World War Z: An Oral History of The Zombie War is by New York Times bestselling author, Max Brooks. Maximillian Michael Brooks was born on May 22, 1972, in New York, NY. He attended Crossroads School for Arts & Sciences K-12th grade where he was diagnosed with dyslexia (Biography). He later graduated from American University’s film school in 1994 (Biography). Brooks married Michelle Kholos Brooks in 2003, and they have one son named Henry (Biography). Brooks is an accomplished writer, releasing a novel in 2003 named The Zombie Survival Guide, and his 2006 novel, World War Z: An Oral History of The Zombie War (Biography). He also wrote for Saturday Night Live in the early 2000s, when he won a Primetime Emmy in 2002 for outstanding writing for …show more content…
The unnamed interviewer travels around the world, taking perspectives of the war from many different cultures mixed with varying political backgrounds and creates a chronological timeline of what transpired during the zombie war. The writing style is consistently conversational, and the interviewer tailors his questions to the culture of the person he is asking. Brooks writes in first and third person. The diction reflects the country of origin of the interviewee. The writing is “told in a short, almost episodic, manner” (Silver). Even though each interview stands on its own, the novel builds on what has occurred in previous interviews (Silver). “Brooks commits to detail in a way that makes his nightmare world seem creepily plausible” (Phipps). Brooks says in an interview with The New York Times that the novel is not of the horror genre, or the humor genre, but rather, “self-help. Or how-to…[Brooks] can’t think of anything less funny than dying in a zombie attack” (Brodesser-Akner). It is satirical, in a sense Juvenalian, because the book criticizes social evils through abrasiveness, scorn and outrage. It is not funny at all. Through the use of real locations, authorities, cultures, and historical events, Brooks reflects real-life problems of refugees, human rights crises, and inept …show more content…
As the interviewer travels around the world, the interviews take on authentic perspectives of the interviewee and even mixes historical facts into the conversation. For example, in China, the interviewee quotes Mao Zedong as Mao “is to hold [the Chinese government] responsible to the people” of China (Brooks 5). This mix of history and fiction creates an authentic voice to the interviews. The novel subtly satirizes situations that are dealt with in the world we live in today. One can imagine that it reflects the millions of Syrians today fleeing, “trying desperately to board whatever [floats] for a chance of survival at sea” (Brooks 70). It mirrors the children from South America, whose parents are transporting them with hopes of “a new society, a new nation” (Brooks 247). “Refugees from all over the world uniting under the common flag of survival” flee to Europe, to the United States, to any safe haven (Brooks 247). Then those safe havens are desperately trying their best to stay safe, “not that a high wall [is] all you [need] for long term survival” (Brooks 189). Except for the crisis being zombies, “it feels like the right book for the times, and that's the eeriest detail of all” (Phipps). One can substitute zombie for this century’s crises. In an interview with The New York Times, Max says, “There’s been some really scary stuff that’s been happening — 9/11, Iraq, Afghanistan, Katrina,
Imagine not having a safe spot. A place where you don't feel protected. A place where you're not frightened. A place where you're not scared of dying if you don't leave immediately. In Refugee by Alan Gratz three characters are refugees in different times, going through the same experience of fleeing the life they knew. The 1930’s: Josef, a Jewish boy living through the Holocaust, must flee Germany on a ship headed to Cuba. 1994: Isabel, a Cuban girl living through riots and protests, flees Cuba on a makeshift boat after the Soviet Union collapsed. 2015: Mahmoud, a Syrian boy living through the Syrian Civil War, must leave Syria with his family after his home is bombed. All three of these realistic characters are experiencing the same journey,
She allows the reader to truly imagine themselves in a zombie apocalypse by using description and comparison. “If you work in the many white-collar fields that have suffered in this recession, zombies are the perfect representation of the fiscal horror show” (Bosch, 651). Any reader that works in the white-collar fields, or knows anyone that does, can relate to what Bosch is saying because she used a vivid description and a comparison in one sentence. Readers will read this line and imagine their work chaos during the recession and immediately visualize zombies taking over the world and the madness that goes along with that. “There was a recession. It was a time of unemployment – of white-collar employment…” (Warner, 197). She also uses another type of figurative language: a metaphor. When she talks about the reality of zombie television shows and movies, she used a metaphor to compare modern day zombies to unicorns. “[n]o longer are zombies the beloved genre of the lonely, virgin teenage male, the macabre flipside of the girls’ obsession with unicorns” (Bosch, 651). She uses this metaphor to enhance the reader’s reading experience with humor but also by allowing the reader to understand how modern day zombie television shows and movies are looked upon. It is no longer for guts and gore but for fondness of shows and
Reading through the whole essay, there are many appealing strategies found in order to strengthen the essay academically. Brooks attracts the audience with a pathos-style strategy, giving specific movie examples to straighten up the essay. The movie Night of the Living Dead resonates the viewers with an image of a flesh-eating and harmful zombie figure instead of a harmless voodoo-created zombie, which makes the notion of zombies transformed into a horrifying figure, provoking the sense of fear of audience with emotional appeal. The revolutionary creation of zombie film was led by George A. Romero, the father of the entirely new horror genre. In his work, zombies are characterized as a form of undead
