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.
In addition to being interested in stories highlighting Black Experiences, I also have a soft spot for Pride and Prejudice. Not only was it one of the only books I enjoyed reading for school, but I've also enjoyed other renditions like Pride and Prejudice and Zombies (though not so much the movie). So when I discovered a book that married these two interests, I knew I had to grab a copy as soon as possible. In the end, some of it worked for me, and some of it didn't...
Honestly, it took a while to get to a point where I wasn't directly comparing this book to the original. I think where Pride and Prejudice and Zombies allowed for a humorous and gory twist on the characters and events, this story read more like a transposing of everything. Sure, it has "A Pride and Prejudice Remix" on the cover, but (at least starting out) I felt like Austen's name should have been there, too. I've read a few other re-tellings, like Cinder and Ella Enchanted for Cinderella, and oh so many takes on Romeo and Juliet, but few remain as loyal to the source material as Pride did. I'm used to taking inspiration from the source, using bits and pieces of the story layout, events, or some character quirks, but this is the first time I've experienced such a rigid one-for-one translation.
In fact, it wasn't until I hit the 50% mark that I got a real sense of the characters being anything more than re-skins of the originals. That was when Zuri takes her trip 'abroad', up to D.C. to scout out her prospective university. There I finally felt like she was her own character; exploring the campus, taking in her options and goals, writing letters and reciting poetry at a cafe. Of course, that's where Darcy comes back into the story and we're pulled back into the tightly-bound remix, but it was nice having a little room to breathe and get to know the characters. And after that point, I found the story wasn't quite as strictly bound to the source material, which I greatly appreciated.
In that sense, I'm not sure who this book "is for". Is it for those who read and loved the original? Is it for those who liked, but didn't connect to the original? Is it for those who tried but "didn't get" the original? Or is it for those who have never experienced the original, serving as a direct substitute for it? Personally, as someone in the first category, I found the rigid retelling pretty distracting until it was allowed to stretch out at the halfway point. But that could very well just be me. After all, I'm as foreign to Brooklyn as I am the English countryside.
I guess that's kind of my main complaint in this: I didn't get as much immersion in Pride's characters and setting as I did in the original. I don't have both books sitting in front of me, but let's compare the audiobook lengths:
Pride and Prejudice by Jane Austen — 14 hours and 12 minutesYes, no doubt the original is much, much wordier in its descriptions, and that's much of what turns people off in the first place, but Pride doesn't clock in at half the length? Maybe that's just another selling point—"Get all the story in less than half the time!"—but I wanted to know more about Zuri's life, her sister's lives, what the Darcy's were threatening, more about their neighborhood, their building, just...more.
Pride by Ibi Zoboi — 6 hours and 8 minutes
I did appreciate the insight we did get, especially the scenes with the block party and Madrina's events. It's easy to forget that not all Black/Brown Americans are immigrated or descendants of immigrants from Africa; some are from Haiti, the Philippines, and all sorts of other places, all with their own food, dances, and traditions. It was nice to see these get a little bit of mention here. Also, keeping with Lizzie Bennet's progressive views, there is quite a bit of social commentary in regards to the gentrification of Zuri's neighborhood, a bit of code-switching with Darius, as well as the expected gender and class issues. I was hesitant to mark this as a "Black Experience" book at first, but again, once that second half showed up and the story was given room to expand, it was able to explore more of the issues unique to these characters and settings.
Overall, I liked this book and appreciated its voice, but only once it was able to sing. Again, I don't know the original plan, or goal for this book, but I felt like it was restricted and too cookie-cutter in the first half, rigidly loyal to a fault to Austen's characters and story. The second half was better, allowing the characters to come into their own, but it was kinda too little too late by then. An interesting idea to update the story, and I'd be interested to hear from those unfamiliar with the original, but I just wished for a bit more...originality? Surprise? Detail? Still, I enjoyed the unique elements we did get, and it was a nice trip back to a familiar story. I'd love to hear from others, so I'm definitely recommending it to any and all who like romance, particularly YA romance, and don't mind a bit of social commentary woven in.
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