“We are each commanded by His Majesty to defend Hertfordshire from all enemies until such time as we are dead, rendered lame or married.”
-Elizabeth Bennet, Pride and Prejudice and Zombies by Jane Austen and Seth Grahame-Smith

I am anxious to hear what you all thought about the book! Hopefully, you’ve had time to finish. If not, please keep reading and join in the discussion as soon as you can! I will get the ball rolling with some initial thoughts. Feel free to respond, or tell us your own thoughts on the book.

By using so much of Jane Austen’s original text, Seth Grahame-Smith keeps the story firmly planted in her world, despite the supernatural additions. If you look at the original book, and the character of Elizabeth, she is considered a rebel and radical for the mere thought of remaining independent and unwed until such a time as she deems a match suitable. Her strength and resolve have made her a beloved literary character and way ahead of her time in terms of feminist thought.

I was worried at first that by making her a brilliant and deadly warrior, that the audacity of her independence would be diminished. But as I read the book, I was delighted to find that her fighting skills simply gave a very physical and literal interpretation of her inner strength and character. The original Elizabeth is every bit a warrior in her own way, but by actually giving her a sword, Elizabeth suddenly has a very literal extension of her strength. Yet, I still believed the oppressiveness of the expectations of her family and peers. She was celebrated as a warrior only by those who could appreciate such things. She was still expected to marry and give up her freedom and calling.

It’s odd that this book has been relegated to the humor section of the bookstore. The satire is spot-on, and I found the book to be very funny. But I think that while the premise may be outlandish, the author really brings an authentic and nuanced layer to the story and characters.

What do you think?

I posted a review on my blog a few weeks ago, entitled “Eat The Rich.”  Most of it is re-posted here.

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It all works much, much better than you’d think.  Grahame-Smith has a strong grasp of Austen’s style, and as a result, the new elements weave themselves easily into the story.  PPZ is reverent and satirical in equal measures.  The characters act as they did in Austen’s original, even if their behaviour and speech occasionally veer into metatextual parody.  By the end of the book, though, it seems as if this is always the way the novel was intended. 

Like a brilliant remixer, he introduces a new spin on a classic without invalidating the source material.  Everything fits extremely well into the book’s internal world and logic.  The zombie attacks on the countryside make Mrs. Bennett’s obsession with her daughters’ marriages all the more frivolous.  Lady Catherine not only opposes a union between Elizabeth and Darcy based on class, but also on the fact that she and Darcy are trained in Japanese martial arts while Elizabeth is a student of what she deems the “inferior” Chinese.  When she confronts Elizabeth about a rumored wedding between her and Darcy, Lady Catherine not only uses strong words but a trio of ninja bodyguards and the business end of a katana.  Lydia’s honour is restored not only by her marriage to Wickham but also by a strong hammer to Wickham’s knees (v. v. satisfying).  Charlotte marries Mr. Collins not only for financial security, but because she herself is succumbing to “the plague” and seeks a husband to behead her when she becomes one of the “unfortunates.”

It’s a mash-up that shouldn’t work at all, but despite all expectations, it succeeds brilliantly.  It’s as if Emma Thompson and Takashi Miike teamed up to remake Kill Bill, and like Miike, the book combines wildly disparate elements into a compelling, highly entertaining whole.  The book proceeds at a brisk, even pace, although like the original work, far too many secondary characters are introduced in rapid succession.  Grahame-Smith has created a work that never seems derivative or arbitrary.  It has all the charm of the original with the added bonus of beheadings, spinning kicks, and of course, the shambling undead.  It’s hard not to be amused by it, even if you don’t get into violence…all the mayhem is detailed in Austen’s polite but witty style. 

A final note: the film rights have already been sold, and there are rumours that Summer Glau is a favorite to play the lead.  I am so there.

8 out of 10

I thought the book was brilliant. I love “Pride and Prejudice” and I was so glad to see that this book was faithful to the original in terms of plot and character development. The zombie/shaolin kung-fu portion was well integrated. I loved that the class and personality conflicts of the characters were made physical through (sometimes) mortal combat. Of course I also liked all the jokes about “balls” and commentary on Mr. Darcy’s “most English parts” bringing low-brow humor to a classic.

I loved the final showdown with Lady Catherine. The re-imagining of their verbal sparring into actual sparring was so much fun, and alone justified the whole zombification of the book.

“I mean only to rid the world of an insolent little girl, and preserve the dignity of a superior man, lest Pemberley be forever polluted by your stench.”

