Yes. Its' true. It's a book. And I originally borrowed it from my Youth Minister who is a Zombie nerd. And then all the lit nerds in my family read it. We liked it much better, and so he let me permanently borrow it. It's a neat deal.
The sad thing is about this book is that it doesn't exactly fit into a category,which is appealing and yet detrimental. Why? Because the people like my youth minister say "Too much Pride and Prejudice and not enough Zombies." Whereas people like me, my sister, and my mother say "Too many zombies, not enough Pride and Prejudice!" And so it appeals and yet is not completely satisfactory.
Though not one of my favorite books, it is very, very clever. It is entertaining to the masses because of the humorous and light references to Zombie and Zombie-slaying, but to the P&P lover it has much more depth. Now, keep in mind that the real P&P lover- which includes at least 3/4 of all women plus a few men, those people who read it at least once every year, if not more - know exactly what happens in the book. They can practically mouth along with Mary as she spits out her prudish, erudite sayings. They roll their eyes at Mrs. Bennet's ramblings. They look forward to the occasional sarcastic, yet loving, remarks by Mr. Bennet. They know exactly when and how Lizzy will feel as she gazes upon Pemberly. They swell with pride as Lizzy announces "What are men to rocks and mountains!" They know everything that happens in the book. Which makes a remake so much more appealing because they know what is going to happen, they just don't know how, or if the new author will dare to change anything else.
Much to my dismay, Seth Grahame-Smith did do several things I did not like, which I suppose is inevitable. He added a couple of crude, I repeat, crude jokes into *gasp* Jane Austen literature. How could he??? Then, I suppose it is modern America. He made Mrs. Bennet much worse than the just silly fool she is and made Mr. Bennet (which is possibly what I got angriest about) a man who did not love anyone in his family except for perhaps Elizabeth and cheated on his wife. Speaking of abusing your "literary licence"....
But I did have a couple of favorite places in the book. For example, the cleverness of it all. The verbal duel between Elizabeth and Lady Catherine DeBourgh was added to with a physical duel which showed off their mad ninja skills in a dojo. Also, there was a scene which would have been a little weird if you hadn't memorized P&P from top to bottom because the whole scene was a setup for one line in which Fitzgerald praises Elizabeth's fingers. In the original work, he is referring to her at the piano. In the new version, he is praising her ability to parade up and down the room while walking on her fingers.
It is really a lovely book and writing about it is making me want to read it again after a 6-8 month respite. Mostly because I love Pride and Prejudice so much, though. Just to cap off, let me give you some of my favorite quotes from the real thing just because I can. :)
It is a truth universally acknowledged, that a single man in possession of a good fortune, must be in want of a wife.
I could easily forgive his pride, if he had not mortified mine.
If a woman is partial to a man, and does not endeavour to conceal it, he must find it out. Amen, sister!
But no sooner had he made it clear to himself and his friends that she hardly had a good feature in her face, than he began to find it was rendered uncommonly intelligent by the beautiful expression of her dark eyes. Haha! Got you Darcy! By a pair of fine eyes!
A lady's imagination is very rapid; it jumps from admiration to love, from love to matrimony, in a moment.
Good opinion once lost, is lost forever.
Darcy had never been so bewitched by any woman as he was by her. He really believed, that were it not for the inferiority of her connections, he should be in some danger. Hmm....is that pride? Or prejudice?
Is not general incivility the very essence of love?
Adieu to disappointment and spleen. What are men to rocks and mountains?
Stupid men are the only ones worth knowing after all.
Neither duty, nor honour, nor gratitude ... have any possible claim on me.
I cannot fix on the hour, or the look, or the words, which laid the foundation. It is too long ago. I was in the middle before I knew that I had begun.
Now that I'm done, I feel like reading the real version!
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