Along the lines of my last read, this is another book which doesn’t make sense as to why I never read it.

I’m quite a horror movie enthusiast, and zombies have always kept a special place in my heart. So reading The Zombie Survival Guide is just a logical fit for me. Admittedly, this was one of the top five books I wanted to play catch-up with when I started thinking about the 52 books 52 weeks challenge, so I was quite excited to get to it.

Now that it’s over, I’m a little torn on how I feel about the book. On one hand, it’s a nice satire of similar survival guides or disaster preparedness “cookbooks,” an overall jab at fear mongering and our obsessive need to feel safe.

At the same time, the book sometimes felt like it was missing, well, satire. Aside from a couple of golden moments (like describing the techniques for fishing the waterlogged zombies), most of the guide felt rather literal, as if Good Mister Brooks feared that if he did not expose every logical situation and path a zombie invasion could take he’d be picked apart himself from another type of ravenous horde: fanboys. Which, I believe, is why it felt redundant at times.

Which is not to say I didn’t enjoy myself, just not as much as I figured I would. I’m certainly glad I read it, that’s for sure.

Book: The Zombie Survival Guide

Author: Max Brooks

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