Zone One: A Novel

Colson Whitehead

Oct 2011 · Sold by Anchor

About this ebook

NATIONAL BESTSELLER • From the two-time Pulitzer Prize-winning author of The Underground Railroad and The Nickel Boys: A pandemic has devastated the planet, sorting humanity into two types: the uninfected and the infected, the living and the living dead. • "One of the best books of the year." —Esquire

After the worst of the plague is over, armed forces stationed in Chinatown’s Fort Wonton have successfully reclaimed the island south of Canal Street—aka Zone One. Mark Spitz is a member of one of the three-person civilian sweeper units tasked with clearing lower Manhattan of the remaining feral zombies. Zone One unfolds over three surreal days in which Spitz is occupied with the mundane mission of straggler removal, the rigors of Post-Apocalyptic Stress Disorder (PASD), and the impossible task of coming to terms with a fallen world. And then things start to go terribly wrong…

At once a chilling horror story and a literary novel by a contemporary master, Zone One is a dazzling portrait of modern civilization in all its wretched, shambling glory.

Look for Colson Whitehead’s new novel, Crook Manifesto!

Ratings and reviews

I gave it an extra star because it is by far the best book I've ever read... That can make me fall asleep within 2 pages. And in those 2 pages they maybe walked up a flight of stairs but you go on a deep dive of every possible feeling the character has ever had on or about stairs but replace every word with the strangest one you can find in a thesaurus If they tried to turn this into a movie it would be about 20 minutes long with most of it being build up for no payoff. I can't believe this was on a top 10 list of must reads

It wasn't bad, definitely a fresh and unusual take on a zombie apocalypse. I would have given it 5 stars if the language of the novel wasn't so complex and difficult. This is definitely NOT an easy read, but if you have an extended vocabulary, or have time to whip out a dictionary every 5 minutes, you'll find this to be a very thought provoking and beautiful story.

I am usually open to nearly any work of fiction. However, I could not get past the forced over-complication of this book. The author obviously made every attempt to prove that he not only owns a thesaurus, but also knows how to use it. Good luck trying to read this self-righteous drivel.

About the author

COLSON WHITEHEAD is the Pulitzer-Prize winning author of The Underground Railroad. His other works include The Noble Hustle, Zone One, Sag Harbor, The Intuitionist, John Henry Days, Apex Hides the Hurt, and one collection of essays, The Colossus of New York. A National Book Award winner and a recipient of MacArthur and Guggenheim fellowships, he lives in New York City.