I’ve never read a book with such beautiful prose that made me feel absolutely nothing while reading it. This book earned its 3 star rating solely on the prose alone.

Normally I don’t read reviews until after I have finished a book and formulated my own thoughts about it. I don’t want to color my own opinions with preconceived notions of a book. However, I was about 50% in when I started to think I might have been missing something, because not only was I absolutely BORED during a zombie apocalypse story, but it seemed like nothing of substance had happened at all. I was relieved to find that a lot of reviews felt the same way I did about it, and I hadn’t somehow skipped over some crucial plot point or something.

I do not consume a whole lot of zombie stories in my reading, but have enjoyed them in other media. I was expecting this book to be like other zombie stories I’ve encountered, either that it would be full of action, or full of personal stories that connected me to the characters. Zone One had neither of those aspects, and therefore left me without any investment.

Don’t ask me at all who my favorite character was, because they all felt like cardboard. I wouldn’t be able to recall a single interesting detail about any of them. They also did not change whatsoever throughout the story. I’m aware that Mark Spitz was meant to be an everyman type of character, but he was so much so that I did not care what happened to him, or anyone he knew, at all.

The writing, unlike the story, was gorgeous. The visceral and eloquent details of the world were enchanting, and when it wanted to, it accomplished at making me cringe. At times, it truly did feel like I was reading poetry.

I would be willing to try another one of Colson Whitehead’s works in hopes that they would have more substance to them. I would not recommend this one.