You know I love me some Jane Austen fan fiction, and this one sounded particularly compelling: a retelling of Pride and Prejudice set in the "hood" of Bushwick in Brooklyn. And it totally lived up to the hype. I thought it was so fun, and it was so much more than just a P&P rewrite. Zoboi did not keep all of the storylines from P&P (like the embarrassingly obsessed mom, etc.) and focused more on creating a strong culture and main character. Zuri, the main character, has such a strong voice and a strong personality, and so much pride and love for her family and her neighborhood and her culture. There is so much Dominican and Haitian influence in her story, and I really felt like I was a part of it because of how well Zoboi incorporated the Dominican food and words and dances. I loved Zuri's concern for her block and this place she loves, as she watches it get gentrified and change before her eyes, and how she is so proud of where she comes from. This was particularly good as an audiobook, because the narrator has the perfect accent for all of the Spanish words and Dominican influence, which really helped to bring it all to life for me. I really felt like I could envision their block and their family.
The romance between Zuri and Darius Darcy was not really the most compelling part of this book. There were a few cute parts between them, but honestly, Darius was boring and I couldn't see why she liked him. But Zuri herself, and her poetry, and her aspirations, dreams, and goals (which she talks about multiples times in the book, in that order) of going to Howard and coming back to help her hometown, was worth reading this book for.
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