Book Query

[lady_isabella]

Have any of you out there read Pride & Prejudice and Zombies by Jane Austen & Seth Grahame-Smith? I saw the book in a store recently, and like a bad traffic accident, it's one of those things that I want to pass by quickly, but I can't help slowing up and staring. I'm terribly curious to read this particular mash-up.

Comments

[muridae_x]

I've read it. It has its amusing moments, but it's pretty much a one joke conceit, and I found that it had more than worn out its welcome by the end of the book. I think it might have worked better if Grahame-Smith had written more of the book and Jane Austen less - it teeters on the brink of plagiarism throughout, because his job as author basically consists of abridging her book, using her dialogue and authorial narrative with slavish devotion, then shoehorning in his own jokes with a bit of word or phrase substitution from time to time. When he did it well, I was left wishing that he'd put more effort into it and done the job properly. When he did it badly, I was left wishing he'd left well alone.

Because he'd used so much of the original, I found the Americanisms that slipped through rather jarring. And he really could have done with a decent editor to cut out the glaring errors. For example, for reasons known only to himself, he moves Wickham and Lydia's exile from "the North" to Ireland... except he doesn't actually bother to run a search and replace on his entire manuscript, so "the North" still lurks there as well, kind of like a switchback ride.

So yes, it's a bad traffic accident kind of deal, and no, I wasn't terribly impressed by it. The illustrations of Elizabeth Bennet as a kick-ass ninja wearing an Empire line gown are kind of funny though, and I confess that I found the video trailer for Sense and Sensibility and Sea-Monsters rather diverting. It's probably better than the book will be though!

[countessaleska]

I love your Grommit icon!

[muridae_x]

Thank you!

*pets Gromit*

He really does provide an icon for every occasion.

[countessaleska]

I noted that your grommit icons and your other icons share the same style and typeface-- did you make them yourself?

[muridae_x]

Yes, I did. The same style/typeface is a deliberate choice - because I'd rather make my own icons because then they're unique to me rather than shared by half my friends list, but I don't have either the time or patience to get into learning the fancier end of icon crafting. Cropping, colour/brightness tweaking and quotation selection is about my limit. :-)