Zombies don't feature prominently in my reading life. Why, I'm not sure. You would think that someone who adores vampires would like zombies, too, wouldn't you? I find them creepier for some reason, perhaps because they can't be reasoned with. I mean, zombies and vampires are both animated corpses, but you can talk with a vampire and make a deal. No relationship is possible with a zombie.
This is an interesting book because of its structure: a series of “eye witness accounts,” arranged chronologically through the war and from all around the world. Living in pandemic times as we do, it is easy to identify lots of the behaviours demonstrated here. It's a clear eyed commentary about our seeming human inability to get along with one another and to cooperate. The situation has to be very extreme to overcome our long-held prejudices and bigotries. It might have felt choppy, but the consistency of the interviewer keeps things on track. I could identify with him. There's also a fundamental reorganization of work life. Executives, consultants, motion picture makers, and their ilk are suddenly worthless and new and/or undocumented immigrants who can fix things and know valuable skills are now on the top of the heap. It's a shock to the system for those who used to run things.
There were some particularly well realized entries, I thought. I particularly enjoyed the Japanese submarine crew who finagled their families onto the submarine and hid out at sea, dodging their own government as well as zombies. Then there were the dog trainers and their canine partners. True devotion to duty and each other. The female resupply pilot who goes down in zombie territory and makes it out with support from a woman on her radio (was she real?).
Much more enjoyable than I expected. Poor Iceland, here's hoping they got stabilized eventually!
Book Number 467 of my Science Fiction and Fantasy Reading Project
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