Pride and Prejudice and Zombies by Seth Grahame-SmithMy rating: 1 of 5 stars
Oh, Jane... Jane, Jane, Jane. Seriously, let me just begin by saying that the only redeeming aspect of PPZ is Austen's text.
I began this book entirely open minded, but expected it to be what it claims to be: P&P with zombies in it. I expected the characters to be the same people I fell in love with so many years ago, and I don't want to give too much away, but they simply aren't. For some reason, Seth Grahame-Smith felt compelled to provide a completely contrived and ridiculous back story to the Bennett girls -- they are trained in Chinese martial arts in China by some famous Master Liu, and entrusted to be the defenders of their sleepy little British town, which for years has been terrorized, like the rest of England, by "unmentionables" (umm, I thought that was underwear). Even Lydia is a super-duper warrior, albeit one obsessed with boys and bonnets.
Other than the ridiculous character changes, there are also really stupid plot decisions, especially one involving Mr. Collins. Poor, poor fat, insipid Mr. Collins...Let's talk about the men for a second. Actually, let's expand and talk about the sexual undertones in PPZ. I suspect Grahame-Smith felt really proud of himself for the seventh-grade humor that stains this book like a greasy hamburger leaking oil onto an Austen classic. However, while maybe a "balls" joke may have some giggle appeal the first time around, the second, third, ad infinitum time it loses its charm. There are other lewd moments, and the most enervating thing about them is that they appear as private jokes between Lizzie and Darcy.
I am convinced that even had I not known the PP plot and characters prior to reading PPZ, I still would have found this book ridiculous. Which, I suppose is the book's main goal, but it succeeds so well as to render it baffoon-ish rather than droll.
Now all I want to do is read Pride and Prejudice and revel in the banter.
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SO with you on this! This book would have been far more clever had the writer actually worked the zombies thing into the existing plot. And not given Lizzie and Darcy the sense of humor of a pair of unimaginative 13-year-olds boys.
ReplyDeleteAnd I know I told you I was irked about how the back cover says that this book finally makes Pride and Prejudice readable. Blugh.
Have you heard about Sense and Sensibility and Sea Monsters? It's a different co-author...but I am not impressed with any of these adaptations. Not cool at all.
ReplyDeleteDamn, I had high hopes for this. It seemed so crazy it just might work. But thank you for reading it, so now I don't have to.
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