Book Review: Pride and Prejudice and Zombies by Seth Grahame-Smith

Title: Pride and Prejudice and Zombies

Author: Seth Grahame-Smith

Publisher: Quirk Books

Publication Date: May 1, 2009

Genre: Retelling, Paranormal

Length: 319 pages

Source: borrowed

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Literary Awards:

The Kitschies Nominee for Red Tentacle (Novel) (2009)

Goodreads Choice Award Nominee for Favorite Book & Fantasy (2009)

Synopsis:

"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:

I read Pride and Prejudice shortly after graduating high school and actually enjoyed it. I ended up reading every other Austen novel and a ton of other classics as well because of it. I thought the writing to be very beautiful. 

I found this retelling to be rather boring. Yes, I said it. A classic with zombies actually bored me. I found that it dragged on and on and had very few and far between mentions of the 'unmentionables'. Maybe it was that I was already so familiar with the story and maybe it was that I wasn't ready for a re-read but Grahame-Smith's retelling did not do any favors for this beloved novel. I hardly recognized the characters. Grahame-Smith turned them into blood-thirsty killers and Elizabeth seemed quick to behead anyone and everyone (not that she actually did). Perhaps it has made it a little more digestible for the few who cannot get through a classic novel and more likely for the younger and/or male persuasion to read and that could be a good thing if it wasn't such a hackjob of the original.  

MY RATING: 2.5 stars