But there’s no need to have such heavy exposition in a contemporary book, and to me it was a testament of poor writing. I find heavy exposition annoying even in complex Fantasy settings (even though I get that sometimes it’s necessary). It felt basically like the author telling me “and then this happened, and then this, and this is how I felt”. This is so important and I am so glad this book exists. I am so glad that they are getting a diverse retelling of a beloved story as its protagonists. I am so glad that young black people will be able to see themselves in a story like this one. Zoboi does clever things with discussing privilege and she contrasts two black families in this, which was amazing. This is a straightforward retelling, which uses a lot of the original story’s elements and but does it in a new, refreshing way. I loved how Zoboi used that premise to retell the Pride and Prejudice story. The Bennets become the Benitezes, who host block parties and have a lovely little community, while Darcy and Bingley become the rich brothers Darcy, who are threatening to completely change the landscape of Zuri’s hood. And in my opinion, Zoboi picked the perfect setting to retell this story. I loved that this was a diverse retelling of Pride and Prejudice. But one day, a rich black family moves in across the street and everything changes. Pride follows Zuri Benitez, a 17 year old resident of Bushwick, who loves her hood and her loud, large, Haitian-Dominican family. However, I had such high expectations for this and they were not met. You guys know that Pride and Prejudice is one of my favorite books of all time, and you know that I was beyond excited about Pride – an ownvoices retelling set in Bushwick.

It’s Booktubeathon Day 1 and I have already finished a book! I decided I need to review it asap, while it’s still fresh in my mind and when I can explain why this failed me on so many levels. “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 to do is clean it up.”

Pride by ibi zoboi