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A review by saraza3
Pride and Prejudice and Zombies by Jane Austen, Seth Grahame-Smith
1.75
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