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Office Book Club Pick- Pride & Prejudice & Zombies - First DNF of the Year

 I gave this book a real chance. I did, but I just could not force myself to endure this book anymore. I (and several people in the book club, actually) had to call this one as DOA, and I DNF'ed Pride & Prejudice & Zombies. 

I think I would have struggled with the original version of Pride & Prejudice as well, but the added material not only didn't add much to the story, it also made several of the characters very unlikable. Elizabeth especially. Her reactions to everything were so outsized that it moved from comical to insufferable very quickly. Any perceived slight to her as a warrior meant that she was going to have to slit someone's throat. It took a character who, in the original, I have been told is just very strong willed and closed off due to a character who is a complete and total impenetrable wall. It doesn't help that almost every conversation in this book forces in a mention of "the deadly arts" and "when training with their master in the Orient".  We get it! The sisters are all well trained ninja masters who are skilled in killing zombies. It does not need repeating every two paragraphs! 

A lot of the inserts felt like they were added by someone's thirteen year old brother who was trying to make the book more to his liking. Also, and this is a big thing, the inserts don't push the book in to new territory, so it is very clear that nothing of any real significance has been changed in the structure. 

My other problem with this book, and this is an issue I would have with or without the zombies, is I am just not a fan of this style of novel. This is just a personal preference, but books like this, that move at an almost languid pace and focus more on character interaction over plot are a hard sell for me. I like a more plot forward book, and Pride & Prejudice is just not that book. This is not a criticism of the book itself. That is just the style of the novel, and I know myself well enough as a reader to understand that unless the characters truly grab me, I am not going to have a good reading experience. I do think I might have more luck connecting with the characters if I ever do read the non-zombie version, as the removal of the zombies does at least make the material more relatable, and in turn could make it easier to connect with the material.  So a reading of the original, non-zombie Pride & Prejudice is not out of the question. 

So, it is with a heavy heart that I must leave Pride & Prejudice & Zombies unfinished. I just did not have it in me to spend more time on a book I just did not enjoy. I really wish it had turned out differently. Oh well.  

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