Sense and Sensibility and Sea Monsters/ Jane Austen and Ben H. Winters

Sense and Sensibility and Sea Monsters by Jane Austen and Ben H. Winters humor, romance, adventure, satire, travel 344 pages

I know, I know it seems strange that so soon after writing that I was embarrassed about enjoying a book based on an Austen novel that I would read another one, but what the heck. I was running late and had to make a quick decision on what audiobook to download to get through that long eight hour shelving shift so I made the decision to pick up this follow-up to the now-legendary Austenian parody "Pride and Prejudice and Zombies."

SS&SM follows the tale of the traditional Austen story featuring the Dashwood sisters, Marianne and Elinor (interestingly enough, this heroine is my baby sister's namesake) in their quest for what seems to be the most desirable Austenian goal-- a husband. The tale is turned on its side when one realizes that although love may be the focus of the story, creeping around the outside of the plot are many vicious sea monsters that threaten the lives of the characters at every turn. These oceanic marauders include giant lobsters, poisonous octopi, narwhols, swordfish, and many other terrifying creatures. I thought that Winters did a better job of implementing his sea monsters into the normal story even than Seth Grahame Smith did in "Pride and Prejudice and Zombies." I found that the sea monster stuff could still be hilarious in juxtaposition with the romantic Austen story, but was a much more noticeable presence. I remember that being one of the things I wished for in PPZ (although I promised that I'd never use that acronym...shucks) was a larger zombie presence. Winters follows through in this department by putting sea monsters, pirates, submarines and even the occasional orangutan.

I'm still shocked by how funny the story is. I never read the original, so I'm not sure whether Austen or Winters gets credit for the funny stuff...i'm sure if an Austen scholar pored over the text, it would be somewhere around 50-50. Either way- a great read. If you're into this kinda thing i'd check it out.