Is Max Brooks Wearing Out His Welcome?
When discussing zombies with other zombie lovers, Max Brooks somehow sneaks into the conversation. I always seem to get the question, “what did you think of the Zombie Survival Guide?” to which I answer, “I haven’t read it.” As you can imagine, this produces a lot of reactions which the two most common being:
You call yourself a zombie fan?
I’m not a big fan of these conversations as being I must prove that reading The Zombie Survival Guide is not synonymous with being a zombie fan. I get this a lot with zombies movies as well. It is like there is an invisible checklist that each person must complete in order to be card carrying member of the fan club. When prodded on why I haven’t read it, I simply explain that it doesn’t interest me. My decision is not a slight against Max Brooks, but rather, I prefer reading narrative fiction. And yes, I have read World War Z.
It’s not worth your time
Or the other popular one: it’s overrated. Here we get into the meat of the post. I’m seeing this a lot on message board and in conversations. The tone of the statement appears to be getting pointed as if Max himself took a dump in everyone’s collective sandwich. This got me thinking that he may be entering the blowback phase of his career whereby he’s reached such a level of acclaim that people will invariably dislike him .
I think the root of the issue was The Zombie Survival went from a fun light read into the gospel according to Max. He went from a quirky writer of the undead to the unequivocal expert on the subject matter. I can see this ruffling a lot feathers being the undead – at least in the Romero sense – are entirely fictional. The only difference between his thoughts on the subject and a post on All Things Zombie is that Max’s words are in fine print.
So what do you think? Do you consider The Zombie Survival Guide to be essential reading? Will we be seeing a lot more of Max in the future, or is the time of Max coming to an end?
Filed under: Books and Short Stories · Tags: Books and Short Stories, Max Brooks
idk, all things zombie should be just for fun. I’ve been getting a lot of slack myself lately for not wanting to see Zombieland. It just didn’t appeal. If the Zombie Survival Guide doesn’t appeal, don’t read it. I’ll probably get drunk and watch Zombieland at some point, but I’m in no rush. I supposed that if at some point in the future you’re tapped on reading materials, you should check out the Guide. I found it to be fun and quirky, and rather cute (as far as zombie stuff goes.)
Nah, man, I’m right there with ya. I’ve read it but essential reading? No. Not by a long shot. It honestly makes me cringe nowadays when the word “zombie” is brought up and someone immediately brings that book into the conversation. That doesn’t mean jack, haha. As a kid, I grew up on Romero movies, I grew up on horror comics. In my adult years, one of my favorite things to do is rereading the entire Walking Dead and Marvel Zombie series’. This is what makes me a zombie fan, not that silly guide.
On the one hand, I hear what you’re saying about the invisible checklist. Within the zombie fandom there is a sense that certain texts and films are required reading, but it should never be held against the casual fan if be or she hasn’t seen them. On the other hand, if someone is claiming to be a big fan of zombies (and going on an ego trip about it) but they haven’t seen or read the most influential texts, I think it is fair to call them on it. If one is proffessing to be an expert, one will have to read and watch stuff they may not want too.
As for your comments about Max Brooks, I don’t see the zombie fan community turning against him. From my experience seeing him at cons, he always draws a warm and enthusiastic crowd. He genuinely loves the concept of zombies and talking about it. He never sets himself up as some kind exclusive authority: people put that on him. Regardless of what one thinks of the Zombie Survival Guide, it is hard to deny it was an influential book and partly responsible for fueling the upswing in zombie popularity.
If people do start to turn on him just because he’s popular and they’re resentful of the canonical status others have assigned his work, I think this negativity will be focused on a guy who has done nothing but good for the zombie genre.
I am a zombie fan, and have not complete reading “World War Z”, which is actually something a lot of my listeners on Mail Order Zombie tease me about. I’ve read about one-third of it, and while I do enjoy what I’ve read to a point, I don’t find it constructed in such a way that I “can’t put it down” or anything like that.
I’ve not had any personal experiences with Max Brooks, but my reading about Brooks online, hearing him in interviews on various podcasts, watching YouTube videos and the like, has never made me think that he’s got a plan to sort of take over the zombie genre. As for as the public is concerned, then, yes, he’s probably more on the mainstream’s tongue than Romero is, but I wouldn’t hold Max Brooks responsible for that.
If you consider yourself a “hardcore” zombie fan (whatever the hell that’s supposed to mean!), I think you SHOULD be aware of the “biggies.” There are films, pieces of literature . . . hell, even videogames that have formed and shaped the genre as it is now, and if you don’t know the history, well . . . you’re missing out. I believe in the long run, “World War Z” is going to prove itself to be one of those pieces of literature that has left its mark on the genre we all love so much. (I suppose that means I should finish it, eh?) But it’s certainly not the end all, be all . . .
It’s pretty good. I analyzed my surroundings almost non-stop for about two weeks after reading it. But my favorite part of the book was the anecdotes, which is why I think I liked World War Z a lot more.
It’s a nice read, but a pretty bad guide for taking on zombies. My copy is highlighted with the more wrong items on it.
Call me crazy, but I don’t watch many zombie movies at all. I’m into zombies for the survivalist aspect.
I agree. World War Z was much better; it had a good premise and was thoroughly researched and well-written. I think the pseudo-realistic narrative suits Brooks better than a Zombie Gospel. People uphold it like it’s the Bible; I often ask them how many hours they’ve spent preparing for the REAL thing.
Then that arrogant smirk of self-importance melts right off their elitist face.
I have to agree that World War Z was a much better book. I also found the advice in the Survival Guide more akin to suicide than survival tactics. To me, it seemed as if Brooks took himself WAY too seriously, and while it was a good idea, it just could have been executed so much better. I was dissapointed in it, and glad I borrowed it off a friend rather than paid money for it.
I liked his book a lot which is probably why I used it when designing the rules for my website questionnaire. It was just a matter of time before someone codified the rules of a zombie universe. I am just glad that a fan of zombie’s folklore wrote it and not some guy just trying to push a piece a crap.
Once you get past the novelty part of it, it is fairly dry reading but I thought his fictional account of a zombie holocaust made up for it. I got a lot of crap from people because I used Max’s book as a source but what was I supposed to do? Assimilate every single person’s opinion on the matter, right or wrong?
His work is now part of pop-culture and has probably been the catalyst for many of the new zombie movies coming out. I give him credit for that and am happy to see the genre in the theaters instead of crap like House Party 2.
JPB
http://www.zombiecomp.com
JPB
I think maybe the success of 28 Days Later has more to do with the recent rediscovery of Zombies, but that’s only based on the fact that they tend to be faster zombies now.