I’m a little embarrassed that this is the first Colson Whitehead book I’ve read since I’ve been following him on Twitter for years, but it was enough to make me want to go out and read the rest of his work right away. Zone One is set mostly in New York City following the zombie plague apocalypse, and while I’m no connoisseur of the zombie genre, Whitehead’s take carries a sense of loss and wistfulness for the days gone by that must put others to shame, while not skimping on the gore and black humor made possible by the concept. My only problem is why I enjoy stories about the end of the world—”The Road,” “Children of Men,” “The Matrix”—so much.
I’ve never read Whitehead either but now he’s on my list. I think we like these books because they provide life with a sense of meaning that we’re missing today. Any spiritual sense of purpose or instinctual drive to survive are lit by a dim bulb in the modern age. The end of the world is a spotlight we crave.
It also presents this unique (albeit extreme) opportunity to wipe the slate clean and start over. It’s especially appealing when we seem to face so many intractable problems.