Zone One: A Novel

· Sold by Anchor
3.5
63 reviews
Ebook
288
Pages
Eligible

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, coming soon!

Ratings and reviews

3.5
63 reviews
Gravitus
January 25, 2019
Possibly the hardest read I've came across - filled with pretentious unnecessary tangents and overcomplicated language creating a confusing mess of a story with no end result. Nothing was accomplished. At all. "Why?" is the only remaining thought. I was about to give up about 30 pages in but quickly realized this book was amazing at making me fall asleep - and read a few pages a night for a month. At some point I started skipping whole paragraphs because I realized there was nothing of interest in them.
4 people found this review helpful
Did you find this helpful?
Woodrowe Bones
September 27, 2023
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
Did you find this helpful?
Colorado Kid
December 31, 2012
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.
Did you find this helpful?

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.

Rate this ebook

Tell us what you think.

Reading information

Smartphones and tablets
Install the Google Play Books app for Android and iPad/iPhone. It syncs automatically with your account and allows you to read online or offline wherever you are.
Laptops and computers
You can listen to audiobooks purchased on Google Play using your computer's web browser.
eReaders and other devices
To read on e-ink devices like Kobo eReaders, you'll need to download a file and transfer it to your device. Follow the detailed Help Center instructions to transfer the files to supported eReaders.