“If that be the case,” said Elizabeth, dropping her parasol, “then let this be our first and final battle.”

I watched the Keira Knightly version of Pride and Prejudice shortly after that, and couldn’t help longing to see her and Judi Dench locked in mortal combat!

I tried to read it but couldn’t.  I lent it to a freind and she said “Adding zombies to Pride and Prejudice made it a million times better.”

Earthquake923 - 06 September 2009 09:31 PM

I tried to read it but couldn’t.  I lent it to a freind and she said “Adding zombies to Pride and Prejudice made it a million times better.”

Earthquake, I LOVE your bouncy icon.  Mai was always one of my favorite KOF characters.

I really enjoyed PP&Z;. I can’t wait for Sense and Sensibility and Sea Monsters, although I was disappointed to hear that only 60% of the original text is retained, as opposed to 80% in PP&Z;.

Now I want to see a PP&Z;movie! Without any involvement from Keira Knightley.

I am an enormous Jane Austen fan—just check out my screen name if you don’t believe me, and I was really nervous when I first heard about P&P;&Z;.  After quite a few positive reviews and a lot of good word of mouth, I caved and bought it.

I read it in three days.

I was totally taken aback by how faithfully Seth Grahame-Smith maintained the core elements of Jane Austen’s text.  To be sure, quite a few changes are made to the text for simplification or simply to make way for the zombie mayhem, but I doubt that even most Austen fans will notice much amiss.  The characterizations are consistent, and as other posters have said, Grahame-Smith uses the undead elements to further flush out what are already some of the most vivid characterizations in English Lit.  Aside from the added element of Lady Catherine being a renowned zombie killer, my favorite zombie touch was the scene where Jane is unable to kill the mother and infant zombies the girls encounter on the road to Merryton.  In the end, even the hardened warrior Elizabeth lets the unmentionables pass.  In a way that Austen couldn’t given taboos of taste and topic, Grahame-Smith reminds the reader that the Bennett are ultimately destined to be wives and mothers. In the original, the choices were marriage or spinsterhood; in P&P;&Z;, the choices have changed to be death, perpetual warrior, lame spinster, or the ultimate goal: wife and mother. 

As for the zombie mayhem, it was done well, and inserted excellently into the flow of the novel.  It neither becomes the main focus nor recedes so far into the background as to become irrelevant.  Whether it’s the attack on the Netherfield Ball or Charlotte Collins slowly declining into zombiehood, Grahame-Smith uses the reality of their world to further play out Austen’s underlying theses.  Simply put, in the original, the Netherfield Ball is both when Darcy falls for Elizabeth with all of his heart and when all hell breaks loose regarding her family.  Grahame-Smith teases this out and condenses it by having Darcy fall for Elizabeth while all Hell is literally breaking loose.  As for poor Charlotte Lucas, her actual metamorphosis into mindlessness is a stronger echo of the mindlessness and lack of control she has in the original married to Mr. Collins and living under the very heavy thumb of the commandeering Lady Catherine.

An excellent work—I’ve been recommending it left right and center.  The only question I have is what people who come to it fresh think of it—how much of the enjoyment depends on some base level of familiarity with the text, and how much of this truly enjoyable book is accessible to readers who might be more familiar with zombies than they are with Austen.

I was super excited when I heard about this book way back whenever it was that I heard about it. I ended up at Barnes and Noble, as I am prone to doing often, and actually found it in the “Teen” section, practically next to Twilight and Gossip Girl “novels.” This was insulting on 50 different levels.

Beyond that, one of the things that I thought was interesting was the implication of updating literature. As Chance noted up in the original post, the physical-ness of the characters adds a new meaning. I think that when we look at literature that has been updated, we here in the 21st century have access to a more liberal system that allows expression beyond cultural norms. That being said, I wonder if other updates have similar ramifications. While this does stay true to the original text, it does make all of the characters stronger in a sense, by giving them something Jane Austen would never have even considered: fighting skills. That in and of itself gives a stronger, or perhaps at least a more obvious, representation of female empowerment that Austen could only brush upon in her original novel.

While an appreciation for the classics is never a bad thing, I think this book is indicative of the fact that not all literature has to be out of grasp. Most classics are accompanied with annotations, removing the opportunity for actual interpretation. Removing the editor’s ideas, however, and replacing them with zombies (or other…less interesting things, but equally modern symbols) allows every and any reader access to this literature, and an opportunity for their own understanding.

Or maybe it is just some guy who added zombies to Pride and Prejudice. Either way, it’s good times.