Pride by Ibi Zoboi

 

What is your favorite classic story retelling?

Pride is a modern day take on Pride and Prejudice.  Zuri Beneitez lives with her parents and five sisters in Brooklyn.  She loves her neighborhood and is very proud of her Afro Latino roots.  Life is going well as she writes poetry and looks forward to college.  Life takes a turn when a new family moves across the street into a newly restored mansion.  Ainsley and Darius Darcy are different from other boys in the neighborhood.  They seem stuck up but are also very handsome.  Will Zuri be able to move through her pride to see the Darcys for their true selves?

I really enjoyed this young adult novel.  Zoboi was able to take all of the main elements of the Pride and Prejudice story and make it work in this Brooklyn neighborhood in contemporary times quite well.  I enjoyed it.  I had just watched In the Heights with my daughter over the fourth of July.  I know it’s a different neighborhood, but the Afro Latino roots and close-knit neighborhood were very similar.

Favorite Quote:

“It is a truth universally acknowledged that when rich people move into the hood, where it’s a little bit broken and a little bit forgotten, the first thing they want to do is clean it up.”

Overall, Pride is a great modern young adult retelling of Pride and Prejudice.

Book Source:  Purchased from Amazon.com