Classics Without All the Class discussion

What does everyone think of all the spin-offs they have of classical literature? I'm talking about Spin-offs in a very general term, so the Pride and Prejudice and Zombies or Sense and Sensibility and Sea Monsters? Or all the Jane Austen books, especially about P&P (they even have a whole list on goodreads! https://www.goodreads.com/list/show/9...).

Do you like them? Do they annoy you?

Have you tried any that you detested or any that you loved?

Are there any that you are really interested in trying?

I had a hard time getting far in P&P Zombies. Although I thought all the zombie killing quite hilarious. It redefines well-educated in the novel. I want to give it another try as well as some others.

I think it's a nice way to grab ya readers attention and possibly introduce the classics in a more appealing way. I'm not sure of any statistics on how many have read these and gateway into the classics all together. I'd be curious to know if it has worked out that way for any of them though.

I think they're pretty great. That might just be Penny Dreadful talking right now though. I know, tv show, but still has the classic spin off going for it.

Love that show too!!!

Like anything else, it depends on how good the book is, if it is good enough to be worth it or is it a waste of paper. Although, I spent the majority of my teenage years on fanfiction websites, so I am probably more open to it than most readers.
"Wide Sargasso Sea" has been on my to-read list for ages, but I have not gotten to it. Having received so many good reviews and being on so many lists, I really should. That's the number one spin-off type book that comes to mind for me.

Shanea wrote: "Like anything else, it depends on how good the book is, if it is good enough to be worth it or is it a waste of paper. Although, I spent the majority of my teenage years on fanfiction websites, so..."

Shanea, I loved Wide Sargasso Sea! It's a tough read, but you'll never really look at Rochester from Jane Eyre again in the same light. I never liked Jane Eyre because I never liked Rochester, there was just something that bothered me about his first wife and I think that Wide Sargasso Sea tell us why. When I wrote this post I didn't even think about that, thanks for reminding me!

Karena wrote: "I think they're pretty great. That might just be Penny Dreadful talking right now though. I know, tv show, but still has the classic spin off going for it."

I really want to watch that show! Can't wait!

Jessica wrote: "I had a hard time getting far in P&P Zombies. Although I thought all the zombie killing quite hilarious. It redefines well-educated in the novel. I want to give it another try as well as some other..."

Despite the fact that I loved the concept I thought P&P and Zombies was horribly written. The flow was just horrible, as was Abraham Lincoln Vampire Slayer, although I couldn't love the premise anymore! That's the only problem with some of these.

Off the top of my head without doing any research, I know there's a book that just came out this year Belzhar that is based off The Bell Jar that I have heard rave reviews about.

Jeane wrote: "Karena wrote: "I think they're pretty great. That might just be Penny Dreadful talking right now though. I know, tv show, but still has the classic spin off going for it."

I really want to watch t..."

Jared and I really liked it. I wonder their long game, but it's pretty good.

Karena wrote: "Off the top of my head without doing any research, I know there's a book that just came out this year Belzhar that is based off The Bell Jar that I have heard rave revie..."

There was a book based on the Phantom of the Opera too right....

The Claiming of Sleeping Beauty. It was disgusting! I won't say I hated it but I didn't particularly love it either.
All the while I was reading, I kept thinking- thank god I didn't read it earlier than I did! It would've ruined my childhood :P
But it definitely changed my perception towards the classic take. I cannot think of The Sleeping Beauty the same way again!

Jeane wrote: "Karena wrote: "Off the top of my head without doing any research, I know there's a book that just came out this year Belzhar that is based off The Bell Jar that I have h..."

Yeah Phantom.

Ishita wrote: "The Claiming of Sleeping Beauty. It was disgusting! I won't say I hated it but I didn't particularly love it either.
All the while I was reading, I kept thinking- thank god I didn't read it earlier..."

What's interesting about that is the original story of Sleeping Beauty is pretty horrific on its own.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sleeping... (go down to sources)

Karen, i haven't checked the link yet but i am pretty sure you're about to ruin my childhood :P

Karen: Thanks for ruining my childhood -__- :P
I only knew about the one version and you just told me about several others!
now when i think of it, it was pretty horrific. So much for being a bedtime tale!

I'm sorry. :(

I think most "fairy tales" we grew up on have pretty horrific beginnings. I only recently found out about the Sleeping Beauty one reading another retelling. Kinda fascinating I think, how someone knew of these horrid tales and thought "We'll just edit this a bit and they'll be GREAT for kids."

Karena wrote: "I'm sorry. :(

I think most "fairy tales" we grew up on have pretty horrific beginnings. I only recently found out about the Sleeping Beauty one reading another retelling. Kinda fascinating I thi..."
The thing is, most fables that we tell kids are meant as warnings anyway, even the cleaner fairy tales were by no means as fluffy as they are expected to be now. It's relatively modern for us to sell children love stories. Granted, it can be said that there is a moral to "Frozen" and "Superman" but it's generally not as important.

Jeane wrote: "Shanea wrote: "Like anything else, it depends on how good the book is, if it is good enough to be worth it or is it a waste of paper. Although, I spent the majority of my teenage years on fanficti..."
Gah. I want to read it so badly, I just need a time machine for a year or two, I seriously, that's all. The conclusion of "Jane Eyre seemed so off to me when I first read it, and I've often thought that some parts of it just do not make that much sense, even given the cultural differences.

Oh I didn't even think about Gregory Maguire and his run of books like Wicked: The Life and Times of the Wicked Witch of the West, Mirror Mirror, and many more.

