sure if this mode of storytelling really works for this genre, however. I feel that the whole point of zombies is that they’re scary. They’re meant to terrify us into setting up fortifications in our houses and to start rigorous training exercises to ensure that we’re in tip top shape in case of a zombie infestation. (Or is that just me…?) Anyway, for me, this book lacked immediacy. We are so far removed from any action as we’re having it recounted to us by people who survived. Which is another thing. They survived. Their lives may have been in danger during the stories they tell, but the fact that they’re sitting there telling us about their experiences means that they’re alive. That’s another bit of immediacy taken away from me. (Not that I wish for people to die, but I certainly want it to be a possibility.)
I also saw the film last week. I’m really glad that I didn’t pay attention to the critics (I seldom do because I like to make up my own mind about things) because I really enjoyed it. There were a lot of complaints (which I read AFTER I saw the film) about the ‘soft’ ending (which I won’t spoil for you) but I didn’t have a problem with it. It did wrap things up a bit neatly but I don’t mind. I and found it to be an enjoyable way to spend a couple of hours. I was entertained.
The book and the film are two completely different animals. One has nothing to do with the other except the fact that they both have the same name.
Off in tangent land and speaking of names… Every time I looked at the book, my eyes would land on the surname of the author (Brooks) and I would see the M of his first name and my brain would instantly think of Mel Brooks. How cool would it be if he wrote a zombie novel? Food for thought, people.
Storytime with Buffy 
Max Brooks is actually Mel Brooks’ son! I enjoyed the book a lot, I didn’t like the movie though, I was very disappointed with it because for budget I don’t think it did much that other zombie films have done better.
I didn’t know that. That’s cool, thanks for letting me know. 🙂 I quite liked the film, but I could appreciate it for what it was as I tend to not do comparisons unless they are thrust upon me. I also prefer zombie books over films so I haven’t seen too many. I don’t have much to compare it to. 🙂
Fair enough, just to be clear I didn’t dislike the film because it wasn’t like the book, I was disappointed in it as a film :). I’m the opposite, I’ve seen most zombie films but I haven’t read many zombie books!
I’ve been going a bit overboard with zombie books lately. I don’t know why I’m on such an undead kick. I also recently watched the train wreck that is Planet Terror. Don’t know what I was thinking there! 😀
I haven’t seen that! The last zombie book I read was Alison Hewitt is trapped. That was pretty good. I don’t suppose you have a blog post with zombie book recommendations handy?
No I don’t, but I just finished Alison Hewitt last night! It’s on my list of blog posts to do. Did you like it?
I did! I thought the ending was a left a bit unresolved and a couple of other things bothered me, but I liked the story as a whole and I really enjoyed the comments at the end of each chapter. That was a really interesting thing to do and I love how you got an idea of what was going on in the rest of the world just from the few comments.
I really liked it too but I thought the opposite of you about the ending. I thought it was a bit too wrapped up. I really liked it though so you’ll have to check out my post once I’ve written it.
I was mainly thinking about the thing with her mother…
I will definitely watch out for it!
[…] police reports, journals, emails, government meeting minutes and such. It’s quite similar to World War Z in that it’s a collection of accounts that describe this event that sweeps across London. The […]