Book Review: Pride and Prejudice and Zombies

Posted on | December 8, 2009 | No Comments

Pride and Prejudice and Zombies
Jane Austen and Seth Grahame-Smith
http://irreference.com/quirk-classics/

-

The plot: Seth Grahame-Smith adds to and occasionally re-writes Jane Austen’s classic to be about Regency Kung-Fu masters battling zombies as well as looking for love. Miss Elizabeth Bennet has her warrior’s honour besmirched by the rude Mr Darcy, but somehow events and the undead prevent her from killing him before he has proven himself worthy of her affection.

The judgement: I really wish this novel had been better, but it was mostly just a hilarious idea badly realised. Grahame-Smith’s self-confessed lack of talent doesn’t really excuse the fact that the “Oriental” influences were not sufficiently explored, the warrior’s code seemed haphazard, the characterisation was all over the place and, frankly, it was a bit boring.

If there was on touch of genius in Grahame-Smith’s additions, aside from the idea of re-writing Austen with zombies in the first place, it was in the handling of the infected Charlotte’s story. It was exactly the right amounts of funny, gross and tragic. Had the whole novel been like that, it would have been – excuse my Internet colloquialism – epic.

Still, as reasons to re-read Pride and Prejudice, this was not a bad one.

I’m now hoping to see fanfiction written for the zombified Austen universe that is much better than Seth Grahame-Smith’s original. The possibilities go far beyond what we saw here and I would love to see those possibilities explored further. And yes, I’ve already ordered Sense and Sensibility and Sea Monsters.

Rating 3.00 out of 5
Category: 2 Stars, Reviews, Reviews - Books

Comments

Leave a Reply





  • Past Posts

  • Posts by Category

  • Subscribe

    RSS Get subscribers Dreamwidth Livejournal Twitter

  • RSS Kivitasku Photography

  • RSS Kivitasku's Dreamwidth

  • RSS Our Merchandise

  • Sponsored Links

  • [Google]

  • Blog Listing Sites

    A Most Curious Blog - Blogged
    Blog Directory
    BlogCatalog
    Bloggernity
    BlogFlux