Zone One Response: Part 1

     Colson Whitehead has a way of painting a picture with words. He goes into very deep detail to establish a vivid setting that is easy to picture. Although I tend to get lost in the long explanations, it is important to have a strong setting for the reader to picture. It was very interesting to see the angle the writer took with this story and developed a bit of a different post-apocalyptic world than your average zombie story. He has a government that is established and in control to add a sense of normality and hope for the survivors in the book. While most zombie stories have the focus of surviving the mass hordes of human eating zombies, Whitehead developed a story of reconstruction and development of a new culture.
     I really like the route the author took when producing the characters in the main sweeper team. The overachieving college girl, the "average joe" and the mangily, unpredictable crazy fellow. Their different personalities highlight each other to make interesting conversation and interaction. It is very interesting to see them interact and work as a team through this rough and rugged landscape. Having Mark Spitz as such an average person helps people place themselves in the story and come from his point of view on things and relate to him.
      The zombies in this story are very unique because they are not the typical zombie we have come to know. They are stranglers, left behind, rather than the hordes of flesh eating monsters. Mark Spitz seems to look at them as corpses rather than monsters and relates them to people he knew in the past. I like a lot of action and with such few skels around, the story at times can get a little dull. Since there are less skels, it allows for the story to develop and focus more on other aspects such as the characters interaction with each other, the reconstruction of the city and the details of the setting. Overall, it is an interesting book and I look forward to further reading into the lives of Mark Spitz, Kaitlyn and Gary.