Final Reaction to Zone One

What an intense ending. Finally we get to the end of the book, and that's where all the action was hiding? Who would have known... huh? ;) In all honesty I feel like I would need to read this book a second time to fully understand and catch all of the details. I definitely could have predicted that someone was going to die, but I was surprised that it was Gary. All of the foreshadowing with Mark's 'bleeding-through' visions sets the reader up for a suspenseful moment, but wow! What is most surprising here is that the novel broke it's own rules, which is that straggler zombies do not attack. For the first time in the entire novel, a skel bites someone, and it just so happens to be Gary. I did not find myself very emotionally attached to the character, though, which I didn't notice until he died. I was disappointed to never hear from Caitlin again, but most disappointed that Mim never made a return. After Gary is bit, and the team is separated, everything falls apart from there, leaving Zone One in shambles with the defense wall gone and zombies everywhere. Mark decides that he is going to learn to swim here, by walking into the sea of dead. I thought that the dark, hopeless, cliffhanger ending was very Colson Whitehead-esque, and I don't think he could have pulled it off more smoothly. I enjoyed the book overall, with my biggest complaint being bored at some points.

Zone One Week 4

FINALLY! This ending of the book would be the point of which everyone has been waiting for! In the story we have rules of the zombies. we have two types. 1. they run and eat. 2. they just stand frozen. However a fortune teller bite off a thumb and thus the entire rule book is thrown out! The frozen zombies were animated and they have hordes of zombies re-infesting Zone One. All the hard work Mark and everyone is now gone. So Mark was right in the case that it'll only get worse. He also started before that he can't die at all, or really he hasn't died. He goes out in the sea of dead and starts mowing them down. How can all their years of work be gone in just a few days? Is Whitehead hinting that he might write another book in the sense of the end of the Apocalypse? The World my never know...

Okay i kind of liked the idea of the book more than the writing. The end was the best part, but the entire books plot dry and lifeless just like the zombies. But if he wrote more on the world reforming in a new era after the zombies it would be a great story and have a new threat or a new horde of zombies infesting Buffalo. 

Zone One: Week 3

I was hoping for more action in the third reading, but alas.... more talking. I mean yeah more talking! Ah, who am i kidding? I hate the book so far. They writing is becoming even more detailed and the story is barely moving along. We do learn more about Mark and his three different stories he tells people so they don't get to really know him, he still doesn't trust anyone, and even though they are his family now, he can't be vulnerable.  We start to see people leaving left and right too we don't hear from the, again at all. What happened to them? Why does Whitehead add this aspect to the story? I really think its because it shows that's nothing is permanent and people will die around you if you don't keep moving.

Zone One Week 2

Week 2: This part of the book is still the same as the first, barely anything but with last days. Even through the entire part of the book of death, death, and more death, they seem to have fun with one skel. It was a good light scene to show that not everything in the world that is bright is gone, they still have their sense of humor and they know when to act and when to fight. With their last days they explain to each other, it gives us a background and understanding of who they were and how the apocalypse changes them.

Zone One Week 1

Week 1:
This was a pretty interesting take on the Zombie Apocalypse. With the whole idea that its nearing the end of the of the apocalypse, and civilization is finally rebuilding itself. Mark Spitz is a sweeper that cleans up Zones and helps clean up the outside world, he seems to think the world as they know wont come back from the dead or be rebuilt in anyway. All hope in him is lost. As everyone explained in  class the book was waaaaay to detailed for me, it just goes on and on about little things left and right. Also the book didn't really flow between the past and present that well... I would rather spend my time reading a book that gave a little detail and have me imagine the rest. the book so far is an interesting start on a different kind of Zombie book.

Last of Zone One Readings

So the day comes where there will no longer be anymore reading of this slow paced, detailed story. Ultimately the book had an excellent process for describing the setting in such detail and giving a very good feel of what it may be like to be in such a situation. At the beginning of Sunday I found it interesting when they discussed the finding of different suicidal corpses. It help establish how intense the plague was for everyone. the status of these people's lifestyle got to intense to handle, to the point that they felt it was easier to kill themselves rather than live. It makes me think that if a plague was to occur, people would most likely be left in terrible living conditions and would no longer be able to handle. I felt the overall idea of the story was very interesting. To see less action but more of the rebuilding phase of civilization was unique and insightful. Colson Whitehead developed a very unique, dark setting that i could easily imagine myself in.

Final reaction

Well we have finished the book and I am sad that this was the end but man was the last reading insane! I do think it was nuts how the lieutenant killed himself and how he would have been able to benefit from the counterfeit medicine operation that was going on and maybe that would have prevented the inhalation of the grenade that killed him. From there we follow our groups unfortunate last mission into Zone One and man was it eventful. If only Gary would have just given the gypsy lady one reassured shot he might have been able to keep his finger and not die so tragically. Finally though all of the quick sentences where Mark kept saying its bleeding through came to light with Gary’s bite and it was interesting to see the skell sit there as long as it did before attacking Gary. Then the truth really came out though with Marks return to Won Ton for medicine and the breaking of the wall as he said civilizations always fall no mater how good the defenses. Miss Macy really opens up telling the soldiers that her visit was a pure publicity stunt and how there was no summit but whilst reading I had a feeling that in the end that would have been the case. It saddened me though not to know what happened to Caitlyn after she ran from the gypsy holdup. In the end though it crazy to see Mark somewhat concern his fear of swimming it would have been better to swim in water not an ocean of the dead.