Shanea wrote: "Karena wrote: "I'm sorry. :(

I think most "fairy tales" we grew up on have pretty horrific beginnings. I only recently found out about the Sleeping Beauty one reading another retelling. Kinda fa..."


Exactly.

Boy, Snow, Bird by Helen Oyeyemi was an interesting take on Snow White. It's subtle, but definitely part of the story.

Also the graphic novel/comic series Fables, Vol. 1: Legends in Exile does a lot of playing with the fairy tales.

Karen- it's okay, this was the only "fairy tale" I didn't know the origin of. Pretty much all the others have a horrific tale behind them!
Beauty and the Beast ? The Beast's mother tries to seduce him after his father died.
Snow White ? She slept with all the seven dwarfs.
Red Riding Hood ? She slept with the wolf and was tricked into eating her grandma.

I guess my childhood was ruined ages ago when I found these out :P

Shanea wrote: "Jeane wrote: "Shanea wrote: "Like anything else, it depends on how good the book is, if it is good enough to be worth it or is it a waste of paper. Although, I spent the majority of my teenage yea..."

*spoilers for Jane Erye*
Oh I know Shaea! There's a book called The Madwoman in the Attic: The Woman Writer and the Nineteenth-Century Literary Imagination, and the title comes from that idea of being imprisoned like Bertha, Rochester's wife.

Whether Jane and Rochester were meant to be together is beside the point, he certainly shouldn't have a.) lied about being married and b.) locked his wife in an attic!

I read Wicked: The Life and Times of the Wicked Witch of the West not too long ago and want to read the rest of the series. He seems to write in a classical way, if that makes any sense.

Jeane wrote: "Shanea wrote: "Jeane wrote: "Shanea wrote: "Like anything else, it depends on how good the book is, if it is good enough to be worth it or is it a waste of paper. Although, I spent the majority of..."

Yes, I'd like to think I'd have second thoughts if I found a woman trapped in a building by a boyfriend.

I've read sooo many Jane Austen spin-offs. I usually enjoy them, unless they are YA (I don't really like YA books). I've also read a lot of Shakespeare spin-offs, which can be really fun.

I really liked Confessions of an Ugly Stepsister by Gregory Maguire--even better than his Wicked: The Life and Times of the Wicked Witch of the West. Publishers Weekly said:

"The inspired concept of Maguire's praised debut, Wicked: The Life and Times of the Wicked Witch of the West, was not a fluke. Here he presents an equally beguiling reconstruction of the Cinderella story, set in the 17th century, in which the protagonist is not the beautiful princess-to-be but her plain stepsister. Iris Fisher is an intelligent young woman struggling with poverty and plain looks. She, her mother, Margarethe, and her retarded sister, Ruth, flee their English country village in the wake of her father's violent death, hoping to find welcome in Margarethe's native Holland. But the practical Dutch are fighting the plague and have no sympathy for the needy family. Finally, a portrait painter agrees to hire them as servants, specifying that Iris will be his model. Iris is heartbroken the first time she sees her likeness on canvas, but she begins to understand the function of art. She gains a wider vision of the world when a wealthy merchant named van den Meer becomes the artist's patron, and employs the Fishers to deal with his demanding wife and beautiful but difficult daughter, Clara. Margarethe eventually marries van den Meer, making Clara Iris's stepsister. As her family's hardships ease, Iris begins to long for things inappropriate for a homely girl of her station, like love and beautiful objects. She finds solace and identity as she begins to study painting. Maguire's sophisticated storytelling refreshingly reimagines age-old themes and folklore-familiar characters. Shrewd, pushy, desperate Margarethe is one of his best creations, while his prose is an inventive blend of historically accurate but zesty dialogue and lyrical passages about saving power of art. The narrative is both "magical," as in fairy tales, and anchored in the reality of the 17th century, an astute balance of the ideal and sordid sides of human nature in a vision that fantasy lovers will find hard to resist."

I only read Death Comes to Pemberley of all the P&P spinoffs / paraphrases, and I am really scared to pick any other one off, because that one was such a letdown. You could easily feel and see that it wasn't written in the same way, and only because of the genre... but the characters were so flat, especially the new one, Georgiana's love interest. He was not an austenian character, he was so flat, dull, one-sided. It wasn't really good as a gothic / detective story, either.

I really enjoyed The Looking Glass Wars Trilogy by Frank Beddor (Alice in Wonderland retelling). I'm reading Pride, Prejudice and Cheese Grits by Mary Jane Hathaway. I'm liking it so far.

I just picked up one of the volumes telling the plots of the Star Wars movies as written by Shakespeare--hilarious! And the physical books are very beautiful,too.

As for the myriad Jane Austen-inspired books, you are right to loathe Death Comes to Pemberley! The modern-day Northanger Abbey by Val McDermid is not bad, but a really good one that is much overlooked is Pen and Prejudice by Claire M. Johnson.

I think it's super important to bring back the good stuff however possible. There's a new trend nowadays to look at the classics through the lens of the modern day. Rather than calling these books spin-offs, I prefer to think of them as re-births. Like Grendel by Gardner... amazing stuff. Of course, some are just around to make a few $$ and live off the publicity of a dead writer...

Which brings me to the point--> Anyone know of some good 'rebirths' let me know! I devour them. :)

One could see most fiction as retelling old tales—or perhaps re-envisioning them. The Odyssey certainly one of the favorites to jump off from. Another is Paradise Lost. I recently read a wonderful 2014 novel by Lauren Groff called Arcadia that plows that fertile ground.

Adding it to my list!