This book was published on September 18, 2018. I read the advance reader's edition and there will undoubtedly be differences between the version I read and the published version.
Also, this book markets itself as a Pride & Prejudice remix. I always struggle with books taking other elements from a book and then making it themselves. Sometimes it turns out well, other times it doesn't. Similar situation to the retelling of fairy tales and such.
An amazon summary, "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." AMAZON LINK OF JUSTICE
Zuri loves her neighborhood. The good, the bad, and everyone in between. She loves how the sound of her neighborhood may sound like a bunch of noise, but it's playing it's own song...including sirens.
Zuri has a very firm idea of what her neighborhood is, and who belongs there.
So when the Darcy family moves in across the street, after remodeling the mansion that had sat abandoned for a while, Zuri was pretty sure they didn't belong in her neighborhood, and she wasn't going to trust them.
Her older sister Janae is home from college for the summer, and ends up becoming interested in the older Darcy brother, Ainsley. Which, Zuri scoffs at with concern as she knows her sister's heart will only end up broken.
...Zuri may also be distracted by a boy, Warren, who attends the same school as Darius (the younger Darcy brother) but also grew up in her neighborhood. Zuri starts to chill with Warren, but makes it absolutely clear they are not dating.
That's enough summary.
First, I'm going to talk about this book disregarding all similarities to Pride & Prejudice.
I really liked the writing of this book. I thought a lot of the tone was consistent, the world building was on point and really helped to set every scene, and the cultural aspect felt very, very authentic. I also really liked the stories of the secondary characters as told by Zuri as she gave them her own flair.
However. I thought Zuri seemed temperamental. Like, it felt like she expected things to be a certain way because it was her neighborhood, but when it suddenly wasn't, it was like a mixed bag of reactions. Like some minor things were okay if they weren't like her neighborhood, but the bigger things, like oh man, watch out, Zuri doesn't like it. However, she also never really seemed like an angry character to me in those moments. There were definitely other times where she was plenty mad and for very legitimate reasons. But in those moments when her neighborhood stopped feeling like her neighborhood for a beat, she just seemed to be upset and grieving.
Otherwise, I did think there were some pitfalls to the story. So let's switch over to the comparisons to Pride & Prejudice.
All the key characters are present in Pride as they were in Pride & Prejudice. There were a few notable differences, including the modernization, but they were so many similarities, that I knew how the story was going to play out before I got to the end. It was simultaneously frustrating and comforting. Like visiting with an old friend and discovering that they made some poor decisions, but not in a devastating way.
I think the story telling really got hindered by trying to be like Pride & Prejudice. I think that if the author hadn't tried to reimagine the story, they could have wound up with their very own, very original story and voice. They were already with Zuri, and I would have loved to have more basement scenes with the landlord (which sounds weird out of context but they were very interesting and spiritual and such). The landlord was a character that was notably not in Pride & Prejudice and I thought they were FAR more interesting than any of Zuri's sisters.
So all in all, I did like the book, but I just wish it had been it's own story.
Happy reading!
Zuri has a very firm idea of what her neighborhood is, and who belongs there.
So when the Darcy family moves in across the street, after remodeling the mansion that had sat abandoned for a while, Zuri was pretty sure they didn't belong in her neighborhood, and she wasn't going to trust them.
Her older sister Janae is home from college for the summer, and ends up becoming interested in the older Darcy brother, Ainsley. Which, Zuri scoffs at with concern as she knows her sister's heart will only end up broken.
...Zuri may also be distracted by a boy, Warren, who attends the same school as Darius (the younger Darcy brother) but also grew up in her neighborhood. Zuri starts to chill with Warren, but makes it absolutely clear they are not dating.
That's enough summary.
First, I'm going to talk about this book disregarding all similarities to Pride & Prejudice.
I really liked the writing of this book. I thought a lot of the tone was consistent, the world building was on point and really helped to set every scene, and the cultural aspect felt very, very authentic. I also really liked the stories of the secondary characters as told by Zuri as she gave them her own flair.
However. I thought Zuri seemed temperamental. Like, it felt like she expected things to be a certain way because it was her neighborhood, but when it suddenly wasn't, it was like a mixed bag of reactions. Like some minor things were okay if they weren't like her neighborhood, but the bigger things, like oh man, watch out, Zuri doesn't like it. However, she also never really seemed like an angry character to me in those moments. There were definitely other times where she was plenty mad and for very legitimate reasons. But in those moments when her neighborhood stopped feeling like her neighborhood for a beat, she just seemed to be upset and grieving.
Otherwise, I did think there were some pitfalls to the story. So let's switch over to the comparisons to Pride & Prejudice.
All the key characters are present in Pride as they were in Pride & Prejudice. There were a few notable differences, including the modernization, but they were so many similarities, that I knew how the story was going to play out before I got to the end. It was simultaneously frustrating and comforting. Like visiting with an old friend and discovering that they made some poor decisions, but not in a devastating way.
I think the story telling really got hindered by trying to be like Pride & Prejudice. I think that if the author hadn't tried to reimagine the story, they could have wound up with their very own, very original story and voice. They were already with Zuri, and I would have loved to have more basement scenes with the landlord (which sounds weird out of context but they were very interesting and spiritual and such). The landlord was a character that was notably not in Pride & Prejudice and I thought they were FAR more interesting than any of Zuri's sisters.
So all in all, I did like the book, but I just wish it had been it's own story.
Happy reading!
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