The Great Gatsby and the Zombies

Review from Publisher's Weekly Booklife: Nick Carraway, veteran, must overcome Lost Generation apathy to deal with an imminent zombie apocalypse that no one in Gatsby's circle will take seriously, any more than Commander in Chief Calvin Coolidge. High stakes surround the defense of West Egg. Sadly, Gatsby dies at the end. (see full review below) Millions have read F. Scott Fitzgerald's lyrical story of tragic love, The Great Gatsby.No longer under copyright, his work may be freely reprinted-or cannibalized. At long last, and without deleting a single word of the immortal text exactly as originally published, Wayne Soini has added zombies and retitled the book in a version that you can find nowhere else. Expanded by over 10,000 words the world-famous novel now unfolds uniquely as two stories, both the familiar and forever fascinating story of the fabulous Jay Gatsby and Daisy, and the totally fresh one of Nick Carraway, the disillusioned veteran of the Great War who must shake himself loose from the Lost Generation to deal with the gathering zombie apocalypse President Coolidge refuses to confront. In the zany genre of cannibalized classics, The Great Gatsby and the Zombies by F. Scott Fitzgerald and Wayne Soini will devour your brain if you are not careful. Those who embraced The Great Gatsby as their favorite book-those who own every zombie book-and those eager to enjoy cameo appearances by the Marx brothers and Al Capone in literary masterpieces, will all want to own a copy of this recut gem.
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Full Publishers Weekly Booklife Review: "Forgive me at this point for diverting, as all of our attentions have been diverted of late, to the brain eaters," Nick Caraway pleads to readers early in this zombified version of F. Scott Fitzgerald's epochal novel of glitz and disillusionment. Inspired by the likes of 2009's Pride and Prejudice and Zombies, which kicked off a spate of prankish revisions of classic literature to include horror elements, Soini (author of Gloucester's Sea Serpent) brings the conceit into the modernist era, on the occasion of Fitzgerald's 1925 masterpiece entering the public domain. Significant portions of the original text still appear-the green light on Daisy's dock continues to transfix, and the novel still peaks with that climactic glimpse of "a fresh, green breast of the new world." But it's transmogrified by Soini's inventions, chief among them what President Coolidge called the "disruptive interruption" period-a war with "Homo Zombiti" and its aftermath. A laugh-out-loud scene imagines a delegation of zombies signing a peace treaty; here, it's this conflict that has shattered a generation, rather than the First World War. Soini's prose can't quite measure up to the jeweled romance of Fitzgerald's, but it's strong, and he's more generous and successful in his additions than the authors of some works in this curious genre. An encounter with Groucho Marx at a Gatsby party is a delight, and jokes about the Cubs and talkies, plus cameos from luminaries like Maxwell Perkins all contribute to the sense of play. Gatsby remains a tragedy, albeit one whose Jazz Age highs allow room for fun. Soini, thankfully, has thought through that tragedy, taking it seriously as he springs undead surprises. Whether this illuminates the original or is instead a sort of party trick is left to readers to work out, but it's fair to say that Soini's additions aren't just clever-as Carraway likens that lonely ol' sport Gatsby to "a sort of zombie outside of his horde," they have weight. Takeaway: The undead roam Fitzgerald's classic, but the story still has weight. Great for fans of: Seth Grahame-Smith's Pride and Prejudice and Zombies, Sherri Browning Erwin's Jane Slayre. Production grades
Cover: A-
Design and typography: A
Editing: A