Wednesday, August 12, 2009

Pride and Prejudice and Zombies

Book: Pride and Prejudice and Zombies
Authors: Jane Austen and Seth Grahame-Smith
Like/Don't Like: Clever

You know how in Anne of Green Gables Diana submits Anne's story, Avril's Atonement, to the Rolling's Reliable Baking Power contest by inserting that Avril uses Rolling's Reliable to make the cake? This is what Seth Grahame-Smith has done with Pride and Prejudice. Same story, just with zombies thrown in. It's pretty clever.

England has been plagued with the undead for decades when the story opens and the Bennett sisters have to do more than just take long walks and find husbands. They have to kill zombies too. They have studied extensively with Shaolin monks and never travel anywhere without their knives and shot guns.

I never get tired of reading Pride and Prejudice but after a while the zombie talk got a little old. It's not overbearing, but it lost its originality over time. There were a few funny twists that made the book hilarious. I won't give them away but I will tell you that Charlotte Lucas doesn't marry Mr. Collins out of a desire to be mistress of her own home. There are darker reasons for it.

3 comments:

Jenny said...

Holy walking undead! That book just made it onto my list at the library!

Rach said...

I saw that title somewhere and was very curious. I think it's funny that I read this review 5 minutes after I watched the original Buffy the Vampire Slayer movie. I'll give it a whirl after I get through my current stack.

Tom said...

All this country needs to spark an interest in the classics is to add the Zombie element. Mark Twain and William Shakespeare also could have benefited from them.