Beelzebub and Mickey Devil wait inside for me

[venta]

So... adaptations of, sequels to or improvements on classic literature are always a mistake, right ?

Something which is completely genre-defying is going to be a disaster, right ?

On the radio this morning I heard about Pride and Prejudice and Zombies!.

I want to hate it. I really do. But the author - interviewed on the Today programmer, for his sins - somehow managed to sound so endearing that it's actually made me want to read it. He described carefully reading "one of the most expertly plotted novels" in order to insert sequences of "gratuitous gore and zombie mayhem". He sounds like he has a huge respect for Austen (the finished work is "about 85% Austen"), and as if he had a real sense of humour about the whole thing. He agreed it was not an extensible idea, and promised not to go on to do Sense and Sensibility and Werewolves.

Help. Someone convince me that this book is going to suck before I have to deal with the disappointment.

It is a truth universally acknowledged that a zombie in possession of brains must be in need of more brains...

Comments

[feanelwa.livejournal.com]

Surely it can't be that long even if it is crap. You could read it on a long journey.

Sense and sensibility and werewolves would be too easily solved. Fanny Dashwood causes problems? OMNOMNOM next morning Elinor has a touch of indigestion and desires a bath.

[mister-jack.livejournal.com]

Bbbbuuuuuuyyyyyyyyy iiiiiiittt

[bopeepsheep.livejournal.com]

Northanger Abbey definitely needs moar vampires.

[shrydar.livejournal.com]

That sounds fantastic :-)

[beckyl.livejournal.com]

I'd heard about this one before the current buzz, and generally heard good things. As far as I can tell, the author is intelligent, a decent chap, and has written something that will be entertaining to read.

Disclaimer - I HATED Pride and Prejudice when I read it, which might have something to do with it being a school English book (can't remember if it was GCSE or A-Level). I might read this version to see if it redeems the experience.

[lenina101.livejournal.com]

I loved P&P though I prefer Sense and Sensibility (though that might have something to do with the lovely Emma Thompson's film version)... I weirdly tempted to read this just for the amusement and the fact that it will either be amazing or so awful I can get years of ranting material from it.

I do like a good rant :)

[undyingking.livejournal.com]

<convince>
It seems pretty clear to me that Pride and Prejudice and Zombies is something you come up with late at night while sitting around with friends after the pub, and all go "Hahaha, that'd be great" and then forget about it the next day -- rather than something you sit down and write.

Having heard and laughed at the premise, what would be the further point of reading it? -- to marvel at the sheer lapidary skill with which the two sources have been intertwined? I think not.

Give me an example of any such thing in the past which has turned out to actually be a worthwhile exercise...
</convince>

[(Anonymous)]

It can't be worse than Lost In Austen .... can it?

[tigerfort.livejournal.com]

The first three chapters (or so) are available to read online from the publisher. I... wasn't terribly impressed, tbh. Many people here have probably done funnier stuff at 3am.

[beckyl.livejournal.com]

Additional semi-relevant - there was a point some years back where Spike Milligan wrote a whole series of 'Classics ...according to Spike Milligan'. A quick check suggests Wuthering Heights, Black Beauty, Treasure Island, and Frankenstein at least. These do not have the Zombie element, but remain re-doings of classic tales. The one or two I read made me laugh.