Pride and Prejudice and Zombies (Pride and Prejudice and Zombies, #1) in Pick-a-Shelf

Apr 08, 2009 Misty rated it did not like it

Shelves: humor, read-in-2009, cover-appeal, supernatural-paranormal, excited-for, awful, disappointing-or-excited-for-nothin, rant, horror-mystery-suspense-thriller, parody-spoof-satire

Pride and Prejudice and Zombies is a spoof retelling of the classic Jane Austen romance, with the addition of, well, zombies. Or I should say 'insertion' of zombies, because they were basically plopped down in the middle of the story; it was like reading Regency-era zombie Mad-Libs (trust me, that sounds more exciting than it is).

The five Bennet sisters have been trained in the deadly arts to slay the zombie menace, and second sister Elizabeth is the premier fighter among them; she's sworn off m Pride and Prejudice and Zombies is a spoof retelling of the classic Jane Austen romance, with the addition of, well, zombies. Or I should say 'insertion' of zombies, because they were basically plopped down in the middle of the story; it was like reading Regency-era zombie Mad-Libs (trust me, that sounds more exciting than it is).

The five Bennet sisters have been trained in the deadly arts to slay the zombie menace, and second sister Elizabeth is the premier fighter among them; she's sworn off men and just about everything but her bloodlust -- until some new people take up residence in her town, and she finds herself the object of the grand Mr. Darcy's attention. The story that follows is pretty well-known: it's basically the original "romance" story, the template for all that followed (and never quite matched up), but with "extra violent zombie mayhem." I'm not going to waste any more of your time on a synopsis; the story is known, and Grahame-Smith didn't change much in terms of the fundamental story.

What he did change was the essence of the story. I was really looking forward to this, as it sounded like a brilliant idea for a spoof, and the first chapter led me to believe that I was going to get what I wanted. I didn't.

The original P&P has some of the most famous lines in English literature, and where Grahame-Smith altered them to fit the context of a zombie novel, there were moments of brilliance, and some great humor. But most of the time, the alterations weren't really in the favor of context; there were random bizarre changes that didn't lay the groundwork for zombies, and didn't serve to do anything other than muddle the flow and make the story confusing. This may just be that I know the text so well that the changes threw me, but really, there were so many unnecessary changes that I didn't see a need for and just didn't get. Also, there were times when he simple cut some of the best lines/sections in the book -- he didn't alter them or cut them to fit context, he just cut them completely for no apparent reason, or altered them in his own words, which were always more clumsy.

Another big issue for me is the alteration of the characters. Of course, to make the principals fighters of the undead. I was expecting some overhaul, and I was prepared for it. But I think he used too heavy a hand. One of the delights of the original is Lizzie; she's funny and lively and doesn't let things get to her too easily. In G-S's version, Lizzie is blood-thirsty and overly-aggressive, and really not all that likable as a lead. Every perceived slight is a dishonor punished preferably by death. Sometimes her reactions are funny and read a little more true, but most of the time, it's just like, 'Really?'

There didn't seem to be much effort made at melding the two aspects of the story (original romance and G-S's zombie story); it read more like a writing exercise in which G-S printed out the original text and slipped in lines here and there, or chunks of fighting, and left them as he thought of them, rather than smoothing them into the text and making it flow. The two halves were often disparate and at war with each other. Sometimes, it was like he wasn't sure what feel or tone to aim for, so he tried a bit of everything, which meant that nothing worked in the end.

The discussion questions were funny in that G-S poked fun at himself, too. And there were times when he struck just the right tone, or twisted a classic scene to fit his context, and it worked perfectly. Sadly, those parts were few and extremely far between. All in all, it will probably work as a movie, and it may have worked as a book in more deft hands, handled effectively, but as is, it is a disappointment

I have more to say about this book, but as it gets spoilery from here, I will leave off. You can access it in full here on my blog. ...more

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Nov 15, 2009 Kristina rated it did not like it

Shelves: did-not-finish, fiction, fiction-historical, read-in-2009, fiction-parody-satire, eo-love-the-cover, fiction-speculative, fiction-lol, fiction-horror, eo-cover-is-the-best-part

I just finished chapter 13 and I am having trouble getting into it. I was really excited about this book, but the zombie parts are falling flat. Really, it's only making me want to go re-read Pride and Prejudice, and I'm debating if I should even bother finishing or just go read the original again.

