Another entry in the "I can't believe it's a book" category, this one was mentioned to me by my sister and a friend, who are both well aware of my taste (or lack thereof) in books. Subtitled "The Classic Regency Romance - Now with Ultraviolent Zombie Mayhem!", the book appears to contain much/most of the original text of the novel (poor Jane, being out of copyright, has naught to say about that), into which a plague of zombies makes its way. Should be fun - and all the more because, as I just realized, Seth Grahame-Smith is the fellow who produced How to Survive a Horror Movie, so he should know his zombies!

[This is from the folks at Quirk Books, who brought us such entertaining titles as Escape from Fire Island. (Their URL sent me to a new site called Irreference, which seems to combine the book-selling aspect with news items and blogs and whatnot; I'm finding it harder to navigate than the old site, but perhaps it's new and is still being fine-tuned.)]

Well, I did enjoy it, though I have mixed feelings about the technique; I certainly hope it doesn't become a common thing for people to reprint public-domain classics with minor additions. Still, the juxtaposition of zombies and Austen is so funny by itself that I'm willing to forgive a lot.

There's a list of illustrations up front, the captions of which give one a hint that this isn't Mother's Jane Austen ("A few of the guests, who had the misfortune of being too near the windows, were seized and feasted on at once"). And the book has a little reader's guide at the end that's almost worth the price of the book, with some questions specific to this version but a few that could apply to the original as well ("Does Mrs. Bennet have a single redeeming quality?").

It wasn't all delight. I don't think that the zombies were integrated into Austen-world as well as they could have been - I detected a fair number of plotholes. And I wasn't thrilled with some of the changes to the fates and motivations of some of the characters, especially as some of them weren't consistent even within the zombified frame. (The few racy bits also seemed out of place: "She remembered the lead ammunition in her pocket and offered it to him. 'Your balls, Mr. Darcy?' He reached out and closed her hand around them, and offered, 'They belong to you, Miss Bennet.' Upon this, their colour changed, and they were forced to look away from one another,lest they laugh.") The whole thing could probably have been carried off in a much shorter work, though it's true that part of the fun was re-reading (most of) the original book just to see where the new bits were going to be grafted in.

But, overall, I had an enjoyable time reading it. Whether I'd have liked it as much if I didn't know the story nearly by heart I can't say; someone who's looking for lots of martial-art/zombie-bashing action might find this story rather slow, with way too much exposition in between the violent episodes. But it should be interesting to see whether the bits-o-zombie do entice readers into tackling the rest of the story - and, if so, whether they have any interest in checking out the original after that.

[Update: I just saw this amusing P&P-based guest strip on the Unshelved site; the strip doesn't explicitly mention P&P&Zombies - or S&S&Sea Serpents, for that matter - but does hint at them...]

As this is too wacky a book not to share, I thought I'd offer it for a book ray. [See the forum thread here.] The book is a trade paperback that weighs about 14 ounces, something to keep in mind when estimating postage costs.

Bookray instructions:

When you receive the book, please journal it, and PM the next person in line for their address so you'll have it ready when you've finished the book.

Note: even if you've sent books to that person before, please PM them before mailing this one, to confirm that the address is correct and that they're able to take on a bookray book at this time.

Try and read the book promptly - ideally, within one month of receiving it. (If you expect to take longer, you can request to be put at the end of the list. If you find you're swamped with other books when the person before you contacts you about the book, you can ask to be skipped, and then let me know whether you'd like to be moved down the list or dropped entirely. If you receive the book and find it's taking longer than you'd planned to get through it, I'd appreciate an update in its journal entries or on your profile, just to let me and the other participants know you haven't forgotten it.)

When you're ready to pass the book along, please add your comments about the book and indicate where you're sending it, either through a journal entry or through the controlled-release-note option. [If you use the controlled-release-note option and specify your own country/state/city, we'll end up with a handsome map of the book's travels!] If you find that you're having problems contacting the next person in line, or don't think you can manage to mail the book as originally agreed, please let me know; I'll be glad to try to work something out. And if you've found a copy elsewhere and no longer want to be on the ray, just let me know so I can take you off of the list!

Participants, in mailing order:

Jare [USA - NM]
NMReader [USA - NM]
elle311 [USA - VA] [got a copy, asked to be skipped]
ealasaidmae [USA - WV]
Dreamer-kitty [Canada]
BarkLessWagMore [USA - NH] [got a copy, asked to be skipped]
taaza [USA - WI] [got a copy, asked to be skipped]
pati13 [USA - OR]
jneni [Singapore] [profile asks to be skipped for all bookrings]
mrbaggins1 [South Africa]
shelj7k [Ireland] [got a copy, asked to be skipped]
chucklesthescot [UK]
Danielle23 [UK] [got a copy, asked to be skipped]
Tsjara [Netherlands]
criminologeek [Hong Kong]
Bongalonga [UK]

CONTROLLED RELEASE NOTES:

I'm still setting up the complete mailing list, but in the meantime the book's on its way to BCer Jare in New Mexico to kick off the book ray. Hope you enjoy it!

Woo hoo, it's here!! I'm crazy giddy about this one. Should be starting it this weekend sometime. Thanks for sharing this, GoryDetails!

Wow, this was a lot of fun. I honestly never thought I would be able to say I enjoyed a Jane Austen book, but well, in this case, I did! I was in stitches throughout a lot of the book. Thanks so much for sharing this one! I will hand off to NMReader next weekend at our meetup.

