Title: Pride and Prejudice and Zombies
Author: Jane Austen and Seth grahame-Smith
Published: Quirk Productions 2009
From the back cover:
"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 village of Meryton - and the dead are returning to life! Feisty heroine Elizabeth Bennet is determined to wipe out the zombie menacer, but she's soon distrcted by the arrival of the haughty and arrogant Mr Darcy. What ensues is a delightful comedy of manners with plenty of civilised sparring between the two young lovers- and even more violent sparring on the blood soaked battlefield. Can Elizabeth vanquish the spawn of Satan? And overcome the social prejudices of teh class-conscious landed gentry? Complete with romance, heartbreak, swordfights, cannibalisim, and thousands of rotting corpses, Pride and prejudice and Zombies transforms a masterpiece of world literature into something you'd actually want to read.
Well I rather disagree with the sentiment expressed in the last sentence of that blurb. I am left wondering why anybody would want to change Pride & Prejudice & why he thinks it is better with sword fights & zombies in it. I suppose I am a classical person & feel that classics should not be ripped off like this. I don't think it improved the story at all having sword fights & zombies but then maybe Pride & Prejudice is too boring for male readers. Was the author trying to get more people to read a classic? I don't know, plus having a Readers Discussion Guide at the back really rubbed me the wrong way. I had to read Pride & Prejudice at school in English & I loved the book then, I loved the way Elizabeth fought with her words.
I really don't like this book & feel quite strongly that someone really shouldn't make money off totally taking someone else's work & just slightly adjusting it like this. Maybe I don't get it, maybe he really was trying to poke fun at Pride & Prejudice, but why? I am just glad that I didn't spend money on this book because it just felt like a cheap rip off of a classic & I can't see why it was a New York Times Best seller.