So far the best line has been: "What do you mean, my dear? I know of nobody that is coming, I am sure, unless Charlotte Lucas should happen to call in- and I am sure my dinners are good enough for her ...more

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Jul 21, 2013 Blarneygod rated it liked it

I love Jane Austen's Pride and Prejudice. I thought I would enjoy this spin on my beloved classic, but I was annoyed by how the zombies kept intruding on my enjoyment. This is a clever idea, but I often felt as though I was reading two separate books cut and pasted together (which I was). The zombie story and the love story never completely fit together, each painted the characters in a different light that did not completely fit with the characters in the alternate story. Also the zombie scenes ...more

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Sep 26, 2011 Harold Ogle rated it liked it

Shelves: undead, conceit, classics, humor, horror, illustrated

Pride and Prejudice and Zombies was better than I expected. It's a re-telling of Jane Austen's classic 1813 novel, Pride and Prejudice, as you might surmise from the title. I expected it to be funny, but I also expected it to be one joke, along the premise of "the sure way to make this book better is to punch it up with some zombies!" Certainly it does that, yes, but it does it in a satisfyingly subtle and nuanced way. The contrast between the horrific zombie plague and the blinkered concerns of Pride and Prejudice and Zombies was better than I expected. It's a re-telling of Jane Austen's classic 1813 novel, Pride and Prejudice, as you might surmise from the title. I expected it to be funny, but I also expected it to be one joke, along the premise of "the sure way to make this book better is to punch it up with some zombies!" Certainly it does that, yes, but it does it in a satisfyingly subtle and nuanced way. The contrast between the horrific zombie plague and the blinkered concerns of regency-era gentry is amusingly stark, but it isn't presented as a Saturday Night Live lampoon after the first chapter (which really is a bit of a lampoon, as reads like it was a joke that the author did for a Facebook post). As the novel continues, we see that the zombie outbreak is a fact of life for these characters, rather than an interruption of it. Accordingly, each member of the gentry is rated on his/her ability to combat the undead, in addition to their passive income from their estates, their manners, their intelligence, and their comportment.

So each character from Pride and Prejudice is subtly but profoundly altered. Each of the Bennett sisters has been sent away to train in martial arts so as to better serve their country in its time of peril. This could have been a throwaway element, but Grahame-Smith cleverly inserts an element of wuxia stories here: the Bennett girls trained in China because their father couldn't afford to send them to Kyoto. This sets up the traditional martial arts rivalry between China and Japan, which is employed to great comedic effect throughout the book. It was a pleasant surprise to find this wuxia element in this book; I wasn't expecting that in addition to the regency intrigue and the zombie apocalypse. The three are blended very well, and in the course of his re-telling, Grahame-Smith concocts satisfyingly vicious outcomes for all the dastardly and obnoxious characters in the Austen novel.

I enjoyed this well enough that I read it pretty avidly, and at no point felt like it was getting repetitious or dully familiar, even though it closely follows Austen's plot.
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Oct 26, 2009 Rachel N. rated it liked it

I think the title pretty much tells it all. When I first heard of this book I thought it would be awful. I happened to see it in the library and decided to check it out. The author actually does a good job of integrating the zombies into the story. I found parts of the zombie mayhemn funny. Overall not a bad book.

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May 24, 2010 Nicole rated it it was ok

Shelves: audio-book, 2010

Though I will admit that I laughed out loud at some of the sheer ridiculousness of this book I have to say, it was pretty dumb. I loved Pride and Prejudice, but it wasn't so much that I felt the classic was being changed, it just went way beyond suspension of belief. ...more

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Mar 08, 2009 Mita rated it liked it

Shelves: humour-and-comedy, read-in-2009

If anything, at least reading this book is like reading the original book - which is beautiful - just with snarky annotation on zombies. Amusing read but nothing entirely new!

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