Customer Reviews

Sense and Sensibility and Sea Monsters (Quirk Classic Series)

5 star:		(14)
4 star:		(17)
3 star:		(12)
2 star:		(6)
1 star:		(8)

 

 

This time around, the penniless Dashwood ladies are sent to live in shanty on a small island. Not only must they deal with the fact that they are now poor and in need of wealthy husbands, but the nearby ocean is crawling with monstrous sea fare. The tentacle-faced Colonel Brandon has taken a bashful fancy to Marianne, who prefers the monster-killing Willoughby, while Elinor works her way into the heart of Edward Ferras. Can the Dashwood sisters find true love amid the violence of sea monsters and pirate-like enemies?

Sense and Sensibility and Sea Monsters continues the same ideas of the previous novel in the "Jane Austen and monsters " series, Pride and Prejudice and Zombies, but goes a step further. Instead of relying on some overdone paranormal element, like vampires or werewolves, the editors at Quirk Classics decided to be a little more original and create their own element -- "sea monsters." The sea monsters aspect of this novel is taken from all kinds of influences, ranging from Pirates of the Caribbean (evidenced by the Davy Jones-like look of Colonel Brandon), Jules Verne (thanks to a detour trip to a station on the bottom of the ocean), classical mythology and others. Some of the best things here don't even seem to be part of any specific genre, like giant jellyfish attacks, giant fighting lobsters and pet orangutans. In fact, my favorite scene is when the dashing Willoughby comes to Marianne's rescue. Instead of twisting her ankle and getting caught in the rain, Marianne is attacked by a giant octopus, which Willoughby harpoons, and is rescued -- but not after being drenched in octopus blood and guts first, of course.

I began reading this book while hanging out with my boyfriend by the pool one afternoon. I kept laughing aloud so much that he had to ask what I was reading. After having to explain far too many scenes of over-the-top violence and insanity to him, I ended up reading several passages aloud, which sent both of us rolling in hysterics. Even my boyfriend, who isn't a big fan of Austen or classical literature, liked this.

This book was hilarious -- even better than Pride and Prejudice and Zombies. The ratio of silly to serious (sea monster to Sense and Sensibility) content has been amped up since Zombies. Instead of 85% Austen and 15% quirks, Sea Monsters has 60% Austen and 40% quirks, which opens the door for even more original adaptations of the classic.

While some hardcore fans of Austen's novels will continue to decry this line of books for altering classic literature, they have to admit that it's gotten better this time around. I'm a big fan of Austen's original works, and I found this revised version of Sense and Sensibility to be fresh and fun while still keeping true to original concepts and ideas in the original. Sure, Sea Monsters is even further away from the original than Zombies, but it allows for the sea monsters aspect to come alive instead of feeling like a pasted on afterthought to the original plot.

If you liked Pride and Prejudice and Zombies, than you will love Sense and Sensibility and Sea Monsters. It's filled with the same creative zaniness that readers have come to expect from this line of Quirk Classics, but taken to a whole new level. Readers who were not particularly impressed by the zombie version of P&P, but thought it had potential, should try out the sea monster version of this other Jane Austen classic. It won't disappoint.

This had to be one of the biggest wastes of time I have experienced with a novel in a long time. I really, really enjoyed Pride and Prejudice and Zombies; primarily because Austin's work was left intact and the author just added Zombies, almost as if they really belonged there. But the characters and the story line was in line with Austin. This story, Sense and Sensability and Sea Monsters changed character, landscape, personality, etc. It was ridiculous. It is clear to me that the author was simply trying to cash in on the success of Pride and Prejudice and Zombies, without understanding why it was such a success. Please, if you are looking for a fun read, don't pick this book! And, if you are a lover of classics, be prepared for a slaughter of beloved characters and out of place, unfunny, uninteresting changes to the story.

This minor variant of the Austen classic has the Dashwood sisters looking for rich suitors and safe passage from a bewildering variety of creatures. It's improved on the Pride & Prejudice and Zombies formula and is funnier, for my money.

