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Reviews tagging 'Suicide'
Pride And Prejudice And Zombies by Jane Austen, Seth Grahame-Smith
11 reviews
dark
funny
lighthearted
tense
slow-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
Character
Strong character development:
Yes
Loveable characters:
Complicated
Diverse cast of characters:
No
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Yes
I loved the movie but unfortunately this is just a poorly thought-out male fantasy shoved in Jane Austen's book. It cheapens the original story and doesnt value its characters.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Death, Sexism, Violence
Moderate: Gore, Self harm, Suicide, Blood, Kidnapping
Minor: Incest, Racism, Excrement, Cultural appropriation
dark
funny
mysterious
fast-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
Character
Strong character development:
Complicated
Loveable characters:
Yes
Diverse cast of characters:
Complicated
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Yes
The story was quite gripping and it was enjoyable to take in the differences from the movie (as I watched that first). At times I found it a bit lacking as I wished for some more zombie action towards the middle and end of the story, but I found Elizabeth's interactions entertaining and Darcy amusing.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Animal death, Gore, Gun violence, Misogyny, Violence, Blood, Cannibalism, War, Pandemic/Epidemic
Moderate: Adult/minor relationship, Pedophilia, Racial slurs, Self harm, Suicide, Terminal illness, Xenophobia, Grief, Injury/Injury detail
Minor: Ableism, Body horror, Body shaming, Child death, Infidelity, Vomit, Trafficking, Kidnapping, Injury/Injury detail
I started on this book with low expectations. Something with a title like this was unlikely to be quality literature, and the low average rating warned me. Yet still I was disappointed.
This book reads as if it was written by a teenage boy who has been forced to watch the P&P series by his sister and as an act of rebellion decided to ruin it with zombies. Unfortunately, it was instead written by a man in his 30s upon the suggestion by his editor, having never actually read the books before. His not caring about the original work shows.
The author tore out every little shred of subtlety and nuance the book is known for and makes everything explicit from the start. Why would you want to slowly find out about Darcy’s feelings and troubles, when you can be told about them from the very start? The author also completely disregarded how Jane Austen was progressive and ahead of her time by introducing fatphobia, racism, sexism, infidelity, and a whole host of other tripe. And for what? It sure didn’t add anything to the story.
This book reads as if it was written by a teenage boy who has been forced to watch the P&P series by his sister and as an act of rebellion decided to ruin it with zombies. Unfortunately, it was instead written by a man in his 30s upon the suggestion by his editor, having never actually read the books before. His not caring about the original work shows.
The author tore out every little shred of subtlety and nuance the book is known for and makes everything explicit from the start. Why would you want to slowly find out about Darcy’s feelings and troubles, when you can be told about them from the very start? The author also completely disregarded how Jane Austen was progressive and ahead of her time by introducing fatphobia, racism, sexism, infidelity, and a whole host of other tripe. And for what? It sure didn’t add anything to the story.
Speaking of not adding to the story, neither does the whole Zombie thing. I was hoping it would be either funny or interesting, yet the zombies were the most boring part. All characters are super overpowered, so every possible conflict is over before it even starts. And the zombies have little to no impact to the narrative, despite there being multiple good opportunities to do so! Both the confrontation with the baby zombie, and the fact that no one notices Charlotte’s deterioration could have been interesting topics of discussion, but instead they were simply glossed over.
Finally, I can’t help but say how the author decided to introduce Chinese and Japanese martial arts in the most underwhelming way possible. Not only is the constant blabbering about Master Liu as insufferable as Mrs. Bennets blabbering about Mr. Bingley. Not even an attempt was made at basic fact checking, leading to those subscribing to the Chinese martial arts using Katanas (something decidedly Japanese) and someone dressed in a Kimono having bound feet (something decidedly Chinese).
So yeah, all in all a very cool concept and an abysmal execution.
