Book Review: Pride by Ibi Zoboi (An OwlCrate book of the month)

Right off the bat, I have to say that Ibi Zoboi’s Pride is definitely the worst book that I've read so far this year. I thought that this book was a major dumpster fire for many, many, many reasons. Pride’s biggest downfall is the fact that I thought that Zuri was an extremely unlikable and annoying protagonist, and character, in general. Throughout the entire book, Zuri constantly came across as being incredibly hypocritical in the sense that she would accuse other people of being judgmental, and yet she pretty much completely lacked the self-awareness to realize how judgmental of others she herself was.

Personally, I feel like Zuri came across as being incredibly sheltered and narrow-minded when it came to her view of world, and what it means to be African American and live “in the hood” as she CONSTANTLY says throughout the entire book; which got incredibly annoying rather quickly. If people made a drinking game out of how often Zuri uses the phrases “the hood” or “in the hood” throughout the book, they would most likely die of alcohol poisoning rather quickly. Zuri really seemed to act like she was the dictator of what it means for people to be African American, and how they should express their blackness; which is something that absolutely annoyed the hell out of me. While I do think that Zuri did undergo some character development, I ultimately thought that it was handled in a rather sloppy manner.

I thought that Darius was a rather forgettable character that lacked complexity, and the rest of the characters in the book came across that way as well. This led to me honestly not really liking any of the characters in the book all that much, and it’s extremely rare for me to read a book where I don’t like any of the characters. Even though I’m not African American, I thought that Zuri and her family came across as being very stereotypical of African Americans, and I’m honestly really surprised that Zoboi chose to portray Zuri and her family in such a stereotypical way. Ordinarily, I would think that an African American writer wouldn’t want to portray African Americans in such a stereotypical manner, because I think that it could potentially give people the wrong impression of African Americans.

 Because I didn’t like any of the characters in Pride, I ultimately couldn’t truly get invested in the plot of the book. That being said, I should probably mention that I’ve never read Pride and Prejudice by Jane Austen, so I can’t compare and contrast Pride to Pride and Prejudice. I received a copy of Pride in my October OwlCrate box, and this is definitely my least favorite OwlCrate book of the month that I’ve received so far. I truly hated this book for many, many, many reasons. However, I’ll give Pride credit for being a fast read, because I was able to read it in two days.

That being said, my final score for Pride is 1 out of 10.