Zone One
Colson Whitehead
Zone One
A pandemic has devastated the planet, sorting humanity into two types: the uninfected and the infected, the living and the living dead. Now the plague is receding, and Americans are busy rebuilding civilisation under orders from the provisional government based in Buffalo. Their top mission: the resettlement of Manhattan. Armed forces have successfully reclaimed the island south of Canal Street - aka 'Zone One' - eliminating the most dangerous plague victims, but pockets of infected squatters remain. Teams of civilian volunteers are tasked with clearing out the 'malfunctioning' stragglers who exist in a catatonic state, transfixed by their former lives, but who are lethal when roused.
3.3 out of 5 based on 5 reviews
|
Omniscore:
|
| Classification |
Fiction |
| Genre |
General Fiction, Science Fiction & Fantasy |
| Format |
Hardcover |
| Pages |
272 |
| RRP |
£14.99 |
| Date of Publication |
October 2011 |
| ISBN |
978-1846555985 |
| Publisher |
Harvill Secker |
| |
A pandemic has devastated the planet, sorting humanity into two types: the uninfected and the infected, the living and the living dead. Now the plague is receding, and Americans are busy rebuilding civilisation under orders from the provisional government based in Buffalo. Their top mission: the resettlement of Manhattan. Armed forces have successfully reclaimed the island south of Canal Street - aka 'Zone One' - eliminating the most dangerous plague victims, but pockets of infected squatters remain. Teams of civilian volunteers are tasked with clearing out the 'malfunctioning' stragglers who exist in a catatonic state, transfixed by their former lives, but who are lethal when roused.
Read The Omnivore's roundup for SAG HARBOUR.
Reviews
The New Statesman
Olivia Laing
"The stylistic exuberance on display would be overwhelming if it weren't so well controlled, shifting weightlessly from M*A*S*H-style battle narrative to a melancholic, Blade Runner-like vision of urban devastation. The smallest of details is marked by originality of language."
06/10/2011
Read Full Review
The Times
Kate Sauders
"A dark futuristic satire laced with fiendish humour."
22/10/2011
Read Full Review
The Guardian
Patrick Ness
"Whitehead does have a tendency to overwrite – sentences sometimes grow so rhythmical, you fail to take in their actual meaning as the words wash over you – but he achieves a kind of miracle of tone. A fragile hope permeates these pages, one so painful and tender, it's heartbreaking. There have been sharper zombie tales – the bitter satirical punch of George A Romero's original Night of the Living Dead film is unimprovable – but I can't recall one this sad and moving."
13/10/2011
Read Full Review
The Sunday Times
Alison Flood
"With a wobbly government starting to retake control of America, this is a post-apocalyptic world with more hope than many. It’s also funnier. What Whitehead does really well, though, is anchor his apocalypse in the small, heartbreaking details of everyday humanity, giving his end-of-days a bleak, sad humour that is all its own."
13/11/2011
Read Full Review
The Daily Telegraph
Benjamin Evans
"As the story meanders through the relative wasteland of its plot, however, it becomes clear that Whitehead has overplayed his hand. While individual sentences are beautifully wrought, making headway through the jazzily riffing and mannered narration is sometimes like wading through molasses. Blending bleakness and irony makes for an intriguing tone, but it also imposes an emotional distance that makes it hard to care."
03/11/2011
Read Full Review