Sunday, March 21, 2010

Book 9 – Pride and Prejudice and Zombies

By Jane Austen and Seth Grahame-Smith

A Xmas gift request (thanks hubs!) that was exactly what I expected: an indulgently fun and silly romp, though I found the martial arts stuff a little over the top. Like just because it's trendy now to have Kill Bill type warrior women who studied kung fu from Shaolin monks, doesn't mean the Bennett girls have to follow suit. Can't they just be really good swordswomen?

It was also helpful that I haven’t read Pride & Prejudice in almost 20 years, so I didn't have to bother with comparing the mash-up version with the original. But from what I can remember, all the characters and the general plot of the original story is basically intact. And Grahame-Swift, for the most part, almost seamlessly integrates the zombie action sequences and gory bits into the mix.

Ironically, reading this 21st century zombie update of this Napoleonic classic makes me want to read more Jane Austen, as well as seek out the 1995 UK mini-series AND the 2005 movie starring Kiera Knightley, both of which I haven’t seen yet! Though I don’t know if I’m ready to take the plunge and watch Becoming Jane. We’ll see…

But can't wait 'til THIS movie adaptation comes out!

2 comments:

WeSailFurther said...

One of my 10th graders was reading this this year and she said it was great! And she, too, is now going to seek out JA's P&P.

There's a graphic novel version out, too.

meezly said...

there was some blogger glitch where the comments don't show up in the post (so retarded!).

yeah, even the haters have to admit that these mash-ups do inspire some readers to seek out the original classics.