Reviews - Pride and Protest

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966 reviews for:

Pride and Protest

Nikki Payne

3.86 AVERAGE

yourbookishbff's review

3.0

emotional funny hopeful reflective medium-paced

Plot or Character Driven: A mix

Strong character development: Yes

Loveable characters: Complicated

Diverse cast of characters: Yes

Flaws of characters a main focus: Yes

What I loved: Payne's dialogue! Bennett family drama was so well done, and she recasts the characters beautifully, capturing their absurdity and melodrama and even their earnestness (god love them). I also cheered through the set-up and meet-disaster for Lisa and Dorsey, because it perfectly conveys the cringey prejudices captured so well in the original social satire.

What didn't work as well for me: Occasionally this felt tied to the original in ways that made character arcs feel a bit forgotten (we have to fill in the gaps a bit with our knowledge of the original/the intention). The decision to make this a capital-R-Romance also means that we lean a lot more into the development of trust and rapport between Lisa/Lizzie and Dorsey/Darcy than the original does, making the awkward love triangle make less sense (it's not really believable that she would be hung up on anyone other than the guy she's literally texting all night long, especially one we rarely see on page). And a few characters felt a bit unmoored to me (particularly David/the Mr. Bingley of it all, who felt cringey in a lecherous way and not in a himbo way in some of those early scenes). I honestly wished we had dropped a few of the original characters to give Payne's story more room to exist independently, but that's just me.

Content note: I'm surprised by the extended Harry Potter dialogue. It's possible it was removed in reprints or other editions, but noting the content because it will be triggering for readers coming to this later.

k8_moon's review against another edition

4.0

emotional funny fast-paced

jessmaria92's review against another edition

5.0

funny inspiring lighthearted 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

sublimogen's review against another edition

3.5

funny reflective medium-paced

Plot or Character Driven: A mix

Strong character development: Complicated

Loveable characters: Complicated

Diverse cast of characters: Yes

Flaws of characters a main focus: Complicated

There were a LOT of things I liked about this book: I thought the adaptation into this time period was really clever, and I enjoyed how key events from the novel took shape. I particularly enjoyed Mary’s transformation into Maurice and Mr. Bennet becoming Granny. That was great. I just didn’t feel like Dorsey (Darcy) really did it for me. It felt like the relationship between him and Liza was really sudden and fraught, but with no real exploration as to why it was fraught? Idk. It just didn’t feel like any part of Dorsey was entirely thought-through. But overall, a satisfying retelling, and I’m excited to read Sex, Lies, and Sensibility!