Zone One Paperback – July 10, 2012

I thoroughly enjoyed Zone One from cover to cover. Technically first button to last button since I read it on my Kindle. Having said that, I knew what to expect before purchasing it in the first. I first heard about it via author Glen Duncan's review in the New York Times' Sunday Book Review (Oct 28, 2011) then the wide variety of opinions noted here on Amazon. Also, I checked out some of the responses to Duncan's review posted online. Mr. Duncan later had a follow-up to his review which appeared in the Times' Arts section (Nov 17, 2011) in order to address the polarizing reaction to the review. Had I still been on the fence about buying the book, the wide variety of opinions, including another author posting a written response to his own review, would certainly have pushed me over the edge.Don't buy this book if you are looking for standard when-zombies-attack material. I am not trying to make it sound like I am thumbing my nose at that genre. Nothing could be further from the truth. A good story is a good story. I am always open to checking out a well-written zombie or vampire story. I can also appreciate the other extreme. As a side note, I have spent way too much of my time over the past couple weeks trying to figure out which translation of the Iliad to purchase. You have to have some appreciation of both horror and literary writing in order to enjoy this book. There are moments that would be right at home in any horror tale. At the same time, I was using the Kindle's built-in dictionary on a regular basis.I would not even say that the zombies, or I guess I should say infected, are really the cornerstone of Zone One. The zombie apocalypse and continued mass infections would be better described as part of the setting for the story. This is not a tale about life on the run from a zombie horde. The novel is a reflection on a way of life that for better or worse is gone and not coming back. This includes the narrator reflecting back on his own life as well as how other characters respond to the catastrophic loss that has occurred. The moods and various reactions are covered both in the immediate aftermath of the disaster and the attempts at reconstruction.Obviously I would recommend this book. Just not to everyone.

When my literate daughter Brennan mentioned in a discussion about trash novels we loved that Cousin Whitehead had written a zombie book (her paranormal favorite: me, I'm a vampire or werewolf fan), I was a bit shocked. Even though Harlem Shuffle had been a deviation of interest that certainly wasn't cut from the same cloth as the Underground Railroad or the Nicole Boys, somehow a National Book Award/Pulitzer contender did not write zombie books. So of course I had to read it even though I think I've only zombie books I've ever read were parodies of Austen.Well the good news is that a talented writer does not leave his talent at the genre door. I enjoyed the book because I was in the hands of a fine wordsmith and he simply chose to describe the zombie apocalypse in part of New York City -- with other aspects of the disaster explored in the Last Night stories of the human survivors fighting to clear Zone One of the various plague infected walking dead in that part of the city. The sweepers - civilian and quasi military - are peopled with humans you grow to care about. Mark Spitz, the protagonist,describes himself as a successful pursued of mediocrity. In his late 20's, he still lives with his parents in Long Island when the catastrophe occurs. He somehow fits in his mind in this new mangled world. He meets peop!e.on his journey who, like him, are survivors. Mim is the closest we have as a love interest. But like everyone she eventually disappears. Whitehead peoples Fort Wonton in the city with an array of folks we.root for. Trevor with his esoteric !partial arts and Fabio, Kaitlyn and No Ma's and Gary with his dreams of a Corsican island escape. And most of all the lieutenant who leads the sweepers with a sardonic humanism. They all manage to embody a life force trying to stave off the dead.So, yes, Whitehead did do a zombie novel! And its worth reading even if zombies aren't your preferred creepy indulgence.