Pride and Prejudice and Zombies by Jane Austen and Seth Grahame-Smith

Review by Shwetha H S

Genre: Zombie romance, Classic retelling
Imprint: Quirk Classics
ISBN: 1594743347

Pride and Prejudice and Zombies by Seth Grahame-Smith is a classic retelling, in a lesser unknow subgenre zombie romance, of Pride and Prejudice by Jane Austen. The author has written several books in other lesser known genres. Another of his famous work is Abraham Lincoln: The Vampire Slayer. You can read our reviews of Pride and Prejudice’s graphic novel and illustrated book by clicking on the options.

Seth Grahame-Smith is a smart boy. He didn’t have to write much. All he had to do was include ninja lifestyle descriptions, zombies and a few fights here and there without changing the Goddess Jane Austen’s original. Sorry, Seth actually kills Charlotte Lucas in his version. How and when? It is for you to find out by reading this book.

Pride and Prejudice and Zombies has been personally gratifying at so many levels to a Pride and Prejudice fan like me. I have three instances where I kind of appreciated Seth for his version. First, there is an instance when Mr. Bennet actually asks Mrs. Bennet to shut up, which I had been wondering why it didn’t happen since the time I first read Pride and Prejudice by Jane Austen. Anyway, if Mrs. Bennet shuts up, how will the show go on? So, she gets to be herself. Second, Elizabeth kicks Darcy’s ass for separating Jane and Bingley, and for insulting her family while he professes his love for her during her stay at Mr. Collins and Charlotte’s house. The usually slight rudeness in the original had not gone down well with me. Thirs, Darcy kicking some zombie-asses on the beautiful grounds of Pemberley to help Elizabeth when she single-handedly tries to fight a herd of zombies without any ninja weapon. What an entry to the scene! Absolutely heroic and saving-damsel-in distress kind. Well, it is satiating enough.

Apart from the minor inclusions and modifications to the storyline, rest is same as the original version. Nobody would read Pride and Prejudice and Zombies until they have read the original. So, if the original is good or bad, then the same applies to this version as well. You won’t lose anything by giving this a read.

Pride and Prejudice by Jane Austen (Illustrated by Alice Pattullo)

Review by Shwetha H S

Genre: Classic, Drama, Illustrated version
ISBN: 978163159076
Imprint: Rockport Publishers, USA.

To read about Pride and Prejudice by Jane Austen and its graphic novel version, click here. To get a review of the illustrated version by Alice Pattullo with Rockport Publishers, read on.

To misinterpret a classic is one thing and to ruin the enjoyment of a classic is another. And Rockport Publishers have succeeded in ruining the pleasure of reading this illustrated version of theirs by gaudy illustrations by Alice Pattullo and horrible editing and spelling mistakes. Did the publishers not have an in-house editor or could they not hire one? Here is a list, but non exhaustive, of mistakes that can easily be found in the book:

• Keep keep instead of keep
• Me instead of my
• Combinationa
• Coining instead of coming
• Ouly instead of only

Don’t waste your money on this illustrated version of Pride and Prejudice. The illustrations will haunt you. Not worth feeling bad about a classic as great as this work by Jane Austen.

Pride and Prejudice by Jane Austen (Illustrations by Rajesh Nagulakonda)

Review by Shwetha H S

Pride and Prejudice by Jane Austen is a literary classic every reader will swear by. The pride of Fitzwilliam Darcy and the prejudiced Elizabeth Bennet take you on a ride full of emotions that are justified. Different editions of this classic has come out with equally beautiful cover designs from many publishing houses. This review is not just of Pride and Prejudice, but of its graphic novel with illustrations by Rajesh Nagulakunda from Campfire Graphic Novels. The scenes seem to be taken from the movie version of Pride and Prejudice directed by Joe Wright. It is good to take inspiration, but it is necessary to have one’s own inputs. The illustrator has done his best to in bringing good illustrations to cater to your imagination if it is not good enough. But the downside of this graphic novel is the illustrations of the characters are not consistent. They look very different from on panel to another. The single worst part of this version is when Mr.Bingley finally asks Jane Bennet to marry him she is actually saying “Oh, Lizzy! Mr.Bingley has proposed to me! He has made me the happiest person in the world!” but the illustrations show her with lusty expressions with anguish. With an exception to this, the graphic novel version of Pride and Prejudice provides a good start to those who are not familiar with Jane Austen and her works.