Monster-of-the-Week: …let’s give the nod to the bride of Mr. Collins, Charlotte Lucas, or rather to the ravening zombie she turns into, in Seth Graeme-Smith’s 2009 novel, Pride and Prejudice and Zombies…
The novel, which mixes cannibal ghouls into Jane Austen’s marriage-minded 1813 Pride and Prejudice, started a generally unwelcome vogue for such “mashups,” but is kind of witty all the same. A few years ago The Wife gave me the unabridged audio book to listen to on a road trip, and if you feel the need to experience it, I highly recommend this delivery method. It’s read by actress Katherine Kellgren in a fine droll deadpan. Austen is the big winner in this collaboration—as the book went into its homestretch, I found myself sighing with impatience every time it shifted into a zombie interpolation. Such are Austen’s chops that I wanted to forget the silly zombie conceit and just hear how her story turned out—even though I’d already read it.
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