Book Review: Pride vs. Pride and Prejudice

Hey everyone! Today I'll be reviewing Pride by Ibi Zoboi, a retelling of Pride and Prejudice.

Cover Courtesy of Goodreads

Goodreads Summary: 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.

My Review: Firstly, I would definitely recommend actually reading Pride and Prejudice before reading this retelling because half of the book would a lot more sense :). I actually didn't realize this was a retelling until too late, and then I had to go back and read P&P.

That being said, I like Zuri as a protagonist: she has strong opinions, a whole lot of pride, but is also very caring and protective of her sister. Unfortunately, I didn't find any reason for her to hate Darius so early on (at least in P&P Darcy is snobbish to everyone, but that's not really the case in Pride). Also, at least in P&P, we get Darcy's point of view, but we have no clue what Darius is thinking which leads to sudden plot developments instead of a flowing story. I ended up disliking Darius for his random bursts of emotion, and I think the Janae-Ainsley plot line was also not exceptionally written.

However, I have to admit that the story line is fun and pretty similar to P&P. Pride is modernized very well, and I found it relatively realistic (as realistic as P&P can get, anyways). I especially like the way the Charlotte-Collins plot line was modernized. Finally, Pride was diverse, and as briefly mentioned above, I loved Zuri's pride about her culture.

Overall, I'd give Pride 3.5 stars. Though it wasn't quite a great retelling, it did have its fun moments.