In Sense and Sensibility and Sea Monsters, the literary mayhem doesn't end with the Jane Austen-meets-tentacles plotline. The novel's book group discussion guide asks us such timeless literary questions as: would you rather be devoured by sharks or giant jellyfish?
Like its literary predecessor, Pride and Prejudice and Zombies, Sea Monsters includes a discussion guide, in case readers want to get together in a book club, to discuss the symbolism of killer crustaceans and giant squid:
2. In "Sense and Sensibility and Sea Monsters," painful personal setbacks often occur at the same moment as sea-monster attacks, suggesting a metaphorical linkage of "monsters" with the pains of romantic disappointment; for example, Marianne is rebuffed by Willoughby at Hydra-Z precisely as the giant mutant lobsters are staging their mutiny. Have you ever been "attacked by giant lobsters," either figuratively or literally?
5. Which would be worse: being eaten by a shark or consumed by the acidic stomach juice of a sand-shambling man-o'-war?
8. Have you ever been romantically involved with someone who turned out to be a sea witch?
10. Is Monsieur Pierre a symbol for something? Name three other well-known works of Western literature that feature orangutan valets. Are those characters also slain by pirates?
I think I'll just skip to the questions about tentacle porn.
Sense and Sensibility and Sea Monsters comes out September 15.
How to Discuss ‘Sense and Sensibility and Sea Monsters' [NY Times]