It was by mistake that I stumbled upon Apocalypse Z. I was actually searching for Max Brooks’ Word War Z – I heard about the movie, and wanted to read the book first. I am not sure why I got mixed up with the title (or maybe yes: it was almost at dawn after a night of work, and I was almost sleeping on my kindle), but after realising the confusion I decided to give it a chance.
(Apparently, the author has been defined “the Spanish Stephen King” by the newspaper La Voz de Galicia. I had tried to locate the source of this claim without any success – anybody who manages please send it over).
Apocalypse Z is what I would call a canonical zombie book, with some common characteristics with other novels of the same kind. It also presents, however, a few original, distinctive features.
The plot starts in the same way of Max Brooks’ novel: we have an unclear accident far away, in Russia this time (in War World Z is China, but the dynamic is similar), increasingly worrying news and suddenly a black-out in communication, followed by the outbreak of a mysterious and deadly disease turning men in living (and famished) zombies.
The protagonist, in what is a blog-based narrative, is a young Galician lawyer – clearly based on Loureiro’s own profession and home region – that struggles to survive this doomsday scenario. In his almost miraculous escape from an infested Galicia, he has to face dangers, pirates and obviously hordes of undead through a series of adventures, ending in a cliffhanger that reeks of sequel. Promptly delivered in the other two books of the trilogy (which I confess I haven’t read. I am too busy with Mira Grant’s sequels of Feed).
Apocalypse Z has become an international best-seller, and his author an editorial case not only in Spain (albeit in some other countries he has got less enthusiastic reviews; see, for example, http://pennablu.it/scrivere-di-zombi) with talks of a possible movie adaptation (not sure it has been finalised).
What made me like this novel is Loureiro’s approach to the zombie theme – lively, amusing and at times bordering comedy (when, for instance, dealing with his formidable cat with a Latin name, defined by many the best character in the book. I concur.), even though I am not completely sure the comic effect was intended. Anyway, you often forget this is a horror novel – both in the Spanish original and in the (quite good) English translation, a fact maybe explained by the nationality and the different literary tradition of the author (http://www.elmundo.es/elmundo/2010/02/03/cultura/1265198775.html.). And this is pleasant, no matter the cause.
A final point of interest is instead related to Loureiro’s sources: there have been some rumours that he has actually lifted much of it from a previously existing blog in English language (http://alpha-dog.livejournal.com/?skip=240). This would explain why the whole book idea comes from a real blog of Loureiro-writer, which has then been transposed in the first-person narrative of his lead character….True or not, it doesn’t really matter. Whatever reasons you have for not liking this book, that should not be among them. As anybody who writes for a living knows, ideas and themes are very much the same, settings likewise and in some genres even characters – just think about the Greek tragedy. It is how you construct them, and bring them alive, that make all the difference. The murder of a despicable subject is one of the less original plots in literature, but Dostoevsky managed to make Crime and Punishment out of it. Enjoy the reading.
Hi, thanks for the mention. I don’t talk about a possible movie adaption, but I said that, in my opinion, Apocalypse Z is just a mix of some zombie movies. For short, this novel gives readers nothing new in the zombie genre.
Hi Daniele, thank you for your comments. I’ve read about a possible movie on a Spanish newspaper a while ago. I mostly agree with your evaluation, even if I found the overall tone of the book fun, more in line with Almodovar than Romero… most likely unintended!