The Zombie Group! discussion

I was wondering if any one else has noticed a higher amount of zombie lit books that use non-traditional narrative styles. Just a few that immediately jump to mind are World War Z: An Oral History of the Zombie War, Zombies: A Record of the Year of Infection: Field Notes by Dr. Robert Twombly, Dead Inside: Do Not Enter: Notes from the Zombie Apocalypse, and Zombie Apocalypse!.

Personally I adore all of the above books. There should be as many ways to tell a story as there is ways to speak and read our language, so it has always perplexed me when people have said they couldn't finish books such as World War Z because there was "no character or plot development." It's nice at times to be able to see a much bigger story than a first or even third person narrative can tell.

Am I right in thinking there are more of these alternative narrative style books in the zombie lit genre than a normal genre, or am I just noticing more because it's the genre I read most of? Do you all think there is something about this genre that lends itself particularly well to this kind of story telling?

I LOVE unconventional and multidisciplinary ways of telling stories. A great example is Dead Inside: Do Not Enter: Notes from the Zombie Apocalypse. Its refreshing and often hilarious. (Oh, I just realized you mentioned that one...oops!)

I think it depends on what a person is looking for in a book. I love the escape, and if a book can do that for me, its a gooder in my mind. I find that there appear to be some *ahem* pretentious minds out there that seem to be unable to accept anything other than traditional story telling.

The genre itself is about us as a human race, our nature, our drives, and what how our boundaries change within such an extreme environment. Because of the intimacy between these ideas, the notion of a diary entry (for example) showcases this, and our vulnerability.

Ummm, Holden, why is it always just us having these great Goodreads conversations? Must be because we KNOW mummies aren't zombies ;)

Indeed. And we seem to be the only people still at this after what, more than a year?

Looking at the examples I gave above they are all apocalypse themed. Perhaps is it that aspect of the story, and not zombies per say, that plays out so well in this alternative mode of story telling?

I think you're right, although I haven't really read a lot of other fiction besides zombies.

For me, and perhaps for a lot of people, there's an escapism involved, and having that direct connection to the events, the characters intimate thoughts, provides that extra level of escape.

Using "Dead Inside" as an example, there's really no intellectual boundary between the action and the character's thoughts. Using images they way they did only adds to that desperate immediacy.

So why is everyone so against these narratives?!!!

I really don't know. Not to sound to pretentious but the arguments for why not to read World War Z in this thread: http://www.goodreads.com/topic/show/9... made me feel really sad that so many people can't seem to wrap their head around a narrative that is non-traditional.

I mean, it starts out with "But I'm only 50% of the way thru and I just don't see any pay off coming with finishing. As interesting as it is I can't discern a plot line that would push me through to the end." I think pretty obviously the pay off is the journey and the plot line is the larger narrative of how humanity deals with this particular apocalypse.

I just plain found World War Z boring...

I only managed to get about a third of the way through. Since each narrative was just more of the same, I stopped.

Randy wrote: "I just plain found World War Z boring...

I only managed to get about a third of the way through. Since each narrative was just more of the same, I stopped."

Well, each third of the book is pretty different in tone. And I would in no way characterize narratives that each take place in different places, countries, and times as "more of the same." I'm sorry, but I just don't understand how, for example, a narrative about a Brazilian doctor tries to hide one of his patients re-animating into a zombie is just the same as say the story of how a young follower of Islam came to reside in Israel for protection from the zombie apocalypse other than the fact they both involve zombies.

You know, It should probably be noted that WWZ DOES actually have a storyline, as told through the different interviews. It's still a linear story, just from different perspectives.