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Pride and Prejudice and Zombies    by Jane Austen & Seth Grahame-Smith Amazon.com order for
Pride and Prejudice and Zombies
by Jane Austen
Order:  USA  Can
Quirk, 2009 (2009)
Hardcover, Softcover, CD, e-Book

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* * *   Reviewed by Ricki Marking-Camuto

I have never actually read Jane Austen's Pride and Prejudice, although I did read Marvel's fine graphic novel adaptation of it last year. However, having missed the original did not diminish my enjoyment of Seth Grahame-Smith's altered version. In fact, I feel that being an Austen newbie actually enhanced it, because it kept me much more engaged, having never read the story in its entirety.

The premise of Pride and Prejudice and Zombies is exactly what it sounds like – Grahame-Smith took Austen's original text and added zombies. Everything that Austenites love about the original is still there, but some scenes got a makeover with brain eating zombies. Elizabeth Bennet is still the heroine, but now, as well as being known for her witty repartée with Mr. Darcy, she is also reputed to be the best zombie fighter among her sisters, all of whom have been trained by a Chinese master in martial arts. Mr. Darcy himself is also a zombie fighter, in his case trained in Japan.

Pride and Prejudice and Zombies is a unique, path-blazing work. Seth Grahame-Smith did an excellent job incorporating the zombies into Austen's world. However, while Grahame-Smith tried to imitate Jane Austen's writing (and succeeded marvelously), the parts he wrote flowed much faster than the original. This made the story feel a little uneven and served to underline the difference between the literature of today and that written two centuries ago.

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