Symbolism, Imagery, Allegory
Setting
It's hard to pin down the definitive setting of World War Z. Partly, that's because the setting changes every time the Interviewer chats it up with another character. Partly it results from not one...
Narrator Point of View
World War Z is technically a first-person peripheral narrator but it reads like first-person central narrator, and… we're getting ahead of ourselves, aren't we? Let's back up a bit and start with...
Genre
HorrorAn army of your friends and relatives have risen from their bloody graves and are chomping at your ankles as you run, desperately try to find a safe place to sleep. What emotion do you think...
Tone
Max Brooks is the Ken Burns of zombie history. In World War Z, a nameless interviewer discusses the experiences of the zombie war with its survivors, and each survivor has a different take on the c...
Writing Style
This one won't come as a surprise to anyone who's read the novel—or any of our learning guide: World War Z is written like a compilation of interviews. As a result, the writing style is very chat...
What's Up With the Title?
The title World War Z is a rather blatant riff on the name of two rather famous 20th century conflicts, World War I and World War II. Perhaps you've heard of them? Obviously, the title plays off th...
What's Up With the Ending?
Watch a movie based on actual events, and nine times out of ten, it'll have a section before the credits telling you what happened to the real life people the movies is based on. You can check out...
Tough-o-Meter
Max Brooks has a zombie war on his hands, and apparently that was terrifying enough: World War Z is an easy, sea-level jaunt across the war-torn beaches littered with the decomposing, undead masses...