How many Pulitzer Prize–winning authors have written zombie novels? Generally, the sort of literary prestige that gets one nominated for such awards is not given to authors who write in a genre inspired by B-grade horror films. But good writing is good writing, whether it’s in a tale of the zombie apocalypse or the next Great American Novel. And at least one American author has managed to pull off both: Colson Whitehead. You’ve most likely heard his name in the context of his 2016 novel The Underground Railroad, which won him the Pulitzer, the National Book Award, and numerous other prizes. But fewer people are talking about the zombie novel that preceded his biggest hit: Zone One.
Zone One explores the reconstruction efforts and the psychology of recovery in the wake of the zombie apocalypse. A survivor nicknamed Mark Spitz has joined a team of civilian Sweepers tasked with clearing out the last of the remaining zombies from Lower Manhattan. The military had already swept through and barricaded the area south of Canal Street, now dubbed Zone One. The Sweepers were the next step toward making that zone habitable once more, with the ultimate goal of rebuilding American civilization, starting in New York City. As Mark and his team search office buildings and apartments floor by floor, his story unspools through loosely connected flashbacks to the Last Night of civilization as he had known it and the period of chaotic running and fighting that followed known as the Interregnum. As Mark contemplates his past, he has trouble imagining a future of victory, safety, and a return to the way things were. Can the zombies ever really be defeated? Can society be rebuilt after suffering such trauma? Will the old power structures and institutions be able to reassert themselves in this strange new world? And does he really want them to? With its classic zombie apocalypse premise, its sprawling prose, and its deep, philosophical focus, Zone One blurs the line between speculative and literary fiction, showing that those genres are not necessarily as different as people tend to assume.
Unlike many other zombie tales, Zone One is neither an action story nor a horror tale. Instead, it’s a slow and introspective piece that focuses on the psychology of the apocalypse. A significant number of Mark Spitz’s inner monologues center on Post-Apocalyptic Stress Disorder, or PASD—the mental illness that every single survivor suffers from as a result of the trauma of the zombie epidemic. Mark dwells on the wide variety of ways that PASD manifests in different people, from Gary’s tendency to speak in the first person plural as a way of including his dead brothers, to Kaitlyn’s insistence on rehashing memories of her past, to the survivors that end up eventually taking their own lives. Mark Spitz’s symptoms include a hallucination that the ashes of the dead are continuously falling from the sky and coating everything. Despite living with trauma and seeing things that aren’t there, Mark Spitz excels in the apocalypse. Before the zombies came, he was hopelessly mediocre, living an unremarkable life with a boring job and a string of failed relationships. But when it comes to fleeing and fighting for his life, Mark is finally good at something. Which gives him a strange perspective on the situation and explains some of his hesitancy in supporting the rebuilding of society.
Another aspect that makes this zombie story unique is its depiction of the zombies themselves. In Zone One, there are two types of undead: the skels, which are your more typical hostile zombies that will chase and eat you, and the stragglers, which blend the literal definition of zombies with the metaphorical one—mindless and motionless, after being bitten they return to some place familiar or important to them and stand there frozen in a catatonic state. The skels are easier to handle—you have to kill them before they kill you. But Mark Spitz and his comrades struggle with how to respond to stragglers. Some people kill them on sight like they would a skel—just in case it were to suddenly start moving again; some people play with them, posing and making jokes; and Mark briefly considers just leaving them where they stand, stationary remnants of the old world. The stragglers represent an entirely new take on zombies and the survivors’ reactions to them serve to further explore the psychology of the apocalypse.
I recommend Zone One to anyone looking to get something new and deeper out of a zombie story. You can find it on shelves at your favorite library or retailer, or you can purchase it online and support The Gothic Library in the process by clicking on this Bookshop.org affiliate link. Feel free to share your thoughts on the book in the comments!