Sometimes, the more unlikely the raw parts, the better the mash-up
(see Nirvana and Rick Astley). But that doesn’t mean there’s going to
be a love connection. This is the case of Pride and Prejudice and
Zombies, a literary collision between Jane Austen’s beloved classic
and the undead. Elizabeth Bennett and her sisters are trained ninjas
who go to parties and dream of their futures, when they’re not slaying
the zombies who creep throughout the British countryside. A
page-by-page comparison reveals that Grahame-Smith has rewritten little
of the original, except for awkwardly inserted fight scenes and some
language updates (according to the publisher, the book is 85 percent
Austen and 15 new content). Unfortunately, this could have been a
genius gothic-romance tale, if the author had studied classics like
Mary Shelley’s Frankenstein. It’s just not frightening—these
zombies are dead boring, and that’s a killer. There are amusing moments
and it’s a huge step-up from the usual beach-book fare, but do yourself
a favour, grab Austen’s original, or rent Clueless. Hopefully
Quirk will get it together before Sense and Sensibility and Sea
Monsters, out September 15, which promises “60 percent Austen and
40 percent additional monster chaos!”
This article appears in Jul 23-29, 2009.