This book isn’t going to be for everyone. That is super abundantly clear. A look on Amazon reviews has an equal rating between 5 and 1/2 Stars reviews. I can imagine its rather polarizing to Austen fans as well as humor fans. I however, kind of got a kick out of reading about Liz Bennett wanting to chop off Darcy’s head for insolence.
If you don’t the know the story, its a fairly simple one: Seth Grahame-Smith basically writes a fanfiction version of Pride and Prejudice if zombies happened to be roaming the country side. Its a ridiculous concept and one I probably wouldn’t have even clicked on even at fanfiction.net but it got published and is getting a movie so I figured maybe I could give it a try. I can’t really review this as a hardcore P&P fan because while I read it, it was back in high school and I remember liking it but when someone comments “Oh the dad is so different, I didn’t like it” (My friend Jennie, 2016), I didn’t have any clue what she was even talking about so I am no help. But I can review it as someone who likes humor, and really can’t we all kind of appreciate Liz talking openly about the shape of Darcy’s ass?
However, what brings my review down and what kind of killed my amusement was what wasn’t in the title. The Zombies were a fun concept but when badly researched and cliched Chinese and Japanese culture gets involved it sways more towards the offensive side than humorous. I am not very knowledgeable about these cultures but I do at least know how to spell Koi. Something that apparently Grahame-Smith and his team of editors did not, and how can I trust a dip into that culture with someone who can’t even take the time for spellcheck. (they spelled it coy, in case anyone was wondering)
So basically, it would have been more fun if Grahame-Smith had stuck with simply the Zombie concept rather than bring Ninjas into the mix. Random positive note: The movie, in the short preview I have seen doesn’t really seem to have these elements, so maybe *crosses fingers* they cut it. It could be a rare case of the movie improving on the book. Also Lena Headey.
I really wish there was half stars. This is a solid 2 1/2. I guess I will round up and hey its still better than The Corrections, which I gave two just for one interesting part in the entirety of it. I think all my reviews this year might end with “Still better than The Corrections” if not WATCH OUT.
I think the movie might involve ninjas based on some of the flying kicks I saw in a trailer, but there’s still Lena Headey, right?
Yeah, not going to lie it was a pretty hard pass until Lena Headey. Now its definitely kicked into “probably at the 2 dollar theater.” I wouldn’t mind if they still had crazy fighting styles like air kicks but when they explain it with some white girls training in a dojo (which is Japanese btw and they make a big point to say they trained in China)….I wince.
When I read this a few years ago, I so wanted it to be good (a mash up of two of my favorite things) but it felt like zombie/ninjas were simply inserted into the text of P&P. That is, for me, it wasn’t different enough. I haven’t ventured into the Seth Grahame-Smith arena since then but maybe I’ll try the movie.
Yeah, I can see that, like I had said it was a few years (almost 10 dear god) since I read P&P though so it wasn’t really a comparison reading. I can’t imagine reading it and then picking up And Zombies right after though.
I haaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaate this book. Haaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaate it. With a fiery, unhinged passion. I probably would simply tolerate it and think it was a silly little book if not for the fact that an old roommate loved it and would listen to it (and the prequel) over and over and over and over. I’ve never actually sat down and listened/read the book myself, but the second hand listening has definitely cemented the book into my brain. And the repeated listenings just fermented a deep and abiding hatred I don’t see softening anytime soon. It doesn’t help that the narrator had the most annoying nasal voice and that voice would get down into my ear drums and scrape at my soul.