Sunday, October 10, 2010

Just Read: World War Z

Now while I don’t want to admit this, I actually haven’t read the Zombie Survival Guide (ducks from punches from classmates and evil overlord).  I also wasn’t really ever that into zombies, other than watching the oldest version of Night of the Living Dead. But recently this semester, I have been trying to explore and develop more of a monster history and decided to pick up some zombie movies to learn more: Resident Evil Trilogy, The Land of the Dead, 28 Days Later, 28 Weeks Later, etc.  The more that I started exploring these creatures… the more I realized how creepy they really are: they never stop, run in a pack, don’t have any fear, and simply respond only to the primal instinct of hunger. Also, I have to admit that the gross out feature with zombies is repulsively wonderful, and I found myself gagging every time they would spew the black liquid, or start throwing up blood.  Ewe.

World War Z took me some time to get into thought (ducks once again out of fear).  I loved the structure of it, and thought it was really interesting how I could listen to various accounts of people’s survival plans.  The only thing that gave me some trouble was the technological aspect of the book, but I both know and appreciate why It’s there….just had to re-read stuff a couple of times to understand stuff properly.

Now, whether this is the pain medicines talking or the fact that they might have implanted something weird in me while I was knocked out… the part that sticks out the most to me after reading everything was the chapter where all the rich people were boarded up in that massive mansion, with film crews taping them and showing how they were doing all over the world.  When I read this, I actually laughed out loud because these people were so stupid and they couldn’t even realize it.  Why in God’s name were they just hanging out, thinking that everything was going to be ok just because they had money?  I mean how many of them actually have ever shot a gun before?  Wouldn’t their time have been better spent if they had target practice areas, watchmen, etc.?  At least they would have seen the attack coming then! Oh, and at that point, when we found out that the zombies could run….I literally got chills.  A full fledge running zombie is quite terrifying…at least in my book.

Oh, and how about the fact that some people started acting like zombies?  Now, I don’t know about you, but when I was little, I always thought that the best defense against monsters was trying to act like them so that they couldn’t tell you were different, and therefore spare you when it came to their killing spree. Apparently, that doesn’t work so well.  Poor saps, they were mulled by the same creatures that they were trying to be like.

*Sorry for the short entry… I wanted to at least post something asap…I’ll write more in a little because the pain meds are starting to knock me out, haha.  Hopefully it's not that Phalanx crap.  I would be pissed if they slipped me some weak placebo! Ha

Continued...


·         The past couple days, I have been thinking a lot about the concept of they in horror novels.  We first witnessed it with the Breeding Ground when the characters talked about when they were going to come, and what they were.  Here, we are going through the same thing again.  Who are they and when are they going to step in and eliminate the problem? I kind of liked in the very beginning when the author was talking about how we have this theory that the CIA is involved in everything and how they have this tendency to always fix anything –when in reality, how can that possibly be true?

·         Also, in my pain medicine induced dream state today, I ended up having a dream about zombies (since I apparently can’t get enough of them when I’m conscious) and I was with the group that headed up North to get away from the Great Panic.  When we had the survival prompt, I didn’t really think of heading north, because for some reason I just assumed that the cold wouldn’t have any effect on them, but I have to admit that the book did a good job of describing this escape plan.  However, it was when I was reading this part that I started to notice they effect that the panic was having on the human population in general: they went from battling the zombies, to killing each other for supplies.  Ouch.  It sucks that even when the world is at battle with the undead, that the living STILL can’t get along.  But how about how the zombies were moving even when they were half frozen! That’s pretty cool….I have to admit. 

 


3 comments:

  1. I felt the same way! The characters were often quite foolish, though I liked the style of storytelling in this book. I, too, have missed the survival guide. After reading World War Z, I definitely want to check it out.

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  2. The Zombie Survival Guide is exactly what the title implies...A technical manual for disposal of the shambling dead. It can be dry at times, but laugh-out-loud funny for how serious it takes itself. My favorite zombie flix are "Shaun of the Dead," "NOTLD," "Diary of the Dead," and "Zombieland." Glad you've had your interest piqued!

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  3. The people that acted like zombies but weren't were pretty much my favorite part of the book, because that's where the uniqueness of his world comes in, though maybe it was suggested by Ben being shot at the end of Night of the Living Dead.

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