I was eagerly anticipating diving into Zone One after learning that it was a zombie novel. I was ramped up for reading about slow walking predatory corpses and gunfights and, and, and yeeeeaaahh people munching gory madness! Whoops not this book... I suppose if your a fan of Colson Whitehead previous to reading this book then I suppose it would be right up your alley. I have to say that I'm a fast reader but I found myself reading and re-reading the same chapters over and over again hoping I had missed some clue...some key element that would make sense out of the lack of transition from thing to the next except words in past tense. I really hate being hypercritical about a book but I cant remember dragging myself through a book before.
Right from the jump Whitehead places his knowledge of the streets of New York front and center by describing them street by street, block by block...for awhile. I would be awed but he lives there and has for most of his life. the characters that he placed in the story didn't really do much for me in the way that they were either relatable or believable. I feel that no time was really spent doing any personal research on how people react to high stress situations particularly life and death. Mark Spitz is often self described as hopeless but I would find it hard to believe that anyone who wallowed in hopelessness and thought so little of people would survive two seconds in an hostile environment. theres just alot in wording and character development that I think is missing leaving kind of a caricature (and not a good one) of what Colson Whitehead imagines people to be like. Now to the story end of it...No plot. nothing I really found rewarding, or really anything to keep me wanting to turn the pages. Mark Spitz and the other sweepers amble through the city while I get to read cynical sardonical dialog about how people were zombies before the infection because of their ineffectual purpose and occupation. An attempt at cleverness I guess but I really think that Colson Whitehead might think that he needs to make everything that didactic, either because he has a huge ego or because he thinks his audience needs to be told how to interpret things. He should've stuck to his previous subjects because they must have served him well prior.
The Zombies on the other hand proved to be slightly more interesting. his descriptions of the chain of events leading to their demise in the way of zombiedom were a different approach however, still not too far of a cry away from the living. Naming the zombies "skels" was a good description, I have to say I'm a visual thinker and things like that prompt good mental imagery. Its great, just not so great in the infrequency of zombie related homicide, in its place we read of zombie fratricide which is also infrequent. I really tried repeatedly to the point of frustration to like this book and the love never came. jumping from idea to idea, to flashback, to current situation, and back again only to get 1970's tv pilot talk like having to stay frosty....come on. never in my life did I ever imagine that I would've been bored to tears reading a zombie novel but Colson Whitehead hats off to you my friend, in my book your ten slots below RL Stein, I at least can appreciate predictable plots and story lines in children's horror way better than the lack of either in a book for adults. I really thought that the whole PASD thing lacked creativity and only served to further me in my assessment that Whitehead didn't pause to do any research on he topics he presented us with. I understand that I 'm reading fiction but even the best fiction has roots in reality.
For those that enjoyed the book awesome. but for me If I have any say in anything about reading Colson Whitehead in the future, I will never do it again.
