Published in 2009, gifted to me a couple years ago; why read it now? I've seen trailers for the movie adaptation, but that's mostly coincidence. I saw it as possible inspiration for a similar genre-melding project. So, what did I think?
Pride and Prejudice and Zombies is squarely in the pop-culture zone where your expectations determine your reaction. I've seen the book referred to as a "mashup" or, on its back cover (tongue firmly in cheek, but still), "an expanded edition of the beloved Jane Austen novel." So I was disappointed that the book is much more straight-up parody (rather than satire...). It's been a long time since high school, but it's pretty clear that this version is a total rewrite instead of passages of the original interspersed with zombie mayhem. It's got funny parts, but the writing is a shallow imitation not up to Austen's standards, content aside. I hoped for better. (Could I do better?)
Since my vision and the authors' seemed to differ so much, it's interesting to consider the tone the movie version is going for (based on the trailer since I'm pretty sure I wouldn't waste the time to see it). The delivery seems to help the mediocre dialogue, but the overall aesthetic seems like generic horror:
Finally, a last issue it gave me was what to read next. I like to jump between genres, and this book rules out both classic literature and modern bestsellers. Nonfiction, perhaps?
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