Reviews tagging 'Cultural appropriation'

Pride, Prejudice, and Other Flavors by Sonali Dev

9 reviews

_bookish_lauren's review

tense slow-paced

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

4.0

Overall: 4/5
Spice level: 1/5
Tropes: enemies to lovers, Pride and Prejudice retelling (gender-swapped)

Representation: FMC is South Asian and MMC is South Asian and African 

This story was really cute and seemed to follow the original Pride and Prejudice, while being a gender-swap. The "Elizabeth" styled character, our leading lady Trisha, was portrayed as the royalty of the 2, while DJ was snubbed by her numerous times in the story as his occupation as a chef (though clasically trained in France) seemed beneath her. It definitely had the enemies to lovers feel to it, although there was pretty much no spice, outside of the delicious-sounding dishes that he makes throughout. 

As someone who mostly needs some type of spice on the page, I feel like even classic stories that originally had no spice can be adapted to fit sexy times in. That's my fault because I almost never read reviews for a book, otherwise I would've probably known about the lack of spice. It's fine though because I enjoyed the story overall. I didn't love it, but I loved the characters. There was immense character development for both Trisha and DJ, as well as their family members. 

I did, however, sometimes feel like there was a lot going on to keep track with. Between the family drama and the budding tension between our main characters, my head spun a few times trying to keep up with things. But in the end, it all made sense and came together well.

I'm intrigued by the author's writing style, though in the future I'll make sure to check if there's any spice before reading. 

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Content Warnings

Minor: Child abuse, Cultural appropriation, Medical content, Racial slurs, Rape, Classism, Death of parent, Miscarriage, Racism, and Bullying

greatexpectations77's review against another edition

emotional funny lighthearted reflective relaxing 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

4.25

This really tickled me, and I look forward to reading more from Ms. Dev. This had the caramel-thick tension of will-they-won't-they, and I really liked it. I also thought it did a really good job of portraying some beautiful sister moments, which always tug at my heart. Just a fun time.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Toxic friendship and Bullying

Moderate: Death of parent, Medical content, Pregnancy, Classism, and Abandonment

Minor: Miscarriage, Sexual violence, Sexual content, Alcohol, Grief, Racism, Chronic illness, Cultural appropriation, Infidelity, and Police brutality

novelsistah's review

emotional funny medium-paced

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

4.5

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Content Warnings

Minor: Cultural appropriation and Sexual harassment

jmmreads's review

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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Content Warnings

Graphic: Cancer, Death of parent, Pregnancy, Sexual assault, Terminal illness, Sexual harassment, Racism, Medical content, and Miscarriage

Moderate: Cultural appropriation, Police brutality, Racial slurs, Stalking, and Toxic friendship

internationalreads's review

adventurous informative lighthearted medium-paced

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

3.5

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Ableism, Cancer, Classism, Grief, Pregnancy, Police brutality, Xenophobia, Abandonment, Adult/minor relationship, Cultural appropriation, Dementia, Eating disorder, Death of parent, Medical content, Miscarriage, Racism, Sexual content, Suicidal thoughts, and Terminal illness

mitzybitzyspider's review

challenging emotional funny informative reflective relaxing medium-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

2.75

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Classism, Stalking, and Cancer

Moderate: Pedophilia, Sexual assault, Sexual harassment, and Rape

Minor: Cultural appropriation

editoryalizing's review against another edition

• 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

3.25

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Gaslighting, Xenophobia, and Toxic friendship

Moderate: Sexual assault, Drug abuse, Suicidal thoughts, Rape, Miscarriage, Infertility, Grief, Emotional abuse, Cultural appropriation, Classism, Chronic illness, and Abandonment

Minor: Police brutality, Racism, Racial slurs, and Pedophilia

unwise_samwise's review

emotional funny medium-paced

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

5.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Sexual assault, Racism, and Rape

Moderate: Miscarriage, Medical content, and Pregnancy

Minor: Cultural appropriation, Racial slurs, Suicidal thoughts, and Police brutality

shams96's review

emotional funny lighthearted 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

3.5

The book is very slow, but the characters are interesting and that’s what kept me from marking it as a DNF. Let me note that I have never read or seen Pride & Prejudice in any form, so I have no idea how this would compare.

 Trisha was annoyingly entitled at points and guarded even from a reader’s standpoint. Having so many different family members that Trisha interacted with is what gave the story character. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Cultural appropriation, Death of parent, Rape, Sexual assault, Sexual violence, and Toxic friendship

Moderate: Hate crime, Infertility, Miscarriage, Pregnancy, Racism, and Trafficking

Minor: Dementia, Racial slurs, Racism, Sexism, and Suicidal thoughts