Pride and Prejudice and Zombies

Review   P&P&Z by Jane Austen and Seth Grahame-Smith, Quirk Books 2009, 317 pages, ISBN: 978-1-59474-334-4.

First Sentence:   It is a truth universally acknowledged that a zombie in possession of brains must be in want of more brains.

MOTIVATION for READING:    I won this from Cecelia! It’s perfect for the Everything Austen Challenge AND the RIP IV Challenge.    It’s my very first zombie book.   It sounded like fun AND now I don’t have to read the original P&P since I only *think* I read this but am really not at all sure that I ever did…

WHAT’s it ABOUT:    I don’t really have to tell you, do I?    Five daughters sworn to protect England from the scourge attempt to capture (and/or resist) the attentions of eligible bachelors, etc and so on.

WHAT’s GOOD:   It’s still Austen;  just with some zombie-killing thrown in.   I admit, about 10 pages in, I wasn’t sure if the gimmick would last but by the end of the book, I wanted even more zombie slayings, please!     It is cleverly amusing, amusingly clever.     I really did love the light tone and attention to manners above all.

WHAT’s NOT so GOOD:    More zombies!    It really needed more zombies!      Maybe it’s the knowing how the story goes that by the time Lizzie and Darcy confess their love, all I really wanted was one more good zombie encounter.      And…    I really want to resent Mr. Grahame-Smith for coming up with the idea, but I can’t.   It’s like not wanting to slow down to look at car crashes, but glancing over anyway.

FINAL THOUGHTS:   Silliness, all in good fun.

SPOILER!!   (just highlight the empty space here to make my text appear…  AND if you really do intend to read the book, don’t read this and blame me later for ruining a terrific scene.)   I really DID wish that she had lopped off Lydia’s head when she had the chance.

♦

WORDS

p.53 ASPERITY “He was set right by Mrs. Bennet, who assured him with some asperity that they were very well able to keep a good cook, and hat her daughters were to busy training to be bothered with the kitchen.”

harshness of tone or manner.

p.72 MANKY “… to attend a demonstration of a new carriage that boasted of being impervious to attacks by the manky dreadfuls.”

inferior and worthless

p.155 VERDURE “The five weeks which she had now passed in Kent had made a great difference in the country, and every day was adding to the verdure of the early trees.”

lush green vegetation.

p.208 CURRICLE “… when the sound of a carriage drew them to a window, and they saw a gentleman and a lady in a curricle driving up the street.”

a light, open, two-wheeled carriage pulled by two horses side by side.

Another scene that I just have to share…

“As dinner continued in this manner, Elizabeth’s eye was continually drawn to Charlotte, who hovered over her plate, using a spoon to shovel goose meat and gravy in the general direction of her mouth, with limited success.  As she did, one of the sores beneath her eye burst, sending a trickle of bloody pus down her cheek and into her mouth.  Apparently,  she found the added flavor agreeable, for it only increased the frequency of her spoonfuls.  Elizabeth, however could not help but vomit ever so slightly into her handkerchief.”   p.121

gross, huh?!