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Interviews | February 14, 2012

Jill Owens: IMG Stephen Dau: The Powells.com Interview



Stephen DauStephen Dau's The Book of Jonas is a marvelous, lyrical debut that examines the effects of war on everyone involved. Dau weaves together the stories... Continue »
  1. $17.47 Sale Hardcover add to wish list

    The Book of Jonas

    Stephen Dau 9780399158452

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D_F has commented on (1) product.

World War Z: An Oral History of the Zombie War by Max Brooks
World War Z: An Oral History of the Zombie War

D_F, April 24, 2007

World War Z is a book of many interviews, hosted by Max Brooks, about different times during the Zombie War. These interviews take place in various cities, in various countries around the world, depending on where the person is from. These interviews start from the warning about the increase in the number of zombies, and how no body really listened, to “The Blame Game”, then “The Great Panic”, and to the chapters of how the living humans rebelled and from the brink of extinction.

In the terrifying horror novel (in a good way), Max Brooks successfully gives us a series of interviews that informs us of how the living survived those gruesome times. During the interviews, it is hard to see how Mr. Brooks feels towards the men and woman survivors, but I can imagine that he feels bad for these people, living through those horrible times. But during the interviews, I could sense that Max Brooks was hinting (behind the text) that what seems like such a small thing can lead to such a big threat, and the first people to be interviewed had to live through the change from the little thing to the big threat.

“There was this smell coming from the neighbor’s RV. They were cooking something, meat, it smelled real good… Mom said ‘it’ was the only way…. She said ‘it’ wasn’t ‘that bad’ because the neighbors, not us, had been the ones to actually ‘do it.’ Dad said that we weren’t going to stoop to that level and that Mom should be ashamed of herself.” This is a quote from the book that comes from a family that went north to escape the zombies. This quote is important because it shows how desperate people were to survive, so desperate that they would resort to cannibalism. Another important quote is “’What charges?’ I asked. ‘What order?’ ‘To blow the pass’…we arrived at the pass and found it still full of refugees….whispered a prayer, then pressed his thumbs down on the firing buttons.” This quote is important because it shows that the government was willing to risk peoples to save their own.


After reading the book, I found that I liked how the book gives “real experiences” during the war. And who the people being interviewed showed how scared they were, by telling if they soiled themselves, screamed, killer other people, or fled. But while reading, I found myself having to re-read some sections, but when I got it, I really understood it, and then re-read it again because it was so good. I don’t think the book has a lasting value, even though Max Brooks accomplishes what he set out to do. I would recommend this book to teens who can deal with swearing, gore, and some inappropriate part.
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