Content Warnings
Moderate: Self harm
Minor: Fatphobia, Infidelity, Racism, Rape, Sexism, Suicide
Diverse cast of characters:
No
Content Warnings
Graphic: Adult/minor relationship, Gore, Self harm, Suicide, Torture, Violence, Excrement, Vomit, Murder, Injury/Injury detail
adventurous
dark
funny
lighthearted
medium-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
Character
Strong character development:
Yes
Loveable characters:
Yes
Diverse cast of characters:
No
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Yes
Content Warnings
Graphic: Body horror, Death, Gore, Self harm, Violence, Blood, Cannibalism, Injury/Injury detail
Moderate: Ableism, Fatphobia, Infidelity, Suicide, Vomit, Grief, Fire/Fire injury
dark
lighthearted
medium-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
A mix
Strong character development:
No
Loveable characters:
No
Diverse cast of characters:
No
Flaws of characters a main focus:
No
This book was a clever idea but not very well executed. At first it was amusing how little adding the zombies to the book changed the story. But further on, it just seemed like lazy writing. The whole story was the same with the inclusion of a few zombies and changing some lines. The only thing the author seemed to change was the characters personalities. Elizabeth is represented as a great warrior who is unnecessarily cruel to the zombies. Darcy is not the awkward person we see in P&P but is also a cruel person. In P&P there was a lot of nuance with people emotions. Jane Austen didn’t need to spell out what characters were feeling in order for readers to understand but in P&P&Z the author spells out a lot of the emotions. This was an unnecessary inclusion.
Additionally there was a lot of unnecessary violence in this book. There was a lot of beating of characters that was never expounded upon and seemed to be thrown in just because it was a zombie novel and so there must be violence. Overall I wish the zombies added more to the storyline and that the characters were represented better. There also didn’t need to be as much violence apart from the zombies.
Additionally there was a lot of unnecessary violence in this book. There was a lot of beating of characters that was never expounded upon and seemed to be thrown in just because it was a zombie novel and so there must be violence. Overall I wish the zombies added more to the storyline and that the characters were represented better. There also didn’t need to be as much violence apart from the zombies.
Content Warnings
Moderate: Suicide, Violence, Vomit
adventurous
funny
lighthearted
fast-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
A mix
Strong character development:
Yes
Loveable characters:
No
Diverse cast of characters:
No
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Yes
I wanted to like this book because the premise is really clever and funny. If I had to pick a quiet piece of classic literature that would benefit from the inclusion of horror monsters and fight scenes, it would be Pride and Prejudice. Elizabeth Bennet is the perfect classic heroine for this story, which comes across well in the book - she’s got a bit of savagery to her that this twisted version of her story brings out. And if the author had chosen to cut the original novel down to a novella and insert the zombie storyline into it, I think it would have worked very well. There are so many moments that are really striking and funny: the Bennet sisters falling into fighting formation when a ball is overrun by “unmentionables,” the prolonged bit where a major character from the original story is turning into a zombie and the manners-obsessed society around her doesn’t seem to notice, the big wuxia-style fight scene at the end between Elizabeth and Lady Catherine. I also really liked the fictional sermon inserted at the end of the book, where a priest attempts to explain why the English are so suited for dealing with a hoard of zombies overcoming their country: “who but the English could suffer this plight with so complete an absence of hysteria or emotion whatsoever?” The fake set of questions for the reader, imitating the kinds of book club type questions found at the back of reissues of classic novels, was also funny.
But the concept of the book isn’t really enough to sustain a whole novel, and all the ways the author tries to get around that problem don’t work. There are whole chapters that are just Austen’s Pride and Prejudice with some find-and-replace dialogue, subbing in references to training in the “deadly arts” in place of music lessons or randomly adding a line about the joys of the warrior lifestyle into a familiar scene. There are moments where it feels like the author is actually trying for some real fantasy world building - the scene where Elizabeth surveys a church full of zombie victims, or the bits that deal with the way the Bennet sisters were shaped by their warrior training, are strangely sincere - but they sit awkwardly alongside a bizarre scene where Elizabeth rips a man’s heart out of his chest for no reason or constant references to ninjas. (The thing where all the characters are trained in Asia to fight and are obsessed with a really superficial idea of Japanese and Chinese culture is never clearly explained or excused. Why does Darcy’s housekeeper have bound feet?) There are plotlines that should have been cut because the experiment falls apart when you get to a storyline where everyone worries that a warrior-trained zombie fighting woman might have her virtue besmirched. And worst of all, there’s the gross, sophomoric humor that has nothing to do with zombies that keeps being thrown in, like the author needed to make sure you understood that this book was not actually written by literary icon Jane Austen. I could get past weird stuff like Elizabeth’s father sleeping with Chinese prostitutes or the constant unnecessary references to vomit, but then there was the prolonged bit at the end where Wickham becomes a quadriplegic and this is not only played for laughs, but we get endless references to him having bowel movements and Lydia being forced to clean them up, which we are assured is what they deserve, because I guess disability and caretaking is a funny bit. .
