"Pride and Prejudice and Zombies"

I would just like it to be noted that this blog has never been mentioned in class. Hmmm...

As promised (or threatened...)

"Pride and Prejudice and Zombies"
Jane Austen and Seth Grahame-Smith
Quirk Productions, 2009
ISBN# 978-1594743344

Elizabeth Bennet is a master of zombie disposal. And most fortuitously, for Meryton is being overrun with the undead! But, will the arrival of the proud and lethal Mr. Darcy distract her from her battles. Can Elizabeth defeat the undead AND overcome her prejudice to reach a happy, if not bloody, ending?

"It is a truth universally acknowledged that a zombie in possession of brains must be in want of more brains."
Jane Austen's classic novel "Pride and Prejudice" lives again (pun) as a surprisingly entertaining zombie-fied version. If you have not read the original, you might not enjoy it as much, although there's still enough to find funny in it without the context. But, if you've read the original (or even seen the movie), you'll appreciate how it ll makes sense. This isn't a massive overhaul of the novel: this is just what "Pride and Prejudice" would have been if Jane Austen had been able to include the zombies the first time around. Grahame-Smith includes much of the original text and dialogue, and the situations actually make sense. Jane goes to Netherfield by horseback because of Mrs. Bennet's strange manner of matchmaking, but also because there's a better chance she'd be able to avoid zombies on the road. It's perfectly reasonable.
There have also been a few touches that, while immortalizing Austen's novel, also poke a little fun at the sentiment, if not the content. "The smoke from Darcy's musket hung in the air around him, wafting heavenward through his thick mane of chestnut hair." Not pure Austen, but it certainly does capture the mood that modern readers have created for Mr. Darcy. (Insert Fangirl Swoon here) And, the scene in which Elizabeth refuses Darcy is an excellent little interlude. Quite honestly, it's what I've always wanted to happen in the book. :)
Recommended for, if nothing else, the sheer silliness of it all.

*When I bought this book at the Pitt bookstore, the cashier was almost as excited as I was. "Wow!", quoth he "They made a book of this? That's awesome!" And then he asked me, very seriously, if I had a zombie contingency plan. I didn't then...but thanks to Sarah, I now know where to go if the Zombie Apocalypse happens while I'm in Oakland.*