the reading chronicles

“It is a truth universally acknowledged that a zombie in possession of brains must be in want of more brains.”
 
So begins Pride and Prejudice and Zombies, an expanded edition of the beloved Jane Austen novel featuring all-new scenes of bone-crunching zombie mayhem. As our story opens, a mysterious plague has fallen upon the quiet English village of Meryton—and the dead are returning to life! Feisty heroine Elizabeth Bennet is determined to wipe out the zombie menace, but she’s soon distracted by the arrival of the haughty and arrogant Mr. Darcy. What ensues is a delightful comedy of manners with plenty of civilized sparring between the two young lovers—and even more violent sparring on the blood-soaked battlefield. Can Elizabeth vanquish the spawn of Satan? And overcome the social prejudices of the class-conscious landed gentry? Complete with romance, heartbreak, swordfights, cannibalism, and thousands of rotting corpses, Pride and Prejudice and Zombies transforms a masterpiece of world literature into something you’d actually want to read. [ synopsis from goodreads ]

I didn't like this book as much as I did this first time. I originally read this book not long after it came out (I want to say it was something like 6 months??). I was in high school and still struggled through classics. I'd only read Pride & Prejudice once.

Now, it's the complete opposite. I read classics all the time and no longer struggle with them. I've read P&P numerous times and it's one of my favorite novels. And because of that, I found this book riddled with changes that just didn't seem to fit. I feel like this book took many liberties with the time period that I just didn't think fit or just didn't like. (AND I'M FOREVER UPSET WITH HOW COLLINS IS PORTRAYED IN THIS BOOK. NO. JUST NO.)

I think your relationship with P&P has a direct correlation with your enjoyment of this book. The more you love the source material, the more you find fault with this one. And boy, I found a lot of fault with this one. I think this book is better in theory than it was in execution. I love the IDEA of zombies and supernatural creatures within this world. But I didn't really like the way it was done in this book. And I loved it before because I hadn't yet come to love Jane Austen's world. I hadn't read all her novels and come to love all of her characters. I wasn't invested yet.

Now I am.

And now I'm saying that this is a great book to read if you don't care about the changes from P&P (though it pained me to type that sentence because why wouldn't you?!?!?!?) But if you are invested in the original novel and do care about the changes, this probably isn't for you. And for me, it probably won't be a reread. I'm glad I came back to it though. I would've always thought I still loved it. (I guess that just shows the importance of rereading old favorites later in life, haha.)

Original Review from March 2010:
Best idea ever? Yes, yes it is. I loved this book. It simply took a story I loved and made it even better. I loved anything that has to do with horror and zombies in one of my favorite stories of one of all time? Absolute utter genius. So I think it's pretty obvious how much I love this book. I had a blast reading it and I can't wait for the movie (even if it does have Natalie Portman =/ I would've MUCH preferred having Keira back!)

review originally posted on goodreads