‘Sense and Sensibility’ Plus Sea Monsters

“Sense and Sensibility and Sea Monsters”: 18^th and 21^st century’s betentacled love child.

Just try re-imagining Austen’s classic of English manners by adding schools of terrifying fish, sharks, and the occasional sea serpent. “Sense and Sensibility and Sea Monsters” is all of that and then some. It feels somewhat like a new story–a richer and more fantastic version of what Jane Austen originally wrote.

Mr. Dashwood meets an untimely demise at the jaws of a hammerhead shark, and his daughters Elinor and Marianne are sent to Pestilent Isle to live. Elinor falls for Edward Ferrars, who is engaged to Lucy Steele, one of the book’s liveliest villains. Marianne, meanwhile, finds herself drawn to the enigmatic Colonel Brandon, who resembles the Davy Jones character from the “Pirates of the Caribbean” movies.

Dawn of the Dead: Jane Austen Style

“Pride and Prejudice and Zombies” by Seth Grahame-Smith

“It is a truth universally acknowledged that a zombie in possession of brains will be in want of more brains.” That’s pretty much how “Pride and Prejudice and Zombies” reads. The Bennet sisters are minding their own business, hanging out in their Empire-waistline dresses, when all of a sudden, reanimated human corpses try to eat their brains.

For over 50 years, zombies have overrun England, provoking people like the Bennets to send their daughters away to China to learn some ass-kicking zombie action, and prompting others, like Lady Catherine de Bourgh, to employ armies of ninjas. Added to the familiar plot turns that bring Elizabeth and Mr. Darcy together is the fact that both are highly skilled killers, slaying zombies on the way to their happy ending.

This Week in Celeb News

It’s trouble in paradise for “Bachelor” Brad Womack and ex-fiance Emily Maynard. The two decided to call it quits after months of serious media speculation, tabloid rumors and everything else that comes with signing yourself up to be on the “Bachelor.” In an interview with People magazine, Emily claims that the two might love each other, but that doesn’t mean that they are right for each other. Could Emily be the next “Bachelorette?”

 

According to recent findings on Ancestry.com, Kate Middleton and Jane Austen have more in common than their love stories. They are eleventh cousins, six times removed. “Finding this connection between the Duchess of Cambridge and Jane Austen is very exciting since, in many ways, Catherine is the modern Jane Austen heroine: a middle-class girl marrying the future King of England,” says lead historian Anastasia Harman.