Pride and Prejudice and Zombies

Title: Pride and Prejudice and Zombies
Author: Jane Austen and Seth Grahame-Smith
Release Date: May 1, 2009
Genre: Romance – Horror
Source: Purchased
Darcy: "They belong to you, Miss Bennett.” 

Publisher: Quirk Classics

Rating: 

“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 English village of Meryton—and the dead are returning to life! Feisty heroine Elizabeth Bennet is determined to wipe out the zombie menace, but she’s soon distracted by the arrival of the haughty and arrogant Mr. Darcy. What ensues is a delightful comedy of manners with plenty of civilized 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 the class-conscious landed gentry? Complete with romance, heartbreak, swordfights, cannibalism, and thousands of rotting corpses, Pride and Prejudice and Zombies transforms a masterpiece of world literature into something you’d actually want to read.

My thoughts

Two of my obsessions mixed together? Yes please.

Before reading this I expected the zombies to have a real profound role in the book, but that wasn’t the case. People get infected by zombies and they roam the country side of England once they have risen again. However these zombies only appear once in awhile.

What the zombies did cause is a change in society. The male-female relationships are still the same besides the fact that women can now also fight the zombies and protect their families. They don’t have to sit around being pretty and play musical instruments. Women carry weapons whenever they go outside alone. Women are trained in every kind of martial arts there is.

With these changes in society comes a change in the original story. Dialogues differ, different relationships are built and characters have changed their personality. I for one liked this about the book. I really enjoyed reading the dialogues and events that have changed so much. Sarcasm, cynicism and some vulgar jokes made appearances on several occasions. That is not something you would expect coming out of the mouths of 19^th century English men and women.

I also really liked the fact that some many classical elements were kept intact. This book could’ve easily been written by Grahame-Smith in the 19^th century and I think it would be considered a classic, only in a different way.

One thing I do wish was more of in the book are the zombies. Yes we read about them once in awhile, yes they are fought and yes they are just undead walkers. To me they are extremely interesting because not one book, tv show or movie has the same kind of zombies and I wish Grahame-Smith would’ve elaborated more on them.

If you like/love Pride and Prejudice and you don’t mind it being changed because of zombies then I say read it! If you like/love zombies and you have some sort of affinity with historical England then I say read it!

Quotes I liked

“It is a truth universally acknowledged that a zombie in possession of brains must be in want of more brains.” 

“Elizabeth: "Your balls, Mr. Darcy?"

“Of all the weapons in the world, love is the most dangerous.” 

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