Pride: A Pride & Prejudice Remix

Ibi Zoboi

Sep 2018 · Sold by HarperCollins

About this ebook

In a timely update of Jane Austen's Pride and Prejudice, National Book Award finalist Ibi Zoboi skillfully balances cultural identity, class, and gentrification against the heady magic of first love in her vibrant reimagining of this beloved classic. A smart, funny, gorgeous retelling starring all characters of color. 

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.

"Zoboi skillfully depicts the vicissitudes of teenage relationships, and Zuri’s outsize pride and poetic sensibility make her a sympathetic teenager in a contemporary story about race, gentrification, and young love." (Publishers Weekly, "An Anti-Racist Children's and YA Reading List")

Ratings and reviews

This retelling of Pride & Prejudice brings out so much more of the story in a modern setting, while also keeping its soul. The plot, while mostly following the path of the original story, brings in themes of gentrification, cultural identity and worldly experiences into the mix. Zuri Benitez, our Liz Bennet, has lived in Bushwick her whole life – and feels very strongly about her community, and takes pride in her heritage and identity as an AfroLatinx woman. When the affluent Darcys move opposite their house, Zuri sees that her community is being looked down upon and DOES NOT LIKE IT. Prominently, she hates Darius (the Fitzwilliam Darcy of this story) and what begins is a delightful hate-to-love story that also makes place for her personal aspirations. The story picks up key scenes from the original and renders them in the modern setting. Zuri’s older sister Janae starting to fall for Dariu’s older brother (yeah, instead of his friend) is being blocked by Darius because of a silly comment her younger sister makes. The neighborhood pretty much rooting for the older Benitez sisters to marry the Darcy boys. Darcy’s awkward attempts to ask her out, and the other guy Warren who seems like the kind of black boy she likes both confuse Zuri on what she should be feeling. And a chief theme of the story – Darius’ condescension towards the Bushwick neighborhood and what he considers an overly involved parcel of the city, and Zuri’s judgmental condemnation of the Darcy’s black identity coming out as resentment. Lastly, the story brings out the familial dynamics of both families as well as the sisterly bonds in the Benitezes very well. A key character development is Zuri – she goes from being a judgement prickly person who responds to any question with scathing comments, to appreciating new experiences accepting change, and not being a tool because someone’s version of being Black doesn’t match up with hers. Darius confronts her on her pride about her worldview, and on a trip to a college campus, she sees the various ways you can find a community and still keep your pride. While this is definitely a novel about Black identity, I think this particular part will also resonate with diaspora people.

Great!!! I enjoyed it soo much!!! Darius is so snobby but so funny.

Good

About the author

Ibi Zoboi is the New York Times bestselling author of American Street, a National Book Award finalist; Nigeria Jones, a Coretta Scott King Award winner; Pride; My Life as an Ice Cream Sandwich; Okoye to the People: A Black Panther Novel for Marvel; and the Walter Award and LA Times Book Prize–winning Punching the Air, cowritten with Exonerated Five member Yusef Salaam. She is also a two-time Coretta Scott King Honor Award winner for her picture book The People Remember and her middle grade biography of Octavia Butler, Star Child. She is the editor of the anthology Black Enough. Born in Haiti and raised in New York City, she now lives in New Jersey with her family. You can find her online at ibizoboi.net.