Sense and Sensibility and Sea Monsters

After listening to Pride and Prejudice and Zombies (Quirk Classic Series)
I put Sense and Sensibility and Sea Monsters (Quirk Classic Series) on my list of books to acquire from the library. The reviews were not impressive, but I wanted to decide for myself.

My tastes must be different from others because I laughed my way through the book. I listened while working on writing projects, housework, and crochet projects and I found it hilarious. Prior to listening to this book, I listened to an unabridged copy of Sense and Sensibility last week. I wanted a chance to review the original story prior to hearing the parody.

This parody is a combination of Sense and Sensibility, 20,000 Leagues Under the Sea (Qualitas Classics) and Creature Double Feature. While fans of Sense and Sensibility might be outraged, I found I could not stop laughing.

Sea creatures have gone wild and humans are at war with them. Those familiar with Verne will see the influence on adding a sea station to deal with the rising sea levels in flooded London and the technology of subs and underwater diving suits to assist in the battle. In this version, a sea witch curses Colonel Brandon with the face of a sea monster. This creates even more challenges in his quest to win the younger Miss Dashwood’s heart.

While I enjoyed the zombies in the remaking of Pride and Prejudice, trying to stick strictly to the plot of the original made it very restrictive. One of the complaints of this story was one of my enjoyments. The story does add more to the plot in order to make carry of the sea monster plot.

There are many monster classics on the market. I am hoping more come out on CD as I find them a wonderful distraction to listen to while accomplishing other tasks. I will continue to watch for them at my local library.

Pride and Prejudice and Zombies

I had English teachers in high school that encouraged us to read and write our own alternate versions of classic literature. At the time skeptics felt it was a waste of time. However, the genius was the focus on themes, characters, and motivations. They wanted us not just to remember the book or play until we could forget it after taking our exams. They wanted us to make a connection to the work.

Some parodies of stories are better written than other ones. When I read the reviews for Pride and Prejudice and Zombies (Quirk Classic Series) I wondered where this book fell on the scale. It seemed people loved or hated the book. I decided to borrow the CD book from the library and listen to it while working on some writing projects. I started laughing during the first CD. I was incredibly disappointed when appointments delayed my listening experience.

Living with four brothers, I was always made fun of for enjoying romantic stories or movies. As I listened to this story, I could see this as being a compromise. They would get their zombies and I could have had my classic romance.

I do understand the arguments of those who were horrified that zombies have entered a classic Austen novel. Some science fiction fans failed to appreciate the quality of the zombie literature and were bored by the classic Austen literature. As someone who loved Austen and has had a long appreciation for alternate versions of stories this was an amusing story.

I have the CD version of Sense and Sensibility and Sea Monsters on request from the library. It will be interesting to see if it is an amusing version as the first.

Pictures may not be used without written permission.