Pride by Ibi Zoboi

Summary from Goodreads:

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.

Review:

I had a feeling I was going to love this book, and I was right. This book was everything I needed on a day I was trapped inside with a cold. Pride and Prejudice is one of my all time favorite books, and I practically pounce on any and all YA Austin retellings. When I read that this would be a diverse, urban fiction retelling, I was even more excited. I’ve never read Austin like this before. It was both familiar and surprising for me.

I loved the fresh, modern perspective on love, class, and gentrification. This wasn’t just a fluffy romance retelling. This was also an honest, snarky, commentary on society and all of its latest changes. I felt like that makes this book stand out in a truly authentic Austin style. I loved Zuri almost as immediately as I loved Elizabeth Bennet. They are both girls that could so easily have been held back by what society expects of them, but instead flourish intelligently, poetically, and artfully.

This is not a book for poetry haters. The book is full of poetry explaining Zuri’s fears, loves, and ambitions. And I actually felt like I got to know the main character more through her poetry. Her writing added to her person. Often I feel like poetry is used as a plot device, but here it genuinely added to Zuri’s character.

Also, the setting (Brooklyn) felt like a character. The city was alive in this book. I felt like I was seeing everything Zuri was seeing. I was sitting on that rooftop with her and her sister. I was walking to the bodega down the street, and riding that train with her. The only other book I can really compare this setting writing to is The House on Mango Street by Sandra Cisneros. Both books really make me feel like I’m escaping to somewhere else for a while.

All in all, this went above and beyond my expectations. I read this in one day. I’ll have to track down Zoboi’s other YA novel soon. I know she’s an author to keep my eye on. I give this a 10/10.