Wednesday, December 8, 2010

Pride and Prejudice and Zombies by Jane Austen and Seth Grahame-Smith ★

I'm not sure how comedic this book was supposed to be, but I literally laughed out loud the entire time I was reading the graphic novel of Seth Grahame-Smith's zombie version of this Jane Austen classic.  For those who are very familiar with Pride and Prejudice (and like myself can quote nearly all of the six hour Colin Firth DVD marathon) you'll love the way the zombie theme has been worked into the original story.  Basically (and I really don't want to give too much of this away), you take the five Bennett daughters, train them in zombie slaying and end up with hilarious dialogue like this:

Original: It is a truth universally acknowledged, that a single man in possession of a good fortune, must be in want of a wife.

Zombified: It is a truth universally acknowledged that a zombie in possession of brains must be in want of more brains.

Original: Yes, and her petticoat; I hope you saw her petticoat, six inches deep in mud . . .

Zombified: Her petticoat was ripped clean off - and there were pieces of undead on her sleeve!

Original: 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.

Zombified: 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 of falling in love, and were it not for his considerable skill in the deadly arts, that he should be in danger of being bested by hers--for never had he seen a lady more gifted in the ways of vanquishing the undead.

In short, if you're excessively acquainted with Pride and Prejudice, zombies certainly add a different twist to an otherwise over-read tale.  If you haven't spent hours poring over Jane Austen literature, however, you'll probably have a hard time understanding why I find the following picture from the graphic novel so incredibly awesome.  (Yes, that is our beloved heroine Elizabeth Bennett on the left, and her ever gallant Mr. Darcy on the right . . . have to admit that pictures like these are the reason I'd recommend the graphic novel over the actual book.)


Happy Slaying!

2 comments:

  1. Thanks for adding excerpts. I said to myself no way. After reading excerpts. I'll be headed to the library! If they don't have I'll just have to purchase it. Thanks! One Rebecca could read too!

    ReplyDelete
  2. Sure thing! I just thought the excerpts were too funny to pass up. There are a few others I've been posting about that Rebecca might like too. Especially the Maximum Ride series.

    ReplyDelete