Pride: A Pride and Prejudice Remix
By Ibi Zoboi
Pride, a YALSA Teens' Top Ten book, is a modern retelling of Jane Austin's Pride and Prejudice. It follows born and bred Brooklyn teen Zuri Benitez, as she comes of age in a changing neighborhood. The Benitez family, with its five daughters, is as large and loud as they are loving and welcoming to everyone on their block. Gentrification is a central theme, embodied by the Darcy Brothers, who move in across the street from the Benitez family following an extensive renovation of a once dilapidated "mini mansion."
Full disclosure: I've never read Pride and Prejudice... But I have seen the movie, more than once. I loved matching the characters between the two. Who would be the diabolical Mr. Wickham, the clueless Mr. Collins, the jealous Ms. Bingley? I grew up with a large family myself, I am the fourth of five children so I was familiar with the lack of privacy, and the noise described throughout. The book gave a nuanced take on gentrification, not all bad but certainly not good for the families who have lived in a neighborhood forever. I know that change can be good, but there's always a cost, and seeing it through a lifelong resident's eyes, and through her poetry makes that cost more clear.
This was another book I experienced in audiobook format, surprisingly also performed by Elizabeth Acevedo, author of The Poet X. I came to read it on the recommendation of a colleague, fully sold on the comparison to a favorite regency rom com. I will be making my favorite Jane Austin loving sibling read it as well.
Zoboi, I. (2020). Pride. Thorndike Press, a part of Gale, a Cengage Company.
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