Pride and Prejudice and Zombies by Austen and Grahame-Smith

Title: Pride and Prejudice and Zombies
Author: Jane Austen and Seth Grahame-Smith
Pages: 319 pages
Published: May 1st 2009 by Quirk Classics
Source: Owned Book
Links: goodreads

“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.

I'd been wanting to read this book for a while... and now that the movie is about to be released soon I went and grabbed it out of my bookcase and got started.  The book is supposed to be funny... but it's not my sense of humor.  I didn't find it funny but I did find it entertaining.  I do like Austen's books, so what intrigued me about this book was the fact that I had heard that it was the exact text of Austen's book (Pride and Prejudice) with some zombie action added in from Seth Grahame-Smith.  I think that  there are a few things you should know 1) you don't need to read the original before reading this edition, 2) if you don't like Austen or the original Pride and Prejudice then you won't like this book and 3) if you love Pride and Prejudice and are a purest then you will not like this book. 

This novel adds in a little story where the men and women of the time get sent to Japan or China to get lessons on how to basically be ninjas and kill zombies. Honestly I was a little more interested in reading the Austen parts then the Grahame-Smith parts.  Those got old and little odd.  There were some odd sexual plots added which was just weird with the period the book was written.  Another example of some oddness in the book is a line like this one: She remembered the lead ammunition in her pocket and offered it to him. “Your balls, Mr. Darcy?” He reached out and closed her hand around them, and offered, “They belong to you, Miss Bennet.” I re-read that line like 4 times wondering if I had read it right! 

I think that if someone has always been afraid of reading this classic then they should probably just skip this original and only read this edition.  Of course then if they are quizzed about Pride and Prejudice they might say a character dies from being a zombie and be completely wrong.   But it's not this zombie killing great horror book.  There was finally a battle of some sort at the very end, but otherwise not a lot of zombies at all.  There are illustration in the book that are really just amazing and fun.  Those put a smile on my face. 

I am looking forward to seeing the movie next week.  I think it's going to be cheesy campy fun.