Zone One (2011) by Colson Whitehead

 Book Review

Zone One (2011)

by Colson Whitehead

  I think if you had to look at the top two authors to combine genre writing with literary fiction it would be 1) Kazuo Ishiguro because he won the Nobel Prize- not known for their embrace of genre-fiction embracing literary fiction and 2) Colson Whitehead- because he won the National Book Award AND the Pulitzer for Underground Railroad- a bold take on the alternate-history genre of science fiction.  His success with Underground Railroad was presaged by The Intuitionist, his debut novel and this book Zone One, his 2011 foray into Zombie-bit.  

  I read Zone One when it came out- bought the hardback first edition- but never wrote about it for this blog.  After listening to his latest book on Libby, I saw the Audiobook for Zone One and thought, "Hey, that looks fun!"  And it is, intermittently- the key difference between this book and his award winners is that this book is less concerned with telling an actual story and reads more like a work of literary fiction/experimental fiction set in a genre world than an actual attempt to fuse the two things- which his books after this point have accomplished as witnessed by their price winning status and universal acclaim. 

  What the reader gets in Zone One is basically a series of flashbacks where the protagonist muses about the lost world, spelled with episodes set in a post-zombie reconstruction lower Manhattan, where civilian-military personnel are mopping up, building by building after the Marines accomplished the heavy lifting.  Mark Spitz, the narrator, wasn't much in the world before, in the world after, he like, everybody else, is a survivor par excellence. If you take out the flashbacks, the story can be summarized in a sentence, but that also functions as a spoiler, so.