Reviews tagging 'Police brutality'

Pride, Prejudice, and Other Flavors by Sonali Dev

35 reviews

jmmreads's review against another edition

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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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laurennbrackbill's review against another edition

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emotional funny lighthearted sad tense 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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internationalreads's review against another edition

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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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thepassivebookworm's review against another edition

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hopeful lighthearted slow-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

2.0

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editoryalizing's review against another edition

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  • 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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misslescatiz's review against another edition

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emotional funny hopeful reflective relaxing sad tense fast-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

4.75

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unwise_samwise's review against another edition

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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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renuka__'s review against another edition

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emotional hopeful mysterious medium-paced
  • Plot- or character-driven? Character
  • Strong character development? Yes
  • Loveable characters? Yes
  • Diverse cast of characters? Yes
  • Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

3.5

I think this was a cute, character-driven enemies-to-lovers novel. I loved that it took place in the city I grew up in, as the visuals were all the more vibrant in my mind. The main characters had believable flaws throughout, and their story followed a natural progression. However, the end felt rushed and it felt as though all the resolution occurred within only 4 chapters at the end of a 36 chapter book. There were also certain scenes referencing social justice issues that were not handled in the best manner, in my opinion. 


The police brutality scene felt a little out of place, and especially given that the author is not Black herself, the scene felt like a capitalization on Black trauma. Also, the lead up into revealing what Julia did to Yash felt way too long. Personally, I felt like it also didn’t come across in the intended way, reinforcing the anti-feminist pressure on men not to report their experiences of assault in fear of their reputation. The fact that Dev chose to specifically say that he did not want to “take away from the Me Too movement by going public with his story” felt very tone deaf and not at all genuinely in support of survivors. 
 
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margueritestjust's review against another edition

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emotional funny lighthearted medium-paced
  • Plot- or character-driven? Character
  • Strong character development? Yes
  • Loveable characters? Yes
  • Diverse cast of characters? