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We’re going to start reading the book this week.  And we’ll figure out a way to capture our thoughts about it in a few weeks - maybe a podcast, maybe just a thread on the boards.

Anyway, if you like reading, zombies, or girls - you might want to join us in our first (and likely last) book club event.

Yuck! Grrrl stuff!

The bookstore guy told Katie the book is “flawless”. And I’ve never had so many people talk to me about a book I’m reading.

Be ready…

“...Pentagon of Death…” I’m pretty sure Austen would be spinning in her grave right now, but maybe that’s the point - what with the zombies and all. I don’t know. I’ll finish and see what we have to say.

Thinking about reading along… as of today I’m pretty much free, book-wise.

I think you should, Tony.

I’ll try and pick up the book tomorrow.

I’m in the middle of the book. I took a couple days off when I started having weird dreams about LOST and Lizzy Bennet.

Anyway, I always found the middle a bit of a slog in the old book and finding it the same in the “updated” version.

As for authors updating or signifying on another’s work - I would suggest reading the works of Jasper Fforde. He does it in such a clever way that you easily recognize that a person couldn’t create such a work without being intimately familiar with and fond of the original works.

That said - I think the addition of Zombies makes the book more of a feminist piece.

I normally hate, nay, DESPISE when feminist theory comes into the discussion. However, in this instance I think you have a valid argument. I’m about halfway through the book as well and we’ll see where this thing goes.
Thus far, I am a little disappointed in the sullying nature of the integrated zombies. Being a Jane Austen devotee, it’s hard for me to read something that doesn’t seamlessly blend with her style. That being said, this is probably one of the only ways a guy will ever want to pick up P&P – sad, but true.

Read our latest conversation here:
http://www.HodgeBlodge.com

I finished on Thursday night. We should talk some more.

I have questions:
1) Would you have liked the book more if it had deviated more from the original text?
2) Did the book ever stand a chance?
3) Would you embrace such an approach to a different story (not necessarily Austen)?

From the rabid response we’ve gotten (crickets), clearly people are fascinated by this conversation.

alyssa - 26 May 2009 02:24 AM

I finished on Thursday night. We should talk some more.

I have questions:
1) Would you have liked the book more if it had deviated more from the original text?
2) Did the book ever stand a chance?
3) Would you embrace such an approach to a different story (not necessarily Austen)?

From the rabid response we’ve gotten (crickets), clearly people are fascinated by this conversation.

Are you guys going to record a wrap-up podcast, or is this going to be another HodgeBlodge thing? Because if it’s a HodgeBlodge thing, then you may want to make mention of the fact that it’s on HodgeBlodge.com, along with your last conversation, which is HERE.

I think we will pick up the discussion here on the boards. It’s easier for other to get involved this way. If they wanted to…and clearly they don’t…still though, here we shall be for book club convenience purposes. Ahem.

Alyssa,

So glad you finished – now I can share my scathing remarks about this piece of CRAP! Just kidding, it wasn’t that bad.

As for your discussion questions, I have some responses:

Q. Would you have liked the book more if it had deviated more from the
original text?

A: I think so. The title is definitely an accurate assessment of what the reader is going to get. What you have is the original dialogue (mostly) with a pointless zombie plot thrown in there. I think that had they given the zombies some purpose, some meaning to the story as a whole then it would have been a more enjoyable read. Instead, you have a large portion of the original sprinkled with pointless, Goosebumps-grade zombie action and it doesn’t seem worth it. If you want to incorporate zombies into the story, you have to add something overall and I don’t feel Grahame-Smith did that.

Q: Did the book ever stand a chance?

A: Yes, I swear that it did. I was so excited the day I found out about this book and my disappointment should in no way reflect a pretentious loyalty to Austen’s work. What I was hoping for I guess was a new take on the story, or a more seamless zombie infusion. Because I do appreciate P&P so much, I was really thrown back by the difference in the style of writing when Grahame-Smith’s parts came into play (i.e. Pentagon of Death, etc.). Honestly, I just wanted it to be better, or more serious. The zombies just felt like a joke. Maybe if I was concerned about the zombies killing off the heroines or Darcy, then I would have enjoyed it a lot more. Actually, yes, that is what would have made it for me I think; some sense of fear for the characters.

