Colson Whitehead

A tautly-written account of one boy's experience of reform school in segregated 1960s America. Bright, studious Elwood Curtis finds himself there, having been in the wrong place at the wrong time. Its cruelties and injustices, the differences between the experiences of black boys and white boys incarcerated at the Nickel Academy are always understated, never dwelt on. A few characters apart from Elwood's are developed, but the strength of the story derives from its understating the horrors of the system it describes. The central premise is that racism was so endemic it wasn't even recognised as such. It's all very well resolving to be good, keep your head down and play the system that way, but nobody can work out how to do this. There are a couple of scenes that could well have been included - Elwood's appearance in court, and another later on (no spoilers here).

A thoughtful book, with an impact that remains long after the last page has been turned.… (lisätietoja)

Life in the wasteland is chaotic. What's it really like to lose everything? To live every day with the ashes of a world that's gone forever? And why even bother to keep trying?

This might be the saddest zombie novel I've ever read. Zone One takes the moments of disorientation and loss in most zombie stories -- the empty streets of New York in "Omega Man", or Atlanta in "The Walking Dead" -- and crawls up inside and nests there permanently. Every character cherishes their stories of how it Used To Be. They exchange memories as cautiously as trust.

This isn't a thriller or an action story. It's more like a meditation (or maybe an elegy); time runs forward and back as Mark narrates. The pace is slow, but in the end it worked for me.… (lisätietoja)