Victoria's Pride & Prejudice & Zombies Review

“Pride and Prejudice and Zombies” by Jane Austen and Seth Grahame-Smith
A Review

When my teacher told us the next book we would be reading was “Pride and Prejudice and Zombies,” I was both apprehensive and intrigued. I love all of Jane Austen’s works, and especially “Pride and Prejudice” so I was slightly worried about what Seth Grahame-Smith was going to do to my beloved novel. However, I also tend to have a personality that, similar to Elizabeth Bennett herself, delights “in anything ridiculous.” And ridiculous was exactly what this book promised to be.

What I dislike most about “Pride and Prejudice and Zombies” was how Seth Grahame-Smith seemed unqualified for the job he took on and how ill he performed it. The introduction he provided at the beginning of the audio version admitted him to be no avid reader of Jane Austen, and his writing was affected by that fact. He was not familiar enough with all of Austen’s works to be qualified to imitate her style and language, and thus it was easy to detect his counterfeit. Seth Grahame-Smith also degenerated the language by changing or simply omitting words or phrases that are less in use today. His style and the frequency of the addition of zombies seemed inconsistent, and he seemed ignorant as to the customs and manners of Jane Austen’s day.

Seth Grahame-Smith also performed his task inadequately. He obviously had to adjust the personalities of Austen’s original characters (the original Jane Bennet is not exactly the zombie-slaying type). These kinds of changes were necessary and could be very humorous. However, his unnecessary and character-warping innuendos and crudeness showed his immaturity and disrespect for the original author and novel. Adding zombies was funny and interesting, but an unrespectable and promiscuous Mrs. Gardner and a Mr. Darcy who constantly breaks the rules of gentlemen-like behavior strays dangerously away from the original novel. The book’s humor is supposed to originate from the adding of zombies to regency era England, not from destroying and simplifying already perfectly developed characters.

Even with these serious negatives, the book was a very humorous read. I believe that it would not be nearly as funny if the reader were not already familiar with “Pride and Prejudice,” as it would simply be a zombie novel set in a strange time period. However, I must offer a word of caution to those who have made friends with the heroes and heroines of the original. Attempt to make a mental separation of the characters known and loved from these altered versions, or else you may feel Seth Grahame-Smith is slandering the integrity of your beloved Darcy and Elizabeth. Remember, this book was not written to be taken very seriously.

All in all, I believe that the idea for this novel was a good one, and that there are several very amusing sections. However, Seth Grahame-Smith was unqualified to execute the idea properly.

-Victoria