CONTROLLED RELEASE NOTES:

I handed this off to NMReader today during our meetup at Mama's Cooking!

Jare handed to me at the Meet-up. I am looking forward to reading

I took this book on vacation with me and finished it while there. I apologize on being late mailing it to the next person but should have it on its way this afternoon.

I have read and enjoyed Austen and I also enjoyed P&P&Z. It was an amusing twist on the tale so many of us know. I agree that the intergration was not complete and that some items were a bit out of place.

I also agree the questions for discussion made the book worth the cost.

CONTROLLED RELEASE NOTES:

I hope to mail over my lunch.

It's here!

I'm not much of a Jane Austen fan so I think the addition of zombies is fabulous. There are times when her stories really can use the added dash of excitement. But I'm not as in love with this book as I hoped to be. Fun as it is, sometimes the zombie humor is also a little heavy-handed, and more than a little repetitious. This reads like something that was quickly conceived and quickly written. I wish Grahame-Smith had taken a little more time to integrate his additions more fully into the existing story.
But hey - it's zombies, and that's just cool no matter what.

CONTROLLED RELEASE NOTES:

on its way to Calgary

Arrived safe and sound today!


Update: 13/10/2009

Finally finished this book, sorry it took so long. Got quite a few rings at once.

Wasn't very impressed. I found it kind of dull, and unoriginal, as it was just the regular Pride & Prejudice with random zombies thrown in. Ah well.

I hope the next person enjoys it better. I've msg'd Pat13 to get the shipping info.

CONTROLLED RELEASE NOTES:

Sent to pati13 by mail.

Sorry for the delay folks.

Sincerely,
Dreamer-kitty

I received this book on Monday and started reading it yesterday. So far, it is much more fun than the original! I also picked up "Sense and Sensibility and Sea Serpents" from our local library!

CONTROLLED RELEASE NOTES:

I really enjoyed this book. Yes he could have integrated the zombies a little better but I'm not sure I would want it to be much longer either.

Mailed this off to mrbaggins in South Africa.

This arrived in today, but oh dear, I have another copy as a bookray already. I'll contact you by PM

At last I can also say in a conversation with my betters that I have read a book by Jane Austen. Up to now my knowledge of the classic English novelists had been ...er non existent. Not one Dickens, or a Bronte, or a Jane Austen betwixt all the thousands of books I've read in my more than a half-a-century on the Lords good earth (Sigh) If it was not for the ...and Zombies...additions I very much doubt if I would've been able to deal with the social niceties of the British folk in those days. If Darcy was a good colonist, as we were in Serf Efrica, he would have dragged Lizzie off into the bushes and had his way with her by chapter two.

Lizzie however also struggled with the concept of love, as we all still do;

"How strange! For the more she dwelled on the subject, the more powerful she felt; not for her mastery of the deadly arts, but her power over the heart of another. What a power it was! But how to wield it? Of all the weapons she commanded, Elizabeth knew the least of love; and of all the weapons in the world, love was the most dangerous."

Ah well.

A sort of review: http://mrbaggins1.livejournal.com/52533.html

Thanks for sharing and passing it on to chucklesthescott who's next up.

CONTROLLED RELEASE NOTES:

Released today by surface mail to chucklesthescot in Scotland. Enjoy and thanks for sharing.

(Spend the money wisely)

Wow that was a very quick surface mail post! Thanks so much for sending on the book, the Zimbabwe note(fabulous!)the bracelet and very cool dragonfly! The postcards etc will also go into my various collections-much appreciated! I'll get started on it tonight and will PM the next in line.

Really enjoyed this book-much better than I expected it to be so thanks for sharing Gory! Lots of zombie fun and the characters were a lot more interesting than the original especially Elizabeth. Have the address of our next reader so will send it out on Tuesday.

CONTROLLED RELEASE NOTES:

This book is moving on to the next person in the list. Hope you enjoy this book!

Arrived here savely, strange that it took 3 weeks to travel here (I wonder where it's been)..
This looks great and pretty weird, Pride and Prejudice is one of my favorites.. but with zombies? :p Can't wait to read it :) Thanks for sending chucklesthescot and GoryDetails for sharing the book!

Update 21 June 2010: I will be taking this on holiday with me and mail it from there to criminologeek (just waiting for her/his address).
Edit 24 June: No reply yet.. hopefully he/she will reply soon.. will be taking it with me on holiday tomorrow.

I finished reading this a little while back, and quite enjoyed it, even though it was really weird (especially the part about the Bennet sisters being warriors.. :p). Oh and I liked the pictures in the book, it was quite a laugh :)

I have criminologeek's address now, but she is in Europe at the moment and will return to Hong Kong in August, while I am staying in Hong Kong till August.. haha, so I will mail this to her at the end of July/ beginning of August.

Mailed this to Criminologeek yesterday. I hope you'll enjoy it!
(and sorry for the delay)

Got the book today (it arrived some time ago, but my hostel janitor forgot to contact me about it). The book looks very interesting to me. Hope that it is a fun read as I thought it would be.

Sorry it took me so long to complete reading the book and for posting this journal entry. I some time find it hard to catch up with the story, but it exudes creativity in the way a classic is told without my expecting it.
Am currently waiting for the address of the next reader to post the book.

Thanks for sharing. :)