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Book Summary and Reviews of Pride by Ibi Zoboi

Pride by Ibi Zoboi

Pride

by Ibi Zoboi

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  • Published:
  • Sep 2018, 304 pages
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About this book

Book 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.

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Reviews

Media Reviews

"Starred Review. This Bushwick-set, contemporary retelling of Jane Austen's Pride and Prejudice tackles gentriciation, Blackness, and romance with honesty, humor, and heart. This excellent coming-of-age take on a classic belongs on all YA shelves." - School Library Journal

"A razor-sharp remix of Jane Austen's Pride and Prejudice that deals in gentrification, racism, love, culture, and heritage, all helmed by intelligent teens in New York's Bushwick neighborhood." - Booklist

"The plot moves too fast for substantial character growth on Zuri's part, and some elements feel contrived, but these flaws don't spoil a book which is not only a retelling, but an examination of timely issues, including class, blackness, and interracial prejudice. Legit" - Kirkus

"[A] lively and innovative Pride and Prejudice retelling (starring a fully rounded Afro-Latinx YA character)" - The Horn Book

This information about Pride was first featured in "The BookBrowse Review" - BookBrowse's membership magazine, and in our weekly "Publishing This Week" newsletter. Publication information is for the USA, and (unless stated otherwise) represents the first print edition. The reviews are necessarily limited to those that were available to us ahead of publication. If you are the publisher or author and feel that they do not properly reflect the range of media opinion now available, send us a message with the mainstream reviews that you would like to see added.

Any "Author Information" displayed below reflects the author's biography at the time this particular book was published.

Reader Reviews

Write your own reviewwrite your own review

CG

Not some cliche story
Has it ever happened that you try reading a romance novel, and the characters are exaggeratedly cheesy and cliche? It seems like every female character in rom-coms is the stereotypical soft and sweet town girl?
Like you, I'm tired of reading these novels that portray teenage romantic relationships the same way, it was about time someone switched it up.
Not only does it interpret a young independent woman, but her street suffering from changes due to gentrification. I won't go too into it, as I don't want to spoil the plot.
Nonetheless, this book is much more than any young adult fiction, as it is also a twist of Jane Austern's Pride and Prejudice. This novel is modern, woke, and shows a positive depiction of an empowered latina woman living in the USA.
If you have not read this novel, I recommend you get your hands on it. You will not regret it.

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Author Information

Ibi Zoboi Author Biography

Ibi Zoboi holds an MFA from Vermont College of Fine Arts. Her novel American Street was a National Book Award finalist and a New York Times Notable Book. She is also the author of Pride and My Life as an Ice Cream Sandwich, a New York Times bestseller. 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 husband and their three children.

Author Interview
Link to Ibi Zoboi's Website

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