Pride

 Pride by Ibi Zoboi, 304 pages.

I was very excited for this book. It had been on my tbr list for a long time, and I had just finished rewatching my favorite Pride and Prejudice adaptation (plugging The Lizzie Bennet Diaries on YouTube here), so it seemed like the perfect time to finally get around to it. 

Unfortunately I was pretty disappointment. Puzzlingly, most of the elements that Pride chose to keep from the original story are elements that didn't work at all when the story was transferred to be about urban teenagers instead of rural adults. It also felt like many plot points from Pride and Prejudice were kept that didn't work with the story Zoboi was telling, and instead of dropping them for things that would work in this story, they were left in but emotionally defanged. 

Unrelated to it's value as an adaptation, I simply couldn't buy most of the character actions. I think I can count on one hand the number of things Zuri said to Darius (our Elizabeth and Darcy stand-ins) that wasn't actively trying to start a fight. On the other hand I guess there's no room for miscommunication when Zuri immediately says every cruel thought she has out loud. Which is all to say that I absolutely don't buy the romance here and overall found this a pretty emotionally weak book.