Jane Austen...Zombie Hunter?

There are a lot of "ifs" that begin this blog post:

If you have previously read my blog, you know I love all things Jane Austen.

If you have visited a bookstore in the last few years, you may know there was a book written called Pride and Prejudice and Zombies.

If you have a television, you may have seen any number of trailers for the movie that was released just yesterday bearing the same name.

If you have ever wondered my feelings on zombies, you will now finally be satisfied. To be honest, the whole supernatural scene that's been very popular lately, with vampires and zombies and such, has never really been all that exciting to me {not to be confused with the Supernatural scene, which follows the delicious, plaid-wearing Winchester brothers and their battle with the supernatural forces and creatures that exist in our world and beyond...that kind of supernatural I like}. But zombies have never really interested me. I've always kind of toyed around with the idea of watching The Walking Dead {my brother and sister both watch it, so I'm pretty aware of the basic story line}. And my first thoughts, when I saw the PPZ books in Barnes and Noble {right alongside Sense and Sensibility and Seamonsters, I might add}, were not very kind. The idea of someone messing with the stories that I loved and turning them into some weird parody did not make me happy.

But I am nothing if not flexible. When I started seeing the trailers over a month ago, a tiny desire to see the movie flickered through my brain. After all, it stars Lily James as Elizabeth Bennet, who I just loved as Cinderella and Lady Rose from Downton Abbey. And since I'm that person, I decided to read the book first, because obviously. Why wouldn't you?

So I ordered it from the library and received it a few days later. As it was a "deluxe heirloom edition", it contained a preface from the author, a ribbon bookmark, and boasted 30% more zombies {lucky me!}. Oh, and this was the cover:

Delightful, isn't it? I started with the preface because, again, obviously. And the thing that stuck out to me the most, that possibly redeemed the whole thing, was that Seth Grahame-Smith, the author, stated that he literally took the original Pride and Prejudice manuscript and added zombies. Many of Jane Austen's words were still there. The characters were still the same. And as I read, I clung to this. Lizzy and Jane were the only sensible ones in their family. Mr. Collins was still an idiot. Mr. Darcy was still proud and brooding. But...the Sisters Bennet and Mr. Darcy were also very accomplished zombie killers, fluent in "the deadly arts." It did my heart good to see that clearly Mr. Grahame-Smith felt the same way about many of the characters as I did, based on the slight, but oh so satisfying, changes he made to the plot {or rather, the characters}. Oh, and they mention Eastbourne randomly, when Kitty and Lydia are talking about following the officers to Brighton. That just made me happy.

Even some of my favorite parts were amped up just enough by the addition of the unmentionables and the ninja-like fighting skills of the characters. I wouldn't call this a spoiler, but I'll give you a minute if you want to see the movie/read the book without any pre-knowledge............okay, so the part when Elizabeth is visiting Charlotte and Mr. Collins and then Mr. Darcy shows up and proposes in their living room and basically insults her entire family? Everybody remember that part from the original? Well, just imagine how much more excitement there will be when Lizzy Bennet beats the crap out of Darcy after that. Like we're talking mid-air kicks and whatnot. If a guy proposed to me and then insulted my whole family, I might want to throw him against a mantelpiece, too. Just saying {Dear Future Husband, I hope you're paying attention}. 

Now, was it as good as the original? Obviously, NO! But after having lots of my favorite books turned into television shows or movies that are good in isolation but not compared to the original, I am very good at shelving them as separate entities in my brain. I can enjoy reading City of Bones and watching the movie and can do so without comparing them against each other. They are good on their own {okay, actually, the movie is pretty terrible, but Aidan Turner is really good in it...and the Shadowhunters show on Freeform is doing a good job of redeeming the series}. 

So I guess what I'm saying is give things a chance. Because I'm going to see this movie next weekend. With someone else, because I don't want to be alone during the scary parts. And there's zombies, so there's likely to be scary parts...or at least startling bits, although the book was rather funny, in my opinion. And in case you haven't seen the trailer, I'll just leave that right here. The critics have said it's a perfect date movie...you've got the Jane Austen to satisfy the romantics and the zombies to satisfy the zombie lovers {after all, "it's a truth universally acknowledged that a zombie in possession of brains must be in want of more brains}. And what could be more appropriate for Valentine's Day than Jane Austen and zombies?

~Stay Gold!