Pride and Prejudice and Zombies: Two worlds that should not collide.

Let me preface this review with two comments: first, I love Jane Austen and all of her novels – they just make me smile; second, the current popularity of zombies urged me check out that world.  So why not let these two worlds collide?

I’ll tell you why: the collision kind of ruins Jane Austen.

I won’t lie: it started off highly entertaining.  I was immediately amused by how Seth Grahame-Smith tweaked Austen’s language to directly incorporate the zombies.  The opening line reads: “It is a truth universally acknowledged that a zombie in possession of brains must be in want of more brains”.  I can appreciate this play with the original opening line.  And initially I found the undead’s presence kind of amusing, albeit a little stressful at times.  Like when traveling between homes, the Bennet girls often had to fight off these unmentionables.  And occasionally, this worked well within the story that I love.  Remember when Jane visits the Bingley’s and falls ill because she rode in the rain, leading to Elizabeth’s arrival in Netherfield and clash with the arrogant Mr. Darcy?  In the current zombie addition, the reason for Jane’s prolonged visit is because of a zombie attack!  It’s not actually so far-fetched.

And then the novel lost me.  I found that the addition of the zombies created new storylines lacking Austen’s intentions.  Relatively major characters are bitten by zombies and slowly move into the land of the undead; refined romantic women are now sword-wielding ninja warriors.  Seriously, instead of singing and playing the piano at social gatherings, these women pick up their swords, and pierce the heart of zombies.  And the men find this attractive?  Oh, and Darcy physically beats up Wickham . . . to win over Elizabeth.   Why is everyone so violent?  I know they’re living through the zombie apocalypse, but my characters are charming, sophisticated, elegant.  So when Elizabeth fights Lady Catherine and her ninjas in a battle involving extremely athletic leaps and spin, as well as sword clashing and muscle punctures, the collision between Austen and zombies finally implodes and I decided the novel is ridiculous. 

Furthermore, with all the alterations in storyline, Grahame-Smith’s must actually write his own material.  And let’s just say it’s not up to the sophistication of Austen’s.   If I actually enjoyed the novel, I could forgive the lack of intellectual writing.  The combination of ridiculous story and bad writing make this novel not worth my time.

Oh ya, and I didn’t learn that much about zombies. 

I have other zombie books on my to-read pile, so perhaps those stories will draw me in better than this ridiculous adaptation of one of my favourite novels.

Hello Friends,

If anyone actually follows my blog, I’M SORRY!  I am a terrible, terrible book blogger.  I know.  I actually have several books on the “to-write-about” pile, but lack the inertia or inspiration to write about them. 

I have learned several things about myself over the last several months.  As always, I love reading.  I love losing myself to the characters in my novel.  I love marveling at the use of language to draw me to those characters.  But what I do not love is the analysis of those characters, of that prose, of finding the hidden meaning.  I merely want to say: I LOVE THAT BOOK! (or not, but let’s hope for the former ).  And so this leaves me wondering if I am really, truly a book blogger or if I’m more of an imposter.  With my profound inability to read as fast as most of you, this thought always lingers in my mind.

But I still love to write.  And of course, I still love to read.  And for those reasons, I will continue to compose my thoughts for this blog.  However, not being a literature major, I’ve also starting writing in a field that I am more familiar with: cancer biology.  Here I attempt more regular posts, to push myself to learn new things and to utilize language in way that makes science and cancer understandable to all.  You can find this blog here.

So if anyone is out there, thank you for your patience.  I will get to those books on my “to-write-about” pile shortly, so stay tuned! And don’t leave me . . . I’m still here.

Me Before You: Not your typical love story

I first heard about Me Before You by Jojo Moyes from a fellow book blogger (Book Addiction) a while back, so when I located it at my local book sale, I was thrilled and immediately placed it on top of my to-read pile. 

This story juxtaposes two characters.  On the one side we have Will Traynor, epitomizing the stereotypical male – makes a good living, but works to live a life of adventure and pure enjoyment.  He travels and explores the obscure parts of the world, all while at his side, of course, stands the gorgeous blond.  Only, wait.  This description depicts a Will before The Accident, before the day he became trapped in a wheelchair as a quadriplegic, the day before he lost his life, in a manner of speaking.  The latter Will breaks all connection to his former self and succumbs to his depression, closing out his beautiful girlfriend and family.  And this is where Louisa Clark enters the story.  She is everything Will is not (or was not).  Having never left their small town, she lives with her parents, sister and nephew.  And although she dates Patrick, we know early on that this long-term relationship is not built on mutual respect and love. Her quirky sense of style and quick wit add some sparkle to her otherwise plain and ordinary life.

Will’s mother hires Louisa to babysit Will.  The diametric personalities ensure a conflict between Will and Louisa, yet this conflict develops into a connection, the connection that draws me in.  Louisa resolves to show Will how to live, how to be happy again.  And so, these two juxtaposed characters start to make a switch.  Louisa learns how to explore new experiences and Will settles for the more ordinary.  Or something like that.

While this is a love story, it’s also so much more than a love story while not being a love story at all.  A bit confusing, I know, but I also the reason why you need to read this book.  Jojo Moyes uses this story as a backdrop for a broader commentary on both the life as a quadriplegic and how society reacts to the disabled as well as the idea of assisted suicide.  Both of these are “hot” topics that we have a tendency to push aside.  Moyes does a wonderful job of bringing these topics to our minds without overwhelming us by their enormity.

The writing styles does not compel me to read and the awkward chapters written from a different point of view only seem to draw the reader away from the story, but the ability of Moyes to make us think about life and love in a new way demands us to read this novel. 

I am left with the thought: how will you live your life? I choose to live by love, at all costs.