Pride & Prejudice...& Zombies

Pride & Prejudice & Zombies by Jane Austen and Seth Grahame-Smith is a parody of the classic love story that goes to lengths to make it both humorous and palatable for new audiences, unaccustomed to the sometimes wordiness of older writing styles by infusing the text with references of flesh-eating zombies, crane kicks, and ladies who would just as soon eat the still-beating heart of their social enemies than be dishonored by their impudence. Suffice it to say, it is an accurate depiction of what life in early nineteenth-century England might have been like during an apocalypse of the undead, had you been privy to the society of a group of His Majesty’s best-trained zombie hunters, who also happened to be totally consumed with things like social graces, bonnets, and the merits of chasing sexy militia tail.

Haha, I’m so funny. To be honest though, I had a hard time taking this book seriously, which was probably the point. Literature should be fun and it should reflect the tastes of the day and I have absolutely no qualms in taking liberties with classics in an effort to spread their appeal, this book just didn’t appeal to me in particular. I’m not interested in zombies, vampires, werewolves, etc… I just don’t care. Give me wizards, hobbits, and elves any day, but keep your undead, your cursed, and your gratuitous violence.

One of the redeeming qualities of PPZ (Lindsay’s acronym) is that my husband enjoyed it. We had a couple road trips this month when I regaled him with stories of Elizabeth cleaning house with Lady Catherine’s ninjas and I caught a chuckle here and there. I asked for a zombie tutorial from him and was surprised to learn how little there was to zombie-lore: they have a virus, they don’t feel pain, they eat brains. That’s pretty much it. Not a particularly deep mythology I guess.

I did some of my own fact-finding (thank you Wikipedia) and learned that the myth comes variously form Haitian Vodou, New Orleans Voodoo, West African Vodun, and Hollywood. Of course. Hollywood would blend ancient religious practices and modern warfare and come up with “Resident Evil,” well done western culture. Really, brav-o.