Monday, September 14, 2009

Pride and Prejudice and Zombies

I can't even write a synopsis for this and do it justice.  Here's the official description:
Subtitle: The Classic Regency Romance-Now with Ultraviolent Zombie Mayhem!
"It is a truth universally acknowledged that a zombie in possession of brains must be in want of more brains." So begins Pride and Prejudice and Zombies, an expanded edition of the beloved Jane Austen novel featuring all-new scenes of bone-crunching zombie mayhem. As our story opens, a mysterious plague has fallen upon the quiet English village of Meryton—& the dead are returning to life! Feisty heroine Elizabeth Bennett is determined to wipe out the zombie menace, but she's soon distracted by the arrival of the haughty & arrogant Mr. Darcy. What ensues is a delightful comedy of manners with plenty of civilized sparring between the two young lovers—& even more violent sparring on the blood-soaked battlefield as Elizabeth wages war against hordes of flesh-eating undead. Can she vanquish the spawn of Satan? And overcome the social prejudices of the class-conscious landed gentry? Complete with romance, heartbreak, swordfights, cannibalism & thousands of rotting corpses, Pride and Prejudice and Zombies transforms a masterpiece of world literature into something you'd actually want to read.


Okay so this was a silly book and I don't mean that in the negative sense.  It was a very clever book as well.  The original text of Pride and Prejudice with some zombie additions and it sounds totally natural.  It was just so odd to read P&P and then there is a casual mention of a zombie herd or Elizabeth has to behead something on her way to Meryton.  It was so ... odd and quirky, very quirky.  I did lol a couple of times and I loved the Darcy proposal scene complete with roundhouse kicks.  I love that Lady Catherine is a master of the deadly arts and that she looks down on Elizabeth for training in China and not Japan.  In fact this was my favorite exchange in the book:
Lady Catherine: "Have your ninjas left you?"
Elizabeth: "We never had any ninjas."
"No ninjas! How was that possible? Five daughters brought up at home without any ninjas! I never heard of such a thing.  Your mother must have been quite a slave to your safety."
Elizabeth coul hardly help smiling as she assured her that had not been the case.

These changes to the text are very clever and surprising to say the least.  And the fates of some of the characters are so different, but completely understandable given the nature of the book.  I have to say I wasn't too sure at first, but the more I read the more I got into it, zombies and all.

*completes my Everything Austen Challenge and goes towards the R.I.P. Challenge

9 comments:

  1. I'm glad you ended up enjoying it. I saw on Goodreads that you weren't so sure at the beginning.

    My personal favorite was the seven cuts of shame, hahaha!

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  2. It's just a crazy book. I liked the 7 cuts too.

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  3. This book first caught my eye on vacation this summer, when we spotted it in a bookstore in Boulder, CO, and got a good laugh out of it! I wondered what it was like and appreciated your review. It sounds very, very clever. Did you hear its sequel, Sense & Sensibility and Sea Monsters, will be released tomorrow? Thanks for the review!

    Sue

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  4. I'm impressed that you have finished the challenge already. I think you are the first person to do so!!

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  5. Oh, this book was fun! I laughed my way through it. Great review!

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  6. I'm doing my best to try to read it, but I'm not sure I can bring myself to do it! Every good review I read brings me a little bit closer, but I think I'll have to wait until I'm in a silly mood

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  7. I can't wait to read this book! I just re-read Pride and Prejudice and am waiting a bit before I read this one.

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  8. Hi Andrea,

    I'm with Quirk Books. I came across your blog and saw that you read Pride and Prejudice and Zombies. I'm glad you enjoyed it! I was wondering if you would like to be put on a mailing list to receive future news about the Quirk Classic series. In just a few weeks, we'll be announcing the next title.
    If not, that's okay. We won't bug you again.

    If you have any questions feel free to contact the publicity manager, Melissa Monachello, melissa_m@QuirkBooks.com.

    Thank you for reading!

    Best,

    Jennifer Pacheco

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  9. This one is just hilarious! So glad you liked it too.

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