Dusting off the Classics: World War Z

For some time, zombies have typically been recipes for disaster in horror novels. "World War Z," however, defies this stereotype.

From the get-go, Max Brooks' novel of a zombie war is engrossing and original. It follows the story of an unnamed narrator as he chronicles the war via a series of interviews. Each interview is relative to a chronological event in the war and no one character is interviewed twice.

This book does an incredible job of storytelling, character design and is also wonderfully written.

The idea of using a series of interviews to tell a story is novel. Obviously, each interview is fake, as this is a fictional book, but the writer makes every effort to add legitimacy to the tales. Despite the ridiculous nature associated with a zombie war, the author does a phenomenal job making every event seem sincere. Readers will find themselves captivated by these tales of woe. It effortlessly takes the tale from one major event in the war to another without bogging down the story in excessive character description.

In fact, there is a perfect amount of character description. Each chapter is prefaced with a bold one to two-paragraph summary of the interviewee and why he or she is relevant to the overall story. This helps the reader set up a mental image of whom the author is looking at. On several occasions, the interviewee may reference one of their physical features, which adds to the tale being told. The clever thing about this is that the author masterfully builds a scene while telling a story. There is no break between these two integral parts of the book. This wonderful use of description is what will keep readers turning pages throughout the novel.

Aside from the storyline, the writing in this novel is superb. Many books have difficulty eloquently wording surroundings. It is one of the largest pit falls in the world of literature. It seems odd that a book about zombies would succeed in this area, but it does. The story takes the reader all over the world, and at each stop, a beautiful, albeit sometimes disgusting description, is waiting to be read. In one chapter, Brooks paints a flawless picture of people swimming toward boats in the Indian Ocean in order to escape zombies on shore. While swimming, several of these would-be survivors are yanked to watery graves by members of the undead residing below the water's surface. At the same time, Brooks also describes the boats themselves, on which a few infected people have made it aboard and are spreading the infection at a rapidly increasingly rate.

Is it odd to say this sort of storytelling is beautiful? Probably, but it's these factors that set "World War Z" apart from any other book in the genre.