Pride: A Pride & Prejudice Remix

Zuri Benitez loves her family and her neighborhood in Brooklyn because it’s filled with friendly faces and a shared sense of culture. She has an incredible sense of pride, so when the elitist Darcy family moves onto the block, she is very protective of her four sisters. While Zuri’s sister, Janae, falls for one of them, Ainsley, Zuri is hesitant to give them a chance. She is suspicious of all of them, especially the older brother, Darius Darcy. As the two families become better acquainted, Zuri spitefully finds herself more drawn to the rebellious Warren, who has a long history with the Darcy family. Zuri is a stubborn protagonist, but she is also ambitious, fiercely loving, and intelligent; this is her coming-of-age story of family, friendship, and love.

As Zuri’s relationships with Warren and Darius develop, she tries to stay focused on the prospect of college. As she sneaks away from home to tour her lifelong dream school in DC, she runs into Darius and gains a deeper understanding of the Darcy family. Zuri and Darius reach a tentative peace and a turning point in their relationship as they confide in one another. In an olive branch of a text message, Darius warns Zuri about Warren’s sinister motives. With her four wild sisters pulling her in different directions, Zuri must contend with the complications of teenage life and love, as well as the growing worry of gentrification in her neighborhood, which is forcing families out. This adaptation of Jane Austen’s Pride and Prejudice sets the characters of early nineteenth-century England in a twenty-first-century New York borough’s Afro-Latinx neighborhood, complete with amusing drama and cases of miscommunication.

Pride is tame and chaste, balancing the budding physical and emotional intimacy between Zuri and Darius well with their individual ambitions and traits. However, the plot is somewhat two-dimensional and lacks the nuance that the book’s inspiration possesses. This version flattens aspects of the original Pride and Prejudice, creating a version of Darcy that is blameless, having become more direct and communicative. The modern version casts Zuri in a more negative light because she is judgmental, and there’s no real foundation for her dislike of Darius. The ending is unsatisfying and leaves several unresolved elements, including Warren, who commits wicked acts but seemingly gets away scot-free.

Still, Pride is easy to read, with simple language and a simple plot. It’s a good way to understand the overall framework of a classic novel, while being strongly rooted in American immigrant culture and the Brooklyn neighborhoods. Readers will connect with Zuri, a fun and inspiring main character who is trying to find her way in the world. Readers who love adapted classics like Pride and Premeditation, Geekerella, and Within These Wicked Walls will love the rude but playful banter, fierce independence, and strong setting of Pride. Additionally, Zuri’s heartwarming familial bonds and hometown pride enable her to fight for her future and demonstrate that, no matter how complicated life becomes or how far from home people stray, home is something to rely on.

Sexual Content

• Darius and Zuri hold hands and kiss. For example, Darius “leans in, breathing heavy, looking into [Zuri’s] eyes, and his lips touch [hers]. He pauses as if making sure it’s okay, and that’s when [she] finish[es] what he started” and they “kiss right there in the middle of the vintage store.”
• A couple of times, there are thoughts of kissing, but it’s not executed, such as, “I move in when he’s not looking, ready to plant a fat, wet one on his lips, but someone calls my name.”
• It’s important to note that there are references to sexual harassment, specifically revealing pictures of minors shared without consent. At one point, Darius shares with Zuri that “Gigi is in boarding school because Warren took sexy pictures of her. He sent them to his friends.”

Violence

• While Zuri walks with Darius around her neighborhood, she describes a person who was murdered right inside her apartment for trying to stop drug dealers.”
• When Zuri is arguing playfully with Warren, she “ball[s] up [her] fist and punch[es] him really hard on his muscular arm…But Warren doesn’t even flinch. He keeps laughing.”
• Darius discovers Warren’s predatory behavior and grabs “Warren by the collar. Warren pulls away and gets ready to throw a punch, but Darius ducks and hits him with an uppercut. . .  Darius gets hit in the face and stomach, but Warren manages to dodge all of Darius’s empty punches.”
• Later on, when Zuri is tending to Darius, he visibly displays injuries from the fight, as “there’s a small scratch across his forehead and his lip is busted. His face is all wound up and he winces as he gets up from the couch.”

Drugs and Alcohol

• At an adult cocktail party, Zuri’s underage sister, Layla, gets her hands on wine. “‘It’s not cranberry juice,’ Layla sings with a wide smile. . . ’Layla!’ I whisper-yell through clenched teeth and try to grab the glass from her. But she snags it back, and some of it spills onto her dress.”
• Zuri goes to a teenage house party, where there is a lot of underage drinking. When she gets there, “the smell of alcohol smacks [Zuri] in the face.” She sees “two guys are on the floor in front of her, playing a video game, and she’s surrounded by white girls who all have red plastic cups in their hands . . . and two others are taking turns swigging from a plastic vodka bottle and giggling.”
• There are vague mentions of drug dealers in the area, but no drugs are exhibited in the story. During the teenage party, a crowd gathers and asks about her neighborhood. “Is it safe? It is loud? Are there gangs? Did he meet any drug dealers?”
• When Darius and Zuri are talking, Zuri mentions that “when he was little, my father played with her kids here. She was murdered right inside her apartment for trying to stop drug dealers from selling in this park.”

Language

• Profanity is used periodically, including words like bitch and damn. The f-word is used sparingly.
• The n-word is used once in a non-discriminatory context.

Supernatural

• None

Spiritual Content

• There are brief, vague mentions of spiritual beliefs in relation to the character, Madrina. Madrina is someone Zuri goes to for help, who passes towards the end of the story. For example, Zuri thinks “to Madrina and her clients, the basement is home to all of Ochún, the orisha of love and all things beautiful. For them, this is a place of magic, love, and miracles. . . it’s Madrina’s wisdom that unties the tight knots of my life, so I play along with what she does for a living and try to believe in these spirits.”

by Kate Schuyler