海角大神

鈥淚t鈥檚 a truth universally acknowledged that when rich people move into the hood, where it鈥檚 a little bit broken and a little bit forgotten, the first thing they want to do is clean it up.

鈥淏ut it鈥檚 not just the junky stuff they get rid of. People can be thrown away too, like last night鈥檚 trash left out on sidewalks or pushed to the edge of wherever all broken things go. What those rich people don鈥檛 always know is that broken and forgotten neighborhoods were first built out of love.鈥�

This is how we meet our snarling narrator, Zuri Luz Benitez, sometimes known as ZZ. She鈥檚 the fiery 21st-century Elizabeth Bennet of Ibi Zoboi鈥檚 Pride, a remix of Jane Austen鈥檚 1813 classic, 鈥淧ride and Prejudice.鈥�

Zoboi鈥檚 rendition is crackling and full of life. I couldn鈥檛 recommend it more highly, both to fellow Janeites and YA readers at large.

This time around, oldest sister Jane is now Janae, sensitive and sugar-sweet, just back from her first year at Syracuse University 鈥� the first Benitez to leave the fold. Dreary, bookish Mary becomes offbeat, money-obsessed Marisol, and flighty Kitty and Lydia are 13-year-old twins Kayla and Layla.

鈥淚f Janae is the sticky sweetness keeping us sisters together, then I鈥檓 the hard candy shell, the protector,鈥� Zuri explains. 鈥淚f anyone wants to get to the Benitez sisters, they鈥檒l have to crack open my heart first.鈥�

The five sisters live with their Haitian-Dominican parents in Bushwick, a working-class neighborhood in Brooklyn. They鈥檝e lived in the same dingy apartment their whole lives, on the same colorful block with the same loud, everybody-knows-everybody neighbors. Zuri describes the family as sheltered; the only times she鈥檚 ever left NYC were once to a mall in New Jersey, once to a water park in Pennsylvania. Thus she鈥檚 fanatical in her devotion to Bushwick (not Brooklyn, thank you very much 鈥� showing you just how small ZZ鈥檚 field of vision is).

But gentrification slowly creeps into her beloved Bushwick, having swept through nearby neighborhoods already. ZZ mourns, 鈥淭hese neighborhoods are like my face and body when I was in middle school 鈥� familiar but changing before my eyes.鈥�

When the wealthy Darcy family buys, guts, and remodels the building across the street, this tight-knit community struggles to process change of this magnitude. The Darcys鈥� grand piano, elegant professional decor, and glamorous parties rub everyone the wrong way. (Fun fact: the Netherfield ball is now a housewarming cocktail party, and somehow 鈥� I genuinely don鈥檛 understand how 鈥� Zoboi makes it even more cringy and mortifying than the original calamity.) What鈥檚 more, their two sons, Darius (our Mr. Darcy) and Ainsley (Mr. Bingley) couldn鈥檛 have more different approaches to their new street 鈥� Ainsley wants to befriend everyone, especially Janae, whereas Darius is stand-offish and proud, unsure why they鈥檝e come here at all.

Naturally, this doesn鈥檛 sit well with judgmental, brassy ZZ, who fears the loss of her neighborhood and her favorite sister in one summer. The culture clash between Darius and Zuri reaches fever pitch when they lob insults at each other like 鈥渂ougie鈥� vs. 鈥済hetto,鈥� 鈥渞eal鈥� vs. 鈥渃orny.鈥� Thank goodness there鈥檚 Warren (Mr. Wickham), whose swaggy charm feels like home to Zuri. When he says Darius鈥檚 dad tried to get him kicked out of private school, Zuri鈥檚 hatred of the Darcy family crystallizes.

And yet, on a visit to Howard University in Washington D.C., when she bumps into Darius and his little sister, he seems more relaxed and likeable. Sparks fly, but it鈥檚 tough to tell whether they鈥檙e from a kindling attraction or the fires of loathing.

Change is Zuri鈥檚 biggest fear and greatest desire. As she faces senior year and her own impending college journey, she wants to evolve and expand but keep the rest of the world static. Her trip to Howard shows her just how exceptional change can be: 鈥淭here鈥檚 enough wide-open space for me to feel like I can actually chase my dreams here, and I鈥檒l be able to reach them too.鈥�

She craves growth just as much as she fears it: 鈥淚 wonder if [previous students have] gone back to their blocks or their towns and changed them in any way. I wonder if Howar d changed them, and maybe they couldn鈥檛 go back to their old hoods because they鈥檝e grown too big, too tall. Not in size, but in ... experience. In ... feeling. I wonder how I鈥檒l change too.鈥�

Y鈥檃ll know how this ends, at least in the big picture. Still, let Ibi Zoboi guide you through the details in her inimitable style. Zoboi deploys both tenderness and ruthless honesty as she explores issues of sisterhood and family, class, gentrification, and cultural identity. 鈥淧ride鈥� is ripe for the movie-fying, and a triumphant follow-up to Zoboi鈥檚 smash debut, 鈥淎merican Street.鈥