Reviews with content warning for Police brutality - Pride, Prejudice, and Other Flavors

Reviews tagging 'Police brutality'

Pride, Prejudice, and Other Flavors by Sonali Dev

30 reviews

thecuriousbean's review against another edition

emotional slow-paced

Plot- or character-driven? A mix
Strong character development? It's complicated
Loveable characters? No
Diverse cast of characters? Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

2.0

The author is very talented in writing but I despised the woman main character. I almost stopped reading halfway through but hate-read the rest of it just to see how it ended.

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taibreakfast's review against another edition

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funny hopeful lighthearted sad medium-paced

Plot- or character-driven? A mix
Strong character development? Yes
Loveable characters? Yes
Diverse cast of characters? Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

3.75

Fun retelling of Pride and Prejudice set in modern times, with the genders switched. The love birds are a guy and a girl, and the girl is the Darcy character this time (even though the guy is named Darcy, fooled ya!). She is the rich one with painful social skills and too much pride while he is the one from a working class background and prejudice against her because she's rich. The author does a good job of translating the plot to modern problems that convey just how life-ruining things could be. And it's very fun to have the story with an almost entirely POC cast of characters. Lots of fan service: some key scenes can almost be mapped directly, at least to the 2005 movie 😁. Definitely recommend to anyone looking for an easy but smart story. Check the content warnings though.

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brianaisgoingplaces's review

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emotional inspiring tense medium-paced

Plot- or character-driven? Plot
Strong character development? It's complicated
Loveable characters? It's complicated
Diverse cast of characters? Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

4.25

Dang, when Ms. Dev takes her pen out, she puts her pen into it. She is a tough author to read for me, because a lot of the time, I truly DO NOT know what to expect. The very first book I read from her was quite lighthearted, and none of the others I’ve read have had that same light feel. So I guess by now, I do actually know a few things to expect: Indian main characters, family drama, deep emotions, and characters I become attached to.

I think what is truly shocking to me about this book is the fact that through a lot of the book, I REALLY disliked the main character. She’s self absorbed, spoiled, and a little annoying. The fact that by the end, I was coming around, though yes I still think she’s a little annoying, is AMAZING.

There’s always a lot of world building in her books as well, and this is no different. Even though I was groaning at the fact Trisha was constantly “saying things” when the next line would be “Of course I didn’t actually say that”, I understood where she was coming from, and though I’d like to think I wouldn’t make the same decisions, I could commiserate.

I wouldn’t categorize this as a romance novel, but I liked how the romance built up throughout. The story was more than Trisha and DJ, and I can appreciate that.

The biggest thing that made my stomach turn in this novel was <SPOILER>DJ’s run-in with the police. I don’t know that we needed to read that, and using it as a plot device to (what felt like) teach Trisha a lesson made me feel a little sick.</SPOILER>

All in all, I’m nervous and excited for the next books. I’d love to read more about the Rajes, but one thing about Ms. Dev is that she never gives us ANY crumbs. When I read hoping and praying that I’ll get something happy happening instead of something realistic, we ALWAYS get the realistic. Please spare us one time AT LEAST!!

When I was rating I think I wanted to give it a higher rating, but the fact that i didn’t like Trisha so much at the beginning (and that it felt like the beginning dragged) made me not give in.

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chelsearosales's review against another edition

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emotional funny tense slow-paced

Plot- or character-driven? Character
Strong character development? Yes
Loveable characters? It's complicated
Diverse cast of characters? Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

4.25

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alycelarsson's review

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adventurous emotional inspiring lighthearted reflective medium-paced

Plot- or character-driven? Character
Strong character development? It's complicated
Loveable characters? Yes
Diverse cast of characters? Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

4.75

I ended up reading this after the second book, and I have to say the second book definitely has more romance in it than this one. However, I really liked Trisha's character and how we got to see both her and DJ's passion for their work. Overall, this book is somewhat centered around miscommunication, so be warned if that frustrates you but I loved how the original P&P story is woven throughout without being a carbon copy.

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jmmreads's review

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emotional funny hopeful lighthearted reflective slow-paced

Plot- or character-driven? Character
Strong character development? Yes
Loveable characters? It's complicated
Diverse cast of characters? Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

3.5

I really really love Pride & Prejudice and usually love adaptations so I really wanted to enjoy this book, however, it just fell flat for me. I did enjoy it overall, but there were several points I had to fight to finish it. I did like how the Darcy and Elizabeth characters were gender swapped and you got to see both of their perspectives at different points in the novel. But I found Trisha, the main character and the Darcy, to be very annoying so it was hard to get through her parts. I thought the author did a good job modernizing the story and a lot of social issues like police brutality and racism to highlight the themes of pride and prejudice in a modern world. It was fun to be able to catch plot points in the show and connect them to the original book but it in no way felt like re-reading pride and prejudice word for word or plot point for plot point.

In the end this was still a fun read I just had a really hard time connecting with Trisha, even though I did find her sympathetic at certain points. The miscommunication between her and her parents and her siblings, while realistic, was hard to push through. And since it was pride and prejudice there was very little romance right until the end, by which point there was a lot. But there wasn't a lot of time for payoff for all the longing and anticipation. I also found the pacing to be rather slow.

I know I just listed a bunch of things I didn't like but I did in general like the book and I look forward to reading Sonali Dev's other books to see how those are!

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