Emma and the Vampires

Emma and the Vampires: A Jane Austen Undead Novel
by Jane Austen and Wayne Josephson

Summary:

What better place than pale England to hide a secret society of gentlemen vampires?

In this hilarious retelling of Jane Austen's Emma, screenwriter Wayne Josephson casts Mr. Knightley as one of the most handsome and noble of the gentlemen village vampires. Blithely unaware of their presence, Emma, who imagines she has a special gift for matchmaking, attempts to arrange the affairs of her social circle with delightfully disastrous results. But when her dear friend Harriet Smith declares her love for Mr. Knightley, Emma realizes she's the one who wants to stay up all night with him. Fortunately, Mr. Knightley has been hiding a secret deep within his unbeating heart-his (literal) undying love for her... A brilliant mash-up of Jane Austen and the undead.

Review:

Oh, what is the proper name for these types of books. Retellings? That doesn't seem right. I'm going to call it... a conversion. Wayne Josephson took Emma, a classic Jane Austen novel, and turned it into a young adult vampire novel. The question is whether this attempt was successful.

I have never read Emma, and so perhaps my review of this conversion will be a bit different than if I had read Emma. I believe that Emma and the Vampires was a fairly good conversion. The vampire aspect added a little bit more interest, but all in all I think the story was more focused on the retelling than the vampires. The vampires were simply a tool used to create humor, and this tool was used very effectively. I found myself laughing aloud at some places, and also pondering the stupidity of the characters. After all... there are VAMPIRES among them, and they haven't got a clue. Although perhaps that ridiculousness is part of the novel's charm.

Overall, I'd say that I'm fairly pleased with my first "conversion" book. Wayne Josephson made it enjoyable and light, and my only complaint would be that the characters were a bit too ridiculous for my liking (although it could be that the characters were the same way in the original Emma... I don't know at this point) and that the vampire aspect could have been expanded on a bit. I would recommend this book to readers looking to get into Jane Austen books, but who aren't quite up to the task. After reading this book, I can honestly say that Jane Austen's Emma intrigues me, and I am more likely to read it now than I was before.

In My Mailbox: 11/07/10

Information about In My Mailbox can be found here on The Story Siren's blog!

These past few weeks have been AMAZING as far as books go.

Here is what I have gotten:

[[For Review:]]

1. Emma and the Vampires by Wayne Josephson

I'm looking forward to reading this, it seems interesting. I'm also curious how I'll like it seeing as how I've never read the original Emma.








2. Jane Eyre: A Readable Classics Novel by Wayne Josephson

My idea for this is to read this book and Jane Eyre simultaneously. I'm not sure how that will work out, but it is a goal of mine. :)









[[Won:]]

3. Nightshade by Andrea Cremer

There are no words to describe how excited I am to get started on this! However, I'm saving it for Christmas vacation, because I'll need some good books to read.

Odd: The Kindle edition of Nightshade is more expensive than the hardcover. Now THAT'S just strange.




4. Hush Hush by Becca Fitzpatrick

More vacation reading. And once again, I'm so excited to get started! I've heard such good things about this book!








[[From Library:]]

5. The Disreputable History of Frankie Landau-Banks by E. Lockhart

I'm reading this now because it's a book club book and the meeting is soon, so I wanted to get it done. I've wanted to read this since it came out a couple years ago, but my experiences with E. Lockhart's books have been varied. The Boyfriend List left no impression on me, Fly on the Wall was cute and quick but had no substance, and Dramarama was a good read, the best I've read by her, but it still didn't leave me dying for more. I'm hoping that this book will help me form a more solid opinion.



6. Bruiser by Neal Shusterman

Since I finished Unwind this summer (see my favorable review here) I've wanted to read more by Neal Shusterman. When I walked into the library and saw this book on display three thoughts ran through my head: 1) Oooh pretty cover. 2) Ooooh Neal Shusterman. 3) Oooh favorable comments by Laurie Halse Anderson. And I was sold. I hope it's as good as it looks :)





So there it is! Now if I would have spread this out over the past couple of weeks it wouldn't have made me nearly as excited as looking at it all in one post :) Now I must finish some homework and get to reading!

Jane