threeplusfire: (underworld waiting)
[personal profile] threeplusfire
This year I've tried to keep track of what I've read, in part because I felt like I wasn't reading enough or as much as I have in the past. There was a time when all my free time was consumed in books. Taking a look at my list, I see I am at forty seven so far. My goal was to have a minimum of fifty, and I'm halfway through Skvorecky's bittersweet Civil War story. But what's hilarious and wonderful to me is that the best and worst books are right there next to each other at the top of the list. I'm not going to waste space on enumerating the reasons why I think the sparkling emotionally abusive Mormon vampire stalker boyfriend story is terrible. But I would like to tell you about the best book.

World War Z by Max Brooks

This is one of the best novels I've read in the past eight years. It may be one of the greatest novels of the early 21st century, and I say that without hyperbole. It's absolutely bloody brilliant. I wish I had written this book.

World War Z is about zombies, which are sort of the opposite of sexysparkly!vampires in popular culture. What makes this novel outstanding is that it doesn't limit itself just to the horror and the fear. It touches on societal breakdowns and global failures, chronicling them in a dark way that hearkens to the dystopias of Yevgeny Zamyatin's We and George Orwell's 1984.

The human element is unabashedly present as well. The novel is broken into sections, each one an oral history presented by a person involved in a critical period and place. The method of narration builds an intense emotional layer into the end of world scenario. What makes the story true horror and utterly devastating is the visceral, cold realism. You find yourself thinking about contagious disease outbreaks, geopolitics and twenty four hour news coverage, failing wars with useless strategies... You find yourself thinking, this could be exactly the way it happens.

World War Z is chilling in its realism in chronicling an unthinkable horror. If you intend to only read a few books a year, or read everything you can find, I suggest this beautiful novel. Max Brooks has created a stunning classic here.

Date: 2008-11-22 01:06 am (UTC)
From: [identity profile] mielikki.livejournal.com
Would you respect me less if I said I also wanted to hear about the sparkly vampires?

Date: 2008-11-22 01:23 am (UTC)
From: [identity profile] tsarina.livejournal.com
Haha not at all. I love a good vampire story. At some point I should make a post about how terrible I think the Twilight books are.

Date: 2008-11-22 04:14 am (UTC)
From: [identity profile] eroticcakejob.livejournal.com
yay! I love it when you pwn things on the intarwebz.

Date: 2008-11-22 01:29 am (UTC)
From: [identity profile] k00kaburra.livejournal.com
My boyfriend was really excited about this one. I haven't had a chance to read it but I've only heard good things.

Date: 2008-11-22 01:41 am (UTC)
From: [identity profile] coyotegoth.livejournal.com
AWESOME book. The Twilight ref makes me want to watch zombie baseball :D

Date: 2008-11-22 02:08 am (UTC)
From: [identity profile] halfacork.livejournal.com
I love this book SO MUCH!

I sent it to my brother for his birthday and he was all, "Um, you made me go buy already."

Ooops.

Date: 2008-11-22 03:02 am (UTC)
From: [identity profile] silentjack.livejournal.com
I can't help but notice that there are no fewer than three copies of World War Z in my house.

I honestly think this might explain a lot about me.

Date: 2008-11-22 03:59 am (UTC)
From: [identity profile] frostwalrus.livejournal.com
I hope you know it has been awarded a chance at being made into a movie by Paramount? Screenplay is being written and financing is being discusses, I am sooooo excited!

Date: 2008-11-22 04:22 am (UTC)
From: [identity profile] tsarina.livejournal.com
OMG OMG OMG excited!!!!

Also, have you seen Quantum of Solace yet? Because you really need to - it made me think of you! You'll know why in the first two minutes.

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