Review: Pride

Title: Pride
Author: Ibi Zoboi
Genre: Young Adult
Publisher: Balzer + Bray
Source: Owlcrate
Format: Hardcover
Release Date: September 18, 2018
Rating: ★★★★★

Goodreads Synopsis:

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.

Review:

I loved this modern adaptation of Pride and Prejudice.

It’s amazing the way that the story can be told in a contemporary setting. The world of this story, which is Brooklyn in 2018, is completely different from the 1800s in England when Jane Austen originally wrote the book. The story still makes sense in this setting.

This story doesn’t have to be read as an adaptation. It could be its own story, even without the references to Pride and Prejudice. You don’t have to have read Pride and Prejudice to understand it.

I loved the way the characters were turned into modern Brooklyn characters. The Benitez sisters are Haitian-Dominican girls, named Janae, Zuri, Marisol, Kayla and Layla. Darius is the Darcy character and he has a brother Ainsley (based on Bingley) and a sister Georgia. I loved these updated names.

This is an amazing adaptation!

What to read next:

Have you read Pride? What did you think of it?