As the book floats between the ways of the world before and after the pandemic, many different characters are introduced. Appearing often in the novel include Jeevahn, a journalist who became a
The day started like that of any other these last couple of weeks. Mysterious incidents kept popping up in the news, of small groups going mad and becoming savage. Life was like that in Lampeter. Very little going on in town, whilst the whole world around us lives with a constant stream of danger. Some people were getting worried, afraid it was some sort of virus going around, but that happens all the time. One small case of a disease and the world’s in an epidemic. Happened with bird flu, E-coli, and we had just got over the joys of swine flu. Now this. Some people were becoming wary, uneasy around other people, fears of catching this mystery virus afflicting the nation and forcing its way into people’s minds. The unfortunate thing was,
Klosterman uses elaborate metaphors and similes to seamlessly compare modern-day life to the prevalence of zombies in society’s media and entertainment, as well as using words with a negative connotation to influence his readers’ view of modern-day life. Through the comparison of the daily
Coup Poudre - there is knowledge about the existence of Zombies and how they are created. A drug used to induce death/or give the appearance of death contains tetrodoxin and is produced by puffer fish. In small quantities the coup poudre, as is known, is ingested unknowingly by the person and will quickly give appearance of death as it gives total
The name of the article is Our Zombies, Ourselves written by James Parker. In this article Parker discusses the historical backdrop of zombies and talks about where it is that they started from. Parker additionally raises exceptionally fascinating point on the notoriety of zombies and a short timeline on zombies. He also talks of different sorts of popular cultures which incorporate zombies and are utilized, for example, the movies Night of the Living Dead, White Zombie, the books The Zen of Zombies, Zombie Haiku, and the television series The Walking Dead.. By utilizing these references Parker helps demonstrate to us how zombies appear to ceaselessly draw our interest. The article additionally educates the reader about how zombies came
Throughout the novel, Brooks does a brilliant job of showcasing the diversities of cultures, social statuses, age, and beliefs. Through his praiseworthy writing style he captures the trials and tribulations of every facet of human society. World War Z is a book that will leave any reader on the edge of their seats, and it will surely set a train of thought in
“ How To Tell a True War Story” By O’Brien is a complex story that scrutinizes the complex correlation that exist between war experience and the way stories are being told. Through anecdotes, O’Brien substantiates that a writer contains the ability to form its readers beliefs and viewpoint. Finding a meaning for O’Brien’s story was practically easy because through his anecdotes I was able to openly examine what O’Brien was
From start to finish the author uses pathos to capture the reader’s attention. Kaplan paints a fearful, gruesome, scary picture of how throughout history people have viewed vampires and zombies. The author shows this with his word choice, metaphors, and the stories he chooses to explain. From the start, the author uses words such as fear, scared, morbid, evil, and terror throughout his entire story. In just the first page of the text he uses the word fear three times accompanied by terror when writing about vampires in ancient times. Kaplan uses metaphors throughout the story, but especially in his introduction to capture the reader’s attention. Examples of this include when he states, “they are predators like lions and play upon the terror
Ryan Smithson’s Ghost of War is the perfect example of the need to break away from the ur-war story without completely losing the benefits it produces for war authors. When compared to Kevin Powers’ The Yellow Birds the difference between the typical ur-war story and what Smithson has written becomes obvious. The major issue with war literature is that the everyday civilian has no problem reading it however they are unable to connect to it. Typical war literature is to inform but the information is lost along the way with the abundance of bloody battles and psychological break downs. Powers has written war literature made to draw in the reader and keep his/her attention. However with Ghosts of War Smithson has given the reader a book that they can connect to while telling a true war story.
The author showcased through his writing that survival is critical in the world and also pointed out that Americans like the zombie genre because they believe they can survive anything with the right tools and
Combining all these serious themes into a very entertaining book should attract many readers. However, there was some confusion with the story line. Since this book is a collection of interviews, it wasn’t a conventional story. When I first started the book, I wasn’t sure why I was jumping from country to country and why each story was completely different. As I continued to read the book, I was able to understand that these were a collection of eyewitness accounts of the war. Also, Max Brooks uses a rife amount of vulgar language which I think could have been kept out. However, it made it real and that’s what this book is about.
The topic of the undead coming back to life to feast on the living has been around since the first zombie movie White Zombies in 1932; however, just in the past few decades has the threat of a zombie apocalypse enter the realm of international politics. The threat of a zombie apocalypse is a very serious concern of the international communities. Many political scientists are not sure how the world leaders would be able to work together if this issue were ever to arise in the world today. In the book “Theories of International Politics and Zombies”, Drezner uses the threat of a zombie apocalypse to show how the different theories of international politics would eliminate the threat; however, are the living dead a real international concern or are they just a brilliant metaphor for something much greater that could happen to the world.