Pride and Prejudice, and Zombies (2009)

Book Release Date: April 4, 2009

Written By: Seth Grahame-Smith/Jane Austen

Review By: Annie Riordan

Young Elizabeth Bennet is quite the accomplished young lady, in an age where accomplished young ladies are a dime a dozen. Trained in the social graces of 19th century England, Elizabeth (also confusingly referred to throughout the book as both Eliza and Lizzie) can dance, play the pianoforte and kill a flesh eating zombie with a single swipe of her sword without overtly soiling her ball gown.

The zombie plague that has invaded the peaceful English countryside where Elizabeth lives with her family soon plays second fiddle to the arrival of the arrogant Mr. Darcy, whose deplorable manners and impolite remarks become a barb in Lizzie’s backside. But Lizzie is a Shaolin master. She once maintained a handstand for six days beneath the blistering Asian sun! If anyone can suffer Mr. Darcy’s rude presence, it’s Lizzie. And once he proves himself to be an accomplished zombie vanquisher it isn’t long before irritation turns to infatuation and both Darcy and Lizzie must conquer social prejudices and legions of the undead if they wish to be together.

I have a terrible admission to make: I love Jane Austen. Gasp, shock, horror, outrage, yeah yeah yeah. I love woman’s sarcastic wit and audacious blasting of the social prejudices of her time. The woman didn’t write flowery love stories, contrary to popular belief; she wrote class essays and she wasn’t afraid to tell it like it was. Considering the time and place she was born into, this was rather shocking!

Pride and Prejudice is one of the few stories by Austen that I haven’t worked my way around to reading yet. I just finished Northanger Abbey.  Gimme a break!  I admit that I probably should have read P&P before venturing into Seth Grahame-Smith’s comedic spin on the classic tale, but I didn’t.  Although I doubt that very many people who will be reaching for this tome have read the original Austen tale either.

That said, I think it’s rather unlikely that very many non-fans of Austen will be eating this book up like a zombie with a fresh brain in its hands. It’s very much Austen’s work, which means long, wordy descriptive passages and a lot of bouncing back and forth between the large ensemble cast which, quite honestly, gets confusing rather quickly. The zombie attacks are few and far between, and when they do occur, they are dealt with within two or three sentences and quickly cleaned up. The zombie contagion of this proper English setting seems about as much of a nuisance as an infestation of fruit flies, waved away and rarely mentioned in polite company.

Pride & Prejudice & Zombies isn’t without its humor, and I did laugh a few times, but if you’re looking for grossout zombie mayhem galore, you might want to stick with Max Brooks’ World War Z. Diehard fans of Austen (no pun intended there) are strongly encouraged to read this spoof, but as Austen was perfectly capable of spoofing both herself and the world she was raised in, the whole zombie angle just seems a bit forced here. It’s an interesting combination that falls just a teeny bit flat, and zombie fans won’t be missing a whole lot if they choose to skip this one.

In the wise words of my young bookstore coworkers: “It’s (just) a’ight.”

Brutal As Hell Rating:

3 out of 5