It was pretty obvious judging by the context of “The Zombie Survival Guide” that author Max Brooks’ smash novel “World War Z,” a sequel to “The Zombie Survival Guide,” would come to the hands of readers eventually. “The Zombie Survival Guide” basically establishes within its texts that it’s meant as a tool for the individual living in a world with the potential to be infested by the walking dead with plenty of experiences dealing with outbreaks and invasions of the walking dead before. So of course it was only a matter of time before author Brooks dropped the formalities and let us get a large exploration in to the world that inspired “The Zombie Survival Guide.”
While “The Zombie Survival Guide” is pretty much a very creative and informative book and manual about surviving in a world where the walking dead are as every bit a threat as Cancer and AIDS, deep down it possesses a core narrative injected within its pages that is subtle and haunting. For ninety percent of the novel, author Max Brooks provides every scenario for a major zombie apocalypse and what to do to ensure the survival of a person or a group of persons. And then for the final ten percent of the book, the author in question provides readers with a massive account of zombie encounters and horrific incidents involving the walking dead that date back to the Egyptian times right down to 2001.
It’s safe to say that the unnamed character we meet in “World War Z” is the exact character in “The Zombie Survival Guide.” The character himself is one who had enough foresight to realize that a zombie apocalypse was impending and had enough wisdom to compile a guide for just such a horrific event, and, in spite of potential dangers inherent in society, compiled a small compendium of encounters involving The Walking Dead all over the world. Almost all of the stories within the final half of the book are horrifying and are told with such stark detail that you’d be hard pressed not to believe some of this is fact based. Among the many harrowing and gruesome stories some of the most memorable include two rival street gangs fending off a mob of hundreds of the walking dead in a school that ends bafflingly, a boat of convicts sailing to Australia who fall victim to a lone infected passenger mistaken for an insane man, and a really nightmarish account of a group of pirates discovering a ship of black slaves, all of whom had turned while still in their shackles.
The character in question who writes “The Zombie Survival Guide” is one who has basically the foresight to see the writing on the wall and feels compelled to provide readers with enough information to guide them through the zombie apocalypse. One recurring theme in the entire accounts presented in the final half of the book is that about ninety nine percent of the zombie attacks are denied, and written off as hoaxes in spite of the overwhelming evidence of supernatural violence. In the later accounts, there’s pretty much an undeniable cover up from the US government, and one that would ensure the inevitable zombie apocalypse thanks to their obvious hubris and insistence on keeping a tight lid on the outbreak rather than dealing with it in a public arena. The final page tells all as it includes a journal entry from the author along with a dozen empty journal pages for the reader to fill in. You know… just in case. It’s an obvious forecast of things to come in “World War Z.” Whoever this author is managed to evade a zombie attack for many years and surprisingly survived the near collapse of humanity under the tooth and claw of the walking dead in the sequel.
I don’t want to know the name and identity of this man in question, but if you want to see how the zombie apocalypse affected him, check out his brief interlude in the anthology “The New Dead” where author Brooks spotlights him for a fleeting and heartbreaking moment. I don’t know if the creation of this somewhat sentient character was accidental, but this character is one of the most compelling I’ve ever read. If you’re like me and read “World War Z” before “The Zombie Survival Guide” it’s interesting to note that the zombie virus is identified very much as a virus in nature, and the author of the guide refers to it as Solanum. We don’t know where it originated, who was the first to contract it, or if the disease itself it man made or supernatural by nature, and thankfully the guide never divulges the details. I’d much rather be kept in the dark because while the book is in and of itself a guide, it does have a villain and its name is Solanum. It doesn’t so much guide you on how to disinfect yourself or cure yourself from a solanum infection passed through bites and scratches, all it does it give you the tools to confront an infected subject and provide you with a fighting chance to live to see tomorrow, should the world come under siege by the walking dead.
The good news is that the guide could be helpful in helping you survive. The bad news is the guide explicitly states that no matter where you are in the world you will be in mortal danger, and unless you are on the top of your game, you won’t survive longer than a month in the apocalypse. Like “World War Z,” author Max Brooks’ novel can apply to literally any situation or pandemic, and not just a zombie virus that breeds the walking dead. There are so many outbreaks of horrible diseases around the world already and Brooks allows himself a podium to discuss incompetence of government, cruelty of society, and the high probability that if you’re in a low rent neighborhood you’re pretty much on your own and have to become a self-sufficient mini-society. “The Zombie Survival Guide” works as a bit of escapist fantasy for an apocalypse obsessed society, but it also has interesting tips for anyone experiencing a major catastrophe. And because of that it proves its value a hundred times over.