But the concept of the book isn’t really enough to sustain a whole novel, and all the ways the author tries to get around that problem don’t work. There are whole chapters that are just Austen’s Pride and Prejudice with some find-and-replace dialogue, subbing in references to training in the “deadly arts” in place of music lessons or randomly adding a line about the joys of the warrior lifestyle into a familiar scene. There are moments where it feels like the author is actually trying for some real fantasy world building - the scene where Elizabeth surveys a church full of zombie victims, or the bits that deal with the way the Bennet sisters were shaped by their warrior training, are strangely sincere - but they sit awkwardly alongside a bizarre scene where Elizabeth rips a man’s heart out of his chest for no reason or constant references to ninjas. (The thing where all the characters are trained in Asia to fight and are obsessed with a really superficial idea of Japanese and Chinese culture is never clearly explained or excused. Why does Darcy’s housekeeper have bound feet?) There are plotlines that should have been cut because the experiment falls apart when you get to a storyline where everyone worries that a warrior-trained zombie fighting woman might have her virtue besmirched. And worst of all, there’s the gross, sophomoric humor that has nothing to do with zombies that keeps being thrown in, like the author needed to make sure you understood that this book was not actually written by literary icon Jane Austen. I could get past weird stuff like Elizabeth’s father sleeping with Chinese prostitutes or the constant unnecessary references to vomit, but then there was the prolonged bit at the end where
Content Warnings
Graphic: Ableism, Violence
Minor: Suicide
It’s a zombie book, with all the expected violence.
A secondary character commits suicide off-screen, with no one caring in the least.
A main character becomes disabled at the hands of another main character, something that is played for laughs. The disabled character’s lack of control of their bladder and bowels and his wife’s need to care for him then becomes a running joke.
adventurous
dark
funny
lighthearted
medium-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
A mix
Strong character development:
Yes
Loveable characters:
Complicated
Diverse cast of characters:
No
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Yes
Content Warnings
Graphic: Death, Gore, Blood
Moderate: Vomit
Minor: Suicide
adventurous
funny
fast-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
Character
Strong character development:
Complicated
Loveable characters:
Complicated
Diverse cast of characters:
No
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Yes
I read this for a book club and had high hopes for it since I enjoyed the original novel as well as the film adaption of Pride and Prejudice and Zombies. This is one of those rare cases where the movie is far better than the book, which hurts me to say. While I know this is a comedic horror retelling of a classic, I assumed the characters' motives and beliefs would stay in line with that of the original, but it really strayed in that aspect. There were a lot of things that occurred that left you thinking "what?" with little to no explanation. The zombies almost seemed haphazardly slapped into the story at times, and the fight scenes were brief with little to no action or believability (which to be fair the book is comedy centric). The several mentions of self-harm ("atonement" in the book) and casualness in which a suicide is brushed over left me feeling uneasy. If asked, I would not recommend this book to anyone and instead tell them to stick to the movie.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Body horror, Death, Gore, Misogyny, Self harm, Sexism, Toxic relationship, Violence, Blood, Grief, Cannibalism, Injury/Injury detail
Moderate: Animal death, Child death, Emotional abuse, Hate crime, Panic attacks/disorders, Suicide, Terminal illness, Excrement, Vomit, Death of parent, Murder, Fire/Fire injury, Cultural appropriation, Gaslighting, Classism
Minor: Rape, Sexual assault
adventurous
dark
medium-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
Character
Strong character development:
Yes
Loveable characters:
Yes
Diverse cast of characters:
Complicated
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Yes
Content Warnings
Minor: Self harm, Suicide, Vomit