#OwnVoices: Zone One - A Review

Spend three days with Mark Spitz (no relation) in Zone One, an area of Manhattan that has been reclaimed after the end of the world as we know it. Mark Spitz, Gary and Kaitlin are a group of "sweepers" who go through the city, as assigned, and dispatch remaining skels (zombies) in the area. From Mark's point of view, you go through Friday, Saturday, and Sunday in the zone as well as experience his flashbacks of the time since the fall of civilization. Mark is in his own head a lot, but that's easy to see why once you spend some time in the zone.

This is a well written post-apocalyptic tale that wastes no words. You may already know Colson Whitehead from The Underground Railroad or The Nickel Boys, but this is an earlier title. If you are familiar with his writing, you know he writes about bleak, frequently disturbing moments in a life. This title is no exception. In a world that is devastated, you still get flashes of our current lives and the way they intertwine. This title will have you reevaluating whether you are living your life or if you are just surviving, a straggler holding on to an identity that is long gone.

Doubleday 2011

Format: Book, Audiobook, eBook, eAudiobook

In this wry take on the post-apocalyptic horror novel, a pandemic has devastated the planet. The plague has sorted humanity into two types: the uninfected and the infected, the living and the living dead.

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#OwnVoices at Richland Library is a way for African American staff to provide thoughtful and well written book reviews, book lists and blog posts to promote African American authors and their work about the African American experience. The series invites our customers to learn one more way we are continuing the conversation in our community and speaking our voice. Find more resources on race, equity and inclusion, here.