Zombies Zombies Zombies

World War Z by Max Brooks. I don't think anything I write will give the book any justice but I will try to briefly explain what I felt while reading. It is an oral history of the War against the Living Dead, Zacks, Ghouls or simply- ZOMBIES. The book consists of interviews with survivors of a world wide war that happened 12 years ago, war won by the humans. It is a historical record of the events, from the first encounter with patient zero to the announcement of the Victory day. It is written in a such good way that after page 5 you feel like you are actually learning real history, more real than every show in History Chanel.
 The main character, the interviewer collects first person stories from survivors. His mission is to write a post-war report for the United Nations.

 'We need clear facts and figures, unclouded by the human factor'. Of course, she was right. The official report was a collection of cold, hard data, an objective 'after-action report' that would allow future generations to study the events of that apocalyptic decade without being influenced by 'the human factor'.But isn't the human factor what connects us so deeply to our past? Will future generations care as much for chronologies and casualty statistics as they would for the personal accounts of individuals not so different from themselves?
                                                                             Introduction, p.2
 
  His initial report is made by facts and no personal stories; he decides that they are as important, even more, and puts them in a book. Each story is so personal that you, the reader, start to believe that the events actually happened.
  By the end of the book you start to wonder whether we could actually survive zombie war. I have always loved apocalyptic books. The best so far was The Road by Cormac McCarthy. What I love the most about apocalyptic scenarios in books is that they teach is to pull ourselves and start caring for each other, because that is the only way we could survive any type of apocalypse and extinction.
 

 PS Max Brooks wrote also Zombie Survivor Guide which I think one day might come in handy. You never know haha

A Little Bit Of Disappointment

  I just finished reading Stephen King's the CELL. I enjoyed the book right till the end; if you do not count the actual end. That is definitely a first for me; Stephen King has never disappointed me with any of his books, stories even films that he directed. Firstly the book was amazing, it got me involved right from the beginning. I wanted to know what was happening, what was that thing called The Pulse and how would things turn out. Secondly King managed to create characters that are intriguing and that you can find little bits of yourself in them. Thirdly I was nicely surprised by something I haven't experienced in a book by him- the death of one of the main characters. I can't say I have read all of his books but from the ones I have there was never a main character that he killed off. (Jack from The Shining and the little kid from The Mist do not count because I never considered them leading characters.). However, they way the character was killed off by the author was really shocking, right till the end when the chapter ends with 'That was the last breath'  I hoped that things will somehow turn out OK. I honestly thought it was quite risky to do that, because the story was not the same after that character was gone. Maybe it was because I found more similar things in that character than the others. It was sad, but also really really good. Stephen King took the risk with that decision and definitely made a right move.
   So let's get to the part where the book disappointed me. Right until the last page I was biting my nails in suspense and could not wait to see how he is going to explain all that has been happening. But there it was, the last sentense that just left me saying- WHAT? Really? Why???. He just left it there, you never know what happens to the characters and you never know what caused the apocalypse in the book. Quite frustrating, because if you know Stephen King then you know that he will leave you wondering what the hell is happening and then he will have the most amazing explanation that you would have never thought of.
  I don't know, maybe it's just me. I don't like being left to imagine things for myself when I am reading someone else's story. Even in the The Road by Cormac McCarthy you didn't know what caused the apocalypse, but you could have guessed what kind of natural disaster could have been; or a man-caused one, without him even telling you. Also, he vaguely tells you with one sentence that things have changed in time and that there might be hope. Stephen King's the CELL just stops.
  In conclusion, I liked every bit of the book except for the end.
 This is my favourite quote from the CELL.

  'At bottom, you see, we are not Homo sapiens at all. Our core is madness. The prime directive is murder. What Darwin was too polite to say, my friends, is that we came to rule the earth not because we were the smartest, or even the meanest, but because we have always been the craziest, most murderous mother-fuckers in the jungle. And that is what the Pulse exoposed five days ago'
                                                                                               CELL; p.217 

P.S. I just love Stephen King's faith in humanity! His books are like beginners' guides for sarcasm; or How to stay realistic no matter what.

Tales from Afghanistan

  The tales from Afghanistan are not actually written from Afghanistan, but from an Afghan author who lives in America. Unfortunately if he was still living in Afghanistan I don't think he would have been able to publish them. I am talking about the world-wide author phenomenon Khaled Hosseini. His two books The Kite Runner and Thousand Splendid Suns have sold millions of copies and are translated in more than 50 languages. Inspiration for this post is his upcoming book And The Mountains Echoed coming out the end of May. I read his first two book several years ago; I was ashamed of the fact how little I knew about the country and culture of the Afghan people. Most of us know roughly where Afghanistan is and probably their view about the culture is quite negative due to the wars in the past century.  However Khaled Hosseini showed me how beautiful the country was and how peaceful and loving the people were until recent times.
   His first book was published in 2003; a story about two boys Amir and Hassan; a story that brought me to tears more than once. If you haven't read it I definitely recommend it! It is an adventure that you take with the main character Amir and you spend almost 30 years with him. I don't really like saying what the book is all about, I am just going to say that it is worth reading.
 
  His second book was published in 2007 and it is a story evolving around two women. It is about Mariam and Laila's live; living under the same roof and having the same cruel husband they share everything. The difference between this one and The Kite Runner is that Amir manages to leave Afghanistan before the Taliban take over, whereas Mariam and Laila live there during that period. Again, Thousand Splendid Suns is an amazing story that will make your heart care about the people of Afghanistan.

 Khaled Hosseini's new book And The Mountains Echoed is due to come out on the 21st of May.It is going to be a story about a brother and sister.

                                                       I am sure it is going to be beautiful.

 Khaled Hosseini Official Website