Sense and Sensibility and Sea Monsters
Like its predecessor Pride and Prejudice and Zombies, Sense and Sensibility and Sea Monsters is, as its title suggests, an adaptation of the Jane Austen classic Sense and Sensibility with plentiful helpings of yes, you guessed it, sea monsters.
Unfortunately like its sister title, S+S+S (or perhaps, S3), shares a number of problems inherent in this rather unique ‘classic/humour/horror’ hybrid genre — not least of all, that it doesn’t make much sense. Now I know I was not overly positive in my review of P+P+Z — I found the book distinctly un-funny, and had some serious problems with the story-telling — but I really did do my best to approach this book with an open mind. Having recently read the remarkably good Dawn of the Dreadfuls, I hoped that S+S+S might have more in common with the very good Dawn of the Dreadfuls, and far less in common with P+P+Z. Unfortunately however, I’m afraid to say the latter is the case.
I think what strikes me most about S+S+S is that while P+P+Z certainly had its failings, S+S+S does at least try and address many of these problems. Take the writing for example. In my P+P+Z review I noted that there was a distinct problem in trying to insert very noticeably different zombie scenes in a book that utilises Jane Austen’s very specific form of writing. S+S+S tries to address this in a number of ways — not least by making significant attempts to blend more directly with the Jane Austen elements of the text. While I applaud the attempt of Winters to try and at least make the book more consistent in its style one wonders why he bothered at all when half the book is set in… Sub-Marine Station Beta!
Yes I kid you not, half of S+S+S is indeed set within the confines of a Sub-Marine station complete with Submarines, deep-sea diving suits, and a Colonel Brandon character who, as the cover clearly shows, has a face afflicted with tentacles.
The question I found myself asking then, as I struggled to work out at some points what on earth was going on, was: ‘Why even attempt to pretend this is a book based on Sense and Sensibility at all?’
The main selling point of Sense and Sensibility, like most of Jane Austen’s work, is her depiction of middle-England, and of course her astute observations of character. Here, we have a story set in a Sub-Marine base, we have random attacks of sea monsters for no obvious reason, and we regularly lose our focus on what was in its original form, a powerful and moving story.
At least with P+P+Z, while the zombie parts were in my opinion at least, not very well done, the main core of the story was still there. Indeed even the very notion of the Bennet sisters as sword-wielding maniacs did for a short while at least, hold some sort of humour value. This though, this is just silly.
I have to admit I really struggled with this book. As a fan of 19th century literature I even confess to preferring Sense and Sensibility to Pride and Prejudice in many respects, but this Quirk Classics adaptation just doesn’t work for me.
Maybe it’s the premise. Moving away from the whole zombie thing, to something a little more daring, a little more ambitious, is certainly to be applauded, but to me the whole thing with the sea monsters and all just doesn’t work. If I’m honest I will even go so far as to say this book is less funny than P+P+Z. While I admire what Ben H. Winters has tried to achieve here, the fact he is on the one hand trying to write a novel about sea monsters, he is on the other hand all the while tied to the plot of the original work, and is as such already writing with only half the freedom he might otherwise have. This is why for me, Dawn of the Dreadfuls works so well, but P+P+Z fails. In Dawn of the Dreadfuls Steve Hockensmith is free to literally just take the Austen characters and create a story with them. In P+P+Z however, Seth Grahame-Smith is bound to work within the tight confines of one of literature’s classic novels.
It is fair to say then, that Sense and Sensibility and Sea Monsters was to a large extent, doomed from the start. While I applaud Ben H. Winters for his efforts with what must have been a difficult task, the book is just too jumbled, too strange, and just too devoid of humour to be a worthwhile recommendation. If you want to see how humorous adaptations of Jane Austen classics really should be done, try Dawn of the Dreadfuls instead.
