So Weirded Out
Fiction – Fantasy? (so classification of this book is a little shaky)
319 pages
Publication Date: 2009
Literary awards: Goodreads Choice Nominee for Favorite Book & Fantasy
(2009), The Kitschies Nominee for Red Tentacle (Novel) (2009)
Pride and Prejudice with zombies, need I say a whole lot
more?
Okay, first of all the cover is very disturbing.
So disturbing in fact I had to hide it from
my kids.
My husband on the other hand
thought it was awesome, so go figure.
I
found the
pairing of zombie slaying with early 19
th century manners incredibly
interesting and was curious to see how it was handled.
Grahame-Smith did a good job of inserting new
scenes and content into the original.
The extra content is more salacious and not
just in regard to the sorry stricken, we’re talking about some overt sexual
references.
It was a little gross – it
is a zombie book after all – but definitely not as graphic as it could have
been.
In some ways I found the
resolutions in this version more satisfying than the original.
I especially enjoyed Elizabeth kicking Darcy
in the face after his first proposal.
A
very natural reaction to my way of thinking – I mean who hasn’t wanted to do
that.
And the Reader’s Discussion really
added an extra element of fun.
On the other hand I had a terrible time slipping into this story. There were some pretty intense changes to the
characters and the overall feel of the book that I personally could never get
used to. Frankly, I had a very surreal
feeling during the whole time I read the book and was just so weirded out. I think someone who admired the original less
(full disclosure: I named my youngest Elizabeth after Elizabeth Bennet so you
can kind of see my devotion here) or wasn’t quite as familiar with it might
have an easier time with this book.
ISBN
1594743347 (ISBN13: 9781594743344)
When Lexington Larrabee drunkenly crashes her new car into a convenience
store days before her 18 birthday she expects it to be swept under the rug by
her business mogul father’s team with the usual ease. Sure being the daughter of an ever absent
billionaire has its downside, like him missing her high school graduation, but
these kinds of things are the perks of being a heiress right? Everything seems par for the course until
Lexi shows up at the lawyers office to receive her ticket to freedom, a trust
fund worth twenty-five-million-dollars.
Her father has added a few new stipulations. Lexi, will be expected to work a new job
every week for the next year, 52 to be exact.
With a college intern to babysit her, Lexi, will have to learn what it
means to work for the first time in her life or give up everything.
I first read this book when I was about ten-years-old and just cried
buckets. It was the first book I read as
a child dealing with a child’s death. I
remember feeling such a kinship with Jess and desperately wishing I had a
friend like Leslie and my heart just breaking at the end. This is one of the
books that has always just stuck with me over the years. Reading Bridge
to Terabithia as an adult I wasn’t quite as pulled into the story and
definitely more inclined toward critical thinking as I read it instead of just
enjoying the story, but I also understood the family dynamics and world Jess
lived in a lot better. The difference in
prospective, however, didn’t lessen the emotional impact of this story on me,
even though at times I did detect less than perfect writing. It is a beautiful story about the best kind
of friendship you can have and a book I have every intention of adding to my
personal library to share with my girls.