Pride, Prejudice and zombies

I have to admit, I had no idea what to expect with this book, and I had never read the original "Pride and prejudice". Well, it was, how can I say this, boring and interesting at the same time. 

I hated being "one of those" people, but I admit to sometimes skimming conversations to get to

the parts with zombies. I also found the score of characters difficult to keep up with, not to mention the on going

introduction of more characters throughout the novel. Regardless, it was an interesting read. I wonder how much

of it was actually written by Seth Grahame-Smith. I'm sure most of it was altered, since crime fighting, zombie killing, machine of women were very non-existent in the 19th century. 

After reading through the book, I found the general lack of care for those rendered to the zombies laughable. In fact, I thought Seth Grahame-Smith did a marvelous job with highlighting the satirical undertones of the original, (which I'm sure much of it is due in part to the original author), only that Seth Grahame-Smith sort of, throws in zombies and huge gore-feasts to keep things interesting. I almost wonder if there is hidden meaning in the addition of zombies, or if they were simply added to give the novel a "lift" for the younger and or modern audience. 

Some highlights of the book came from both the original author and Seth Grahame-Smith. I loved the wittiness that Jane Austen brought to the table. Her satirical undertones about social views and marriage were always obvious. The idea proposed by her is that, women, everywhere, young or old, want nothing more then then to marry. She also (I'm not sure if this was her, but I doubt it was Seth) enlightens us and pokes fun of the "typical woman" stereotype of her era. In fact, when the idea of the perfect woman is brought up in the book, the men and women of high ranks and middle class both agree that she must have a laundry list of things she simply must know and do. A couple of things being playing an instrument, being good as crafts, knowing how to knit/sew, be proper at all times no matter what, have a pleasant nature at all times, and be practiced in the deadly arts (thanks Seth). Elizabeth is almost like the "normal" woman in the book. Though not normal in the way that she kills zombies. She is intelligent and lovely, but uses nether to look for a marriage partner. In fact, it shocks the other characters that she does not look for marriage and she is excused as being "abnormal" because of it. It makes me wonder if Austen created her for the sheer excuse of having a high contrast character. It makes sense that she would end up with Darcy, since he was also some what of a high contrast character due to his rude nature. 

Now that I've read the book, I think I may have to watch the movie. I always love to compare the two. It's also rather fun, seeing the characters you imagined in a way that someone else imagined them (how they sound, what they look like). I'd also like to see how gory it would be. I was somewhat sad that I never got to enjoy the illustrations in the book (got a nice free pdf. of it online since there was only ONE at the library and it was always being read). But even without the art, the book did an awesome job describing the gore factor, but it made little sense next to the more delicate words of Jane Austen. In fact it was sometimes easier to skim ahead to the zombie parts because the English used would suddenly change drastically. I thought this was an interesting juxtapose of old and new. Speaking of which, I had a hard time believing some parts, aside from the zombies (HA). For example, the girls studied in China? They were Shaolin-trained killers? At one point there are ninjas fighting Elizabeth, she even wields a Katana! Oh! Let's not forget the throwing stars. Was that stuff even around back then?

 Regardless, still an enjoyable read, makes me wonder what Jane Austen would think if she could see what has become of her novel.