Book Review 1: Pride and Prejudice and Zombies

I bet that everyone in the world (well, maybe mostly everyone) has heard about Pride and Prejudice, the timeless Jane Austen classic, be it through the 1995 movie with Colin Firth, the 2005 (? I think) movie with Kiera Knightly, or, of course, the book itself. And now, fans of Jane Austen can stimulate their brain (and eat it too) with this new "edition" of the beloved classic, now with "ultraviolent zombie mayhem".

The premise is simple: Take Pride and Prejudice, throw in some Zombies, and maybe one or two subtle sexual references (or maybe that was just me?). But the result is, actually, a very fluid, very smooth read. Of course, the scenes of zombie mayhem do seem somewhat forced, but on the whole, they don't actually seem that out of place. Bear with me.

The humor of this book, and what, in my opinion, made it one of the New York Times's best sellers, is that the inserted scenes are written in perfect Regency language. The author[s] transition wonderfully, in my opinion, from the story of Pride and Prejudice to the descriptions of zombies attacking and Lizzy and her sisters using their Shaolin skills to defeat them.

Another thing that makes this book worth your while is that the book actually maintains the class, and other, conflicts that are contained in Pride and Prejudice. In Pride and Prejudice and Zombies, the class conflicts are now conveyed through Lady de Bourgh's mockery of Chinese Shaolin, which the Bennet Sisters have learned, as opposed to the Japanese style of fighting zombies, which is more pricey to learn due to the cost of traveling to the islands. Still present, too, are Lizzy and Darcy's initials dislike and prejudices and Lydia's obsession with officers. Mr. Collins is as obsequious as always, and Mrs. Bennet's nerves are still paining her (no thanks to the threat of zombies). In short, many of the familiar aspects are in P&P+Z, though some are conveyed in a manner more easily accessible to the modern reader.

The book has received generally good reviews, rating four and a half stars on the Facebook ap weRead. I would recommend this book to any fan of Jane Austen with a sense of humor who can take their classics with a grain of salt, and also to those who may have read Pride and Prejudice and can only look back on it with intense dislike. It is a surprisingly easy read, but actually quite engaging (and it even has literary circle questions in the back!) and very funny, especially to fans of Jane Austen.

I give Pride and Prejudice and Zombies four stars out of five.

Post script: THIS BOOK HAS PICTURES! 8D