review: Pride by Ibi Zoboi

Pride and Prejudice gets remixed in this smart, funny, gorgeous retelling of the classic, starring all characters of color, from Ibi Zoboi, National Book Award finalist and author of American Street.

Zuri Benitez has pride. Brooklyn pride, family pride, and pride in her Afro-Latino roots. But pride might not be enough to save her rapidly gentrifying neighborhood from becoming unrecognizable.

When the wealthy Darcy family moves in across the street, Zuri wants nothing to do with their two teenage sons, even as her older sister, Janae, starts to fall for the charming Ainsley. She especially can’t stand the judgmental and arrogant Darius. Yet as Zuri and Darius are forced to find common ground, their initial dislike shifts into an unexpected understanding.

But with four wild sisters pulling her in different directions, cute boy Warren vying for her attention, and college applications hovering on the horizon, Zuri fights to find her place in Bushwick’s changing landscape, or lose it all.

In a timely update of Jane Austen's Pride and Prejudice, critically acclaimed author Ibi Zoboi skillfully balances cultural identity, class, and gentrification against the heady magic of first love in her vibrant reimagining of this beloved classic. ~ Goodreads

Source: ARC provided by the publisher via ALA18 in exchange for an honest review

Review:

Pride was such a delightful surprise that I read in one sitting.

I haven’t read the original P&P, but I have seen enough of the movies to get what the re-tellings are going for and what points they’re trying to tick off. 

Most re-tellings fall flat for me but Pride felt so relevant and fresh that it stands on it’s own and, imho, is at it’s best when it’s not adhering strictly to P&P. (As I said – I haven’t read the original so I can’t comment on how it did as a re-telling).

Zuri Benitez has pride – in her  Dominican-Haitian heritage, her Bushwick neighborhood and in her  family, but she can also be prideful – to the extent that she’s stubborn as hell when it comes to change and, in the way that teenagers are, thinks she’s got all the answers already and it leads to prejudice or at the very least in Zuri prejudging others based on what they look like or where they are from.

When the wealthy Darcy family moves in to the new McMansion across the street, Zuri has an I’ve seen this all before & I don't want any of it response. New, rich people, usually white, move into the neighboring Burroughs, look down on local traditions, pushing out the long term residents and their way of life as they *clean up* the neighborhood. She’s already decided she hates them – sight unseen.

When the family in question pulls up in their fancy car and two gorgeous black boys step out (instead of the white family she and her sisters were taking bets on), Zuri is thrown for a loop. especially when one of the Darcy brothers, Ainsley, starts showing interest in Zuri’s older sister Janae and she finds herself drawn to his arrogant younger brother, Darius.

Despite this having a romance, Pride is all about Zuri coming to terms with change and her knee jerk judgement of others. And she fights it tooth and nail all the way. I loved her! She’s prickly, pigheaded and stubborn but she is fierce with a capitol F in her desire to protect the things that she loves. She does not put up with any nonsense or people talking down to her. She pursues her ambitions of college, poetry and goal of returning to Bushwick to help the people she loves most.

As I said earlier in this review, I think Pride works best when it’s not trying to tick of the P&P plot points. I think it was spot on with the family dynamics and Zuri's love for her family and neighbors. The vibrancy, the love, the realness shines though.

However, she and Darius didn't have the rapport that I hoped for. They were cute, and Darius turns out to be layered and complex on his own, but he’s just sort of floating around at first and is more broody/non verbal than arrogant or engaging in witty sparring – which doesn’t always work on page. I wish he was developed a bit more early on. That’s a minor quibble though – I liked them together!

And while the relationship between Ainsley and Janae is the catalyst for Darius and Zuri, I wish it was just left out entirely or developed better. Ainsely acts really weird at one point and Janae forgives too easily and we don’t ever get why. Again, minor quibble because this doesn’t take up much of the story.

I highly recommend this one for it's smart, fierce heroine, brilliantly adapting P&P for a modern setting, and overall fantastic read. Pride stands well on it's own but for fans of the original check out my friend Jen's review where she compares the two.