Pride and Prejudice and Zombies: The Classic Regency Romance - Now with Ultraviolent Zombie Mayhem! [Paperback]

Jane Austen (Author), Seth Grahame-Smith (Author)

Editorial Reviews

From Bookmarks Magazine

It’s difficult to tell if critics’ reactions to Pride and Prejudice and Zombies should be characterized as praise or astonishment. Some reviewers treated the book as a delightful gimmick. Others found that, beneath the surface, the book actually constituted an interesting way of looking at Austen’s novel. Zombies answer certain puzzling questions: Why were those troops stationed near Hertfordshire? Why did Charlotte Lucas actually marry Mr. Collins? (She had recently been bitten by zombies and wanted a husband who could be counted on to behead her—of course!) But critics also pointed out that this parody shows that Austen’s novel has remained so powerful over time that even the undead can’t spoil it.
Copyright 2009 Bookmarks Publishing LLC

From Booklist

This may be the most wacky by-product of the busy Jane Austen fan-fiction industry—at least among the spin-offs and pastiches that have made it into print. In what’s described as an “expanded edition” of Pride and Prejudice, 85 percent of the original text has been preserved but fused with  “ultraviolent zombie mayhem.” For more than 50 years, we learn, England has been overrun by zombies, prompting people like the Bennets to send their daughters away to China for training in the art of deadly combat, and prompting others, like Lady Catherine de Bourgh, to employ armies of ninjas. Added to the familiar plot turns that bring Elizabeth and Mr. Darcy together is the fact that both are highly skilled killers, gleefully slaying zombies on the way to their happy ending. Is nothing sacred? Well, no, and mash-ups using literary classics that are freely available on the Web may become a whole new genre. What’s next? Wuthering Heights and Werewolves? --Mary Ellen Quinn

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Product Details

• Paperback: 320 pages
• Publisher: Quirk Books; Later Printing edition (April 4, 2009)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 1594743347
• ISBN-13: 978-1594743344
• Product Dimensions: 7.9 x 5.3 x 1 inches
• Shipping Weight: 10.4 ounces (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 3.3 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (465 customer reviews)
• Amazon Bestsellers Rank: #1,076 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

  #44 in	Books > Literature & Fiction > Genre Fiction > Horror
  #2 in	Books > Entertainment > Humor > Parodies

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

565 of 602 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars P&P Fan, LOVE This, March 27, 2009

By	EA Blevins - See all my reviews

This review is from: Pride and Prejudice and Zombies: The Classic Regency Romance - Now with Ultraviolent Zombie Mayhem! (Paperback)

The literary community should never be too proud to laugh at itself. I own three copies of the original "Pride & Prejudice" plus all the movies, so my husband and I bought this the moment we spotted it on the shelf (and laughed all the way to the register).

Fans need to read this book tongue-in-cheek and prepare to laugh WITH it. If you don't like zombies or consider yourself a Jane Austen purist, if you admire only the most intricate writing and consider this sort of work irreverent, then you'll be appalled more than amused. The level of writing IS degenerated from the original but, considering the subject matter, I don't think "quality" was the forethought of the day. "Brains" is more like it.

On a literary note, the juxtaposition of familiar classic and farcical horror makes for harmless, laugh-out-loud comedy. I applaud this idea and hope the "Quirk Classics" line hammers out more spoofs on stories I love.

The only thing I find annoying is the last line of the blurb: "transforms a masterpiece of world literature into something you'd actually want to read." I'm perfectly capable of enjoying BOTH, thankyouverymuch.

146 of 159 people found the following review helpful:

3.0 out of 5 stars Clever concept, uneven execution, April 13, 2009

By	Andaluz (Claremont, CA USA) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Pride and Prejudice and Zombies: The Classic Regency Romance - Now with Ultraviolent Zombie Mayhem! (Paperback)

The combination of Jane Austen's classic and zombie horror seemed irresistible to me. However, the book is not as funny as it could have been. There are moments of macabre humor, such as the story of the maker of "fine burial gowns" who has lost most of his business because "few thought it worth the expense to dress the dead in finery when they would only soil it upon crawling out of their graves." Sadly, such moments are few and far between. The zombies add some creepy fun to the Regency proceedings, but the ninja/warrior princess element is just silly. Grahame-Norton makes some ill-advised and pointless additions to the dialogue between Elizabeth and Darcy which add nothing to the story and make their characters seem crude (and even mentally unbalanced in Elizabeth's case). Two-thirds of the way through, it seems the author loses steam, and much of the zombie action falls by the wayside. P & P & Zombies is mildly entertaining, but could have been more.

455 of 518 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Ok, so I'm not the biggest Jane Austen fan, but..., March 28, 2009

By	S. Meghji "Sultan's just this guy, you know?" (Saint Louis, MO) - See all my reviews (REAL NAME)

This review is from: Pride and Prejudice and Zombies: The Classic Regency Romance - Now with Ultraviolent Zombie Mayhem! (Paperback)

... but...
1) It is an excellent mashup
2) It has freaking Zombies... I mean 'unmentionables'
3) I started reading it in the local store this afternoon and have wasted most of the afternoon reading it.
4) Did I mention the Zombies?

If you like 'Good Omens' you'll like this.
If you like 'Shaun of the Dead' you'll like this.
If you're literate you'll like this.
If you're a zombie you probably won't