But it’s not just the junky stuff they’ll get rid of. It’s a truth universally acknowledged that when rich people move into the hood, where it’s a little bit broken and a little bit forgotten, the first thing they wanna do is clean it up. The relationships that do work are the ones between Zuri and her family and Zuri and her neighborhood. Other than an on again/off again lust, there just wasn’t any reason to care whether these two kids get together or stay together. Darius’s heroic moment consists of beating someone up, which not only seemed out of character but was not, in my view, heroic even though the other guy in the fight certainly deserved it. Zuri fails to develop a sense of empathy for Darius and Darius lacks a deep understanding of Zuri. Darius and Zuri do not have common interests. Why on earth would Darius want to spend time with someone who mocks him at every turn – not playfully, but with real malice? Why would Zuri want to spend time with a guy who doesn’t show her respect when he’s with his friends or his family? There’s nothing that seems to hold this relationship together. Honestly, these two just confused the hell out of me. Zuri is the book’s narrator and since Darius is a mystery to her, he’s also a mystery to the reader. I just felt that her irritating qualities eclipsed her many good ones. She’s also a brilliant writer, ferociously loyal, and protective of her family. Unfortunately, this was also the biggest weakness of the novel for me – I did not always like being around her. This is very much a YA novel and Zuri is appropriately immature.
With his rich ways, he doesn’t fit in her neighborhood, and she fears that people like his family (rich people) will contribute to the kind of gentrification that will destroy everything Zuri loves about her home. Zuri can’t stand her new neighbors, especially Darius Darcy. They live next door to a run-down mansion that is purchased and remodeled by a Black family from Manhattan.
In this modern retelling of Pride and Prejudice, teenager Zuri Benitez, who is Afro-Latino, lives in Bushwick, New York, with her family. It frustrates me that I didn’t like Pride more than I did, because the concept is awesome.
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