Pride: A Pride & Prejudice Remix by Ibi Zoboi fulfills the category “Book by a Muslim American Author” for the PopSugar 2021 Reading Challenge. I took this title from Goodreads list, but I can’t seem to confirm if Ms. Zoboi is actually Muslim. I don’t care. I love this story and had it on my TBR list before I found it fit the prompt.
I’m a huge Jane Austen fan, and Pride and Prejudice is my all-time favorite book. I think I’ve mentioned it 645 times in this blog. I always have trouble with rewrites (and thus far have not attempted my own adaptation, though I have a great idea.) I loved the Choose-Your-Own-Adventure version but hated a contemporary Sense and Sensibility.
Pride is so very different. This time we are in Brooklyn, specifically Bushwick, with a Latino/Black family of five daughters. Our Bennetts are the Benitez family. Zuri is our Elizabeth with all the dry humor, loving sister, and modern teen-ness of the Austen work. Also, Mom is less obnoxious, as is Lydia (Layla). Enter the Darcys. The house across the street is purchased and renovated in a gentrification of the neighborhood. Two brothers move in with their parents—Darius and Ainsley. And they are handsome boys. The neighborhood buzzes with excitement, but Zuri isn’t having it.
I love how this book takes the prejudice of Zuri about newcomers and her pride in her neighborhood, friends, and family to show all the connections to the original work. Zuri is a stubborn, smart, ambitious girl. We root for her and her family from page one. As we all know from the original, Darius will be her humbling. I’m not sure this retelling emphasized it as much. And that’s okay. As it’s a modern take, we want the couple to be equals and compatible. We don’t want Zuri to submit. (Personally, the real Darcy went a long way to show the original Elizabeth his worth and break her pride.) Darius never seems to break Zuri’s pride in her neighborhood, family, or herself. I loved that about him.
As this was a shorter version of the story, some of my favorite scenes were kinda missing. I live for Darcy’s first proposal. That scene didn’t come off quite the same. But that’s just fine. The tale Ms. Zoboi wove adapted the situation perfectly. Also, some storylines were cut a bit. I would have liked to see more between Ainsley and Janae (the oldest sister). Bingley and Jane’s story always tugs at my heart. So, yes, a few elements were missing, but nothing was taken away. The novel was whole and complete.
I do think I need to grab the book on paper. (I listened on audio. The reader was amazing.) But Zuri is a poet. I’ve never been great with poetry, especially spoken poems. I need to see it and read it again and again until it sticks in my brain. I’ve always had a block about this form of literature. I feel like I missed some wonderful things by not experiencing Zuri’s poems in print.
I cannot recommend this book highly enough. I think it should be taught in schools as a companion to the original. Thank you so much to my good friend, Rosemary, for recommending it!
I give Pride: A Pride & Prejudice Remix by Ibi Zoboi Five Haiku Love Poems.