Most Helpful Customer Reviews
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28 of 33 people found the following review helpful:
1.0 out of 5 stars
A wasted opportunity, 14 Jul 2009
There are other Jane Austen parodies around at the moment; this sort of thing can be done well. Here, it isn't.
The idea of taking Miss Austen's quiet, measured, humour and insight out of its context of genteel, suburban convention,and applying to a completely antithetical situation of gross, apocalyptic carnage ought to work. It could even, as a previous reviewer mentions, be used as a means of social satire; one should remember that Jane Austen's brother served in the Navy during the Napoleonic wars - she would have not been unfamiliar with the bloody realities of combat, she just never chose to write about them. So, imagining what it would have been like if she had - it's an idea with definite potential. Taking Elizabeth Bennett, one of her most feisty heroines, and putting her in a situation where she is not socially contrained into a passive role - this should be fun.
The fact that it's not, after a few pages, is not a problem with the concept, but a deficiency in the writing. Mr. Grahame-Smith's humour is clicheed, crude and sexually and scatologically obsessed. This does not mean that he is not, occasionally, mildly funny. However, he has made the mistake of putting his puerile, hackneyed humour up against one of the all-time mistresses of the art of social satire. Appreciating the examples of her understated, incisive, biting wit that remain in this text, one finds oneself longing for more of the latter, and less of the added dross.
I'd say it is a fatal flaw in a parody if one is left simply longing for the original! Miss Austen's distinctive style lends itself to parody, Mr Grahame-Smith is simply not up to the task. For an exemplar, I would recommend Dave Langford's hilarious pastiches written in the styles of a wide variety of authors - both clever AND funny.
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8 of 9 people found the following review helpful:
3.0 out of 5 stars
A book with mischievious intent, that doesn't deliver consistently, 25 Aug 2009
If you look at all the reviews, you'll see that this monster mash-up of the beloved novel has totally split opinions of those who have read it. I'll tell you mine after a bit of explanation.
Zombies have been plaguing the English countryside for years. It's no longer safe to venture out alone; you need to be either armed to the teeth, or have safety in numbers. The Bennets are well equipped to deal with the undead, for Mr Bennet and his daughters have been trained in the deadly arts in China and are warriors all with swords and feet alike, having their own dojo at home to keep their skills honed.
The Zombies and martial arts are all shoe-horned into Austen's novel, most of which is left in tact - it's usually pretty obvious which are the additions and adaptations, although not having read the original for many years, I kept it by me so I could compare and contrast if needed. I am also an expert in the BBC's wonderful P&P series from 1995, which enriched this reading immensely - imagining Colin Firth as Darcy swashing and buckling against zombies...
... Sorry, where was I? The novel starts off really well, it had me chortling loud enough to have to read the first few lines out to my other half:-
"It is a truth universally acknowledged that a zombie in possession of brains must be in want of more brains. Never was this truth more plain than during the recent attacks at Netherfield Park, in which a household of eighteen was slaughtered and consumed by a horde of the living dead.
"My dear Mr Bennet," said his lady to him one day, "have you heard that Netherfield Park is occupied again?"
Mr Bennet replied that he had not and went about his morning business of dagger sharpening and musket polishing - for attacks bt the unmentionables had grown alarmingly frequent in recent weeks."
Even from just this small quote you can see already that it mixes the new and old and rewrites other sentences to fit. Some of the adaptations are witty, and there is the added frisson of a little double-entendre introduced between Lizzie and Darcy. There's nothing like a little smut to remind you that this mash-up is intended to entertain - some of the other write-ups I've read seem to have expected a more serious shock-horror treatment, but the comedy approach was fine by me.
The only problem is, that with one notably sad exception, the zombies are a mere nuisance, seemingly there to prevent travel and explain the high turnover in servants - there are missed opportunities for more zombie mayhem in more elevated circles. It's mostly a class thing - the rich can afford warrior training and/or servants to do the zombie killing for them, unlike the working class who get devoured with relentless monotony. There is one real highlight though, appended at the end of the novel which, if you decide to read it, you too must save for the end - in which the author's comedic credentials are exploited to the full. A neat finish, but I can't tell you more.
So what did I make of it all? It was a great concept, (with a fantastic cover). It was fun, but not sustained all the way through. Did I enjoy it enough to read the next title from Quirk Books - Sense and Sensibility and Sea Monsters - well maybe! (6 .5 out of 10)
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3 of 3 people found the following review helpful:
3.0 out of 5 stars
The novelty soon wears off, 4 Aug 2009
England is menaced by a zombie plague but Mrs Bennett is more worried about marrying off her five daughters who protect Hertfordshire with their Shaolin kung-fu training. When Mr Bingley arrives at Netherfield Park, accompanied by Mr Darcy, marriage seems a distinct prospect for oldest daughter Jane. Unfortunately Darcy finds the Bennett family, with their inferior Chinese training (the gentry preferring to train in Japan), lack of money and lack of social refinement, a poor prospect for his friend. When Lizzie overhears Darcy's concerns, she wants to cut out his heart. Instead the two engage in verbal sparring that could grow into something more, until Mr Wickham arrives to join the local militia and reinforce Lizzie's prejudices against the proud Darcy ...
Take Pride and Prejudice and add references to ninjas and zombies and you've got this book. Despite the initial fun of seeing Lizzie and her sisters engage in sword fighting and kung fu, the joke's charm fades by the final page and the truly funny lines remain Austen's.
Much of the problem is Grahame-Smith's lack of sensitivity to the original material. While some characters are true to the original (Jane remains sweet tempered, weeping for the zombies she kills while Lydia is self-absorbed and shallow) and some actually do better (the buffoonish Mr Collins goes through a touching character arc), Smith equates Lizzie's quick wit with being quick tempered. Too often she's shown wanting to rip someone's heart out for a slight to her honour and her willingness to use her fists rather than her words costs her some charm. Darcy makes crass double-entendres (an unfunny joke about balls appears twice) and his willingness to beat Wickham into an incontinent, paraplegic pulp mars his image as a romantic lead.
There are some entertaining scenes. The interruption of the Netherfield ball by zombies who eat the servants is amusing, and Smith's re-imagining of the show-down between Lady Catherine and Lizzie as a ninja fight in a dojo is a lot of fun. However a quick Google search should have told Smith that skunks and racoons are not indigenous to the English countryside and the addition of the burning fields never quite fits the text.
All in all, this is an okay read but the novelty of mixing zombies with regency romance wears off too soon and it doesn't bear a second reading.
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