Instead of just adapting passages of the original and throwing in regular detours via monsters (although the Pentagram of Death in P&P&Z was superb), this includes a whole new landscape while putting much of the original through a strange process ... monsterification, or some such.

The books has about 20 or so drawings in, which help bring the daft scenes to life. Some of them are quite a stretch of the imagination, so this helps a lot. There's some quality stupidity on offer here and it's written with erudition and wit. I enjoyed it and it is very funny.

Sherlock Holmes and the Flying Zombie Death Monkeys

I'm a HUGE Jane Austen fan. I've read and loved everything she ever wrote. I'm also a huge fan of monsters. I love reading books that are, in a sense, rendered ludicrous by their total lack of believability and by the overwhelming amount of monsters they contain. I was therefore sure that Sense and Sensibility and Sea Monsters was going to be a winner. Sense and Sensibility is a beautifully written masterpiece - add some sea monsters and that can do nothing but augment the awesomeness, right?

Unfortunately, wrong. It stayed just the same amount of awesome. I should have remembered that I don't normally like parodies. The sea monsters did absolutely NOTHING, in my opinion, to add to the story. Luckily, the story stuck pretty closely to the original, so I thoroughly enjoyed the reading experience, as if I was reading Sense and Sensibility all over again. The monsters, I found, just got in the way of the actual story. The biggest change for me was that I was disgusted throughout the entire thing by Colonel Brandon, whereas in Sense and Sensibility I was just slightly annoyed by him.

I also found myself getting bored with the bits that were devoted to the monsters, wishing they would hurry along so that I could get back to the actual story line of Sense and Sensibility. The added stories about Margaret and Lucy Steele were also both totally uninteresting to me, and it just seemed too obvious that they had been someone's attempt to add something unnecessary to an already fantastic story.

Still, I'm one of those crazy people that has been known to get bored from too much action, and I am sure that those that find Austen's original stories lacking in action will love these added changes and find that they help speed up the pace of the story while adding humor. I will say this for Ben Winter's added sea monsters - they did make me laugh. I enjoyed his lack of boundaries with the sea monsters he added. It seemed like anything and everything, as long as it involved water, was fair game, and this added spirit.

So, if you enjoy Jane Austen, chances are, you'll enjoy this, as I did. Whether or not you will appreciate the added sea monsters, I think, totally depends on your enjoyment of superfluous action and your sense of humor.

She might be amused but, then again, she might decry her literary efforts being warped somewhat by the addition of tentacles, scales, and teeth. Winters does an excellent job of re-imagining Austen's classic of English manners by adding schools of terrifying fish, sharks, and the occasional sea serpent. Mr. Dashwood meets an untimely demise at the jaws of a hammerhead shark, and his daughters Elinor and Marianne are sent to Pestilent Isle to live. Elinor falls for Edward Ferrars, who is engaged to Lucy Steele, one of the book's liveliest villains. Marianne, meanwhile, finds herself drawn to the enigmatic Colonel Brandon, who resembles the Davy Jones character from the "Pirates of the Caribbean" movies.

It is a bit slowly paced in some areas, but the plot and action move much quicker here than in "Pride & Prejudice & Zombies". I found this book a more satisfying read than that one, but I look forward to reading other literary mash-ups in the near future. The book is very funny when read aloud, and the illustrations only add to the amusement of seeing familiar characters out of Regency England engaged in battles to the death with seagoing monsters. A terrific, fun read, and highly recommended.

My boyfriend bought this for me because I enjoyed Pride and Prejudice and Zombies. This seemed to be hastily prepared to cash in on the success of its predecessor. I could forgive the (many) typographic errors screwing up things as simple as punctuation and the names of places and characters if it had actually gotten off the ground. The "Sea Monsters" injected into the story are awkward, wedging in among Austen's original tale instead of really weaving into the characters and story. Ben Winters shows little understanding or familiarity with Austen's voice, marine biology, or nautical terms.

The concept was promising, but the few good bits (such as Colonel Brandon's being afflicted with a tentacled face) are overshadowed by the lack of a smooth plot arc. Epic aquatic life-and-death battles set during conversations about love, romance, and marriage just never really worked, and Winters made the mistake of throwing in minor villain after minor villain instead of really giving us a single bad guy to build up to at the end. I was left feeling that somebody took the original text and just threw nautical ingredients in like a stew without a recipe: "Yeah, let's add some pirates, and a couple of giant monsters, and a huge mystery about a main character, and never do that much with any of it."

I'm usually pretty good at suspending disbelief when reading fiction but the author needs to give me a plausible fantasy world to work with. Because of this book, I will be less likely to purchase any more Quirk classics without taking a look to be sure they were given the time and attention needed to produce an entertaining mashup of a classic novel and modern science fiction. Just grab the original and read it while playing Pirates of the Caribbean III in the background. You'll have pretty much the same experience.

I wanted to love this book. I laughed out loud repeatedly while reading Pride and Prejudice and Zombies Deluxe Edition (Quirk Classics), and I was impressed by the decision not to go the obvious vampire/ninja/pirate/werewolf/robot route with the next book. The sea monster idea is good - in this version of the story, a mysterious Alteration has turned the denizens of the sea into monsters that want nothing more than to feast on the people of Great Britain, so the author is able to play with everything from sea witches to two-headed Fang Beasts to giant walking jellyfish.

One of the problems is that he doesn't do it well. In the earlier book, the zombie elements were presented in the style of a cheeky young boy giggling at himself after grossing out his little sister, and there was an audacity that made it impossible not to join the laughter. This book just isn't very funny. The elements are there, and there are some amusing references to how racist the old adventure stories were, but they just don't work. I didn't laugh once in the 150 pages I read, and by that point I gave up hope of laughing in the nearly 300 pages left to go. Another problem may be that the underlying story, from what I can piece together, is just wretched. This book is a series of scenes of lazy rich people throwing dinner parties and debating the propriety of various marriage prospects, and no one ever does anything, and I blame that more on Jane Austen than on the contemporary treatment of her work.

Unless someone can convince me that the book gets significantly better after the characters arrive in the undersea station (I gave up there), I have no intention of picking this book up again, and I do not recommend it to anyone.

This book provides hours of rapt enjoyment. While doing other things through the day I would find myself thinking about what was happening in the story. When I would finally get back to reading I would never be disappointed. The author keeps the action going and presents odd-ball twists to make you chortle. I recommend this book highly.

I'm a little torn over how to rate this book. Overall, I think I'm a little annoyed I wasted my time finishing it. If it had been a short story, I would have given it a straight up five for creativity and novelty. The story follows the same patter throughout. The characters will be talking about the hardships in their life, mostly guy troubles, and then a sea monster will try to bite their heads off. They'll hack and slash, scream bloody murder, etc and then go right back to pining.

I will admit that I have never read Jane Austen's original work, but I had a hard time finding much normal that really would be her writing. The writing is not exactly easy to take either. Some of that is to be expected, but it just slowed down an already near insensible work.

So, there you have it, why I am exactly neutral on this work. First 50 pages were a fun change, but after that, it's the first 50 pages recycled about 7 times. Talk, slay monsters, yawn, talk some more.

As a fan of Sense and Sensibility, I loved it! I thought the sea monster overlay/intersperse totally worked . . . wittily even. Not only was Sense and Sensibility and Sea Monsters funny and entertaining, but I truly felt that some aspect of the original were reframed and highlighted, illuminating the original themes.

They were living on a barren island that turned out to be a sea creature's head! LOL!

Reading these reviews, I am reminded that readers approach a book from so many different perspectives. I think some good people, however open-minded, are just not going to "get" the whole mash-up phenomenon. My take on it is that anything that gives a new generation an "in" to the joys of the timeless classics has got to be a good thing.