How would you feel about that?

Q: Would you embrace such an approach to a different story (not necessarily
Austen)?

A: If by approach you mean just carelessly throwing zombies into a story, then no. However, if you mean adding an interesting/terrifying zombie element into a story….then let’s see…
-Northanger Abbey. While this isn’t her finest or her most popular, I think that the focus on the picturesque and gothic nature of Austen’s Abbey would have been a better fit for the zombie plot.
-Oliver Twist. The book is already so dark that I could see it working well.
-Les Miserables
-Brave New World
-Da Vinci Code
-Jurassic Park
-Nancy Drew
Honestly, I have no clue. Why add zombies to anything? Why not just do something new? Your thoughts?

Your answers, as always, are thoughtful and reasoned. (I’m trying to turn this into one of those back-and-forth pieces that show up on Slate all the time.)

I don’t want to defend the book too much - because you are right in your assessment that the Zombie stuff is clumsy. It’s fun and dumb, but clumsy.

When I was a kid I read some books by Marion Zimmer Bradley. She wrote about popular legends from a female perspective - so you get Arthurian legend from the point of view of Morgaine and the siege at Troy from Cassandra’s view. I thought they were interesting takes on familiar stories and added some depth to the old stories.

I was hoping we might get something like that with P&P&Z - alas we did not. I’m also a big fan of Jasper Fforde and (spoiler alert) he changed the outcome of the Crimean War and Jane Eyre! Again, he takes familiar characters and tropes and plops them on their head. Again, those stories are very enjoyable to me and I’d hoped that I could find something like with Grahame-Smith’s book. I guess that was the source of my questions about some similar treatment to another story. Not necessarily zombies, but tweaking conventions of original stories to create something new and interesting.

However, I do think Ethan Frome would benefit greatly from a vampire attack.

On the bright side, I don’t know if I would have picked up Pride and Prejudice again to read. I’d read it in high school and called it a day. Austen didn’t capture my imagination. So a gimmick got me to re-read the book and I’m more inclined to re-visit Austen now.

Oddly enough, I determined this was also the outcome of the Jane Austen Book Club movie which was on this weekend and I will admit to watching. Apparently in the first act (I started about half-way through) a hot chick invites a cute guy to join her book club trying to set him up with a friend. The guy agrees to read “girly” lit in hopes of getting lucky with the hot chick… and well, I don’t want to ruin it for you but misunderstandings and romance ensue.

Did I like the book? Yes. It’s mostly P&P and the Zs are fun to me. I wish they’d been better integrated but in the end, I don’t see that they really do any harm. I suppose we are left to wonder if they have done any good.

Alyssa, your answers and amiable charms, as always, are a treat.

Regarding your final question: Of course I will say that they (the zombies) did absolutely no good. In order to improve what is considered to be a classic novel, I think that any addition would need to make a huge impact – the zombies here did absolutely nothing. Some might argue there’s merit in their entertainment value, but most of the time I wasn’t even entertained by the antics. Again, I think it was because the author turned all of the main characters into vicious zombie killers.

No threat = no point. If the lovable characters in Shaun of the Dead were unstoppable, it would have been just as lame.

Again - we agree, the zombies are sadly no real threat.

I will also admit that I was delighted by the zombie appearance at the ball and the much feared Pentagram of Death. But it quickly became apparent that none of these monsters was much of a threat and I started to get bored with the zombie mayhem.

The ninjas were a fiercer and welcome addition. But they were also quickly dispatched.

And I was a little sad at the end when Lizzie is forced to give up her role as defender of the realm because she gets married. She seemed to take such pleasure from killing. Surely she and Darcy could fight back to back together. Perhaps that is too modern a notion.

I happened to drop by a local bookshop that had a huge display for P&P&Z which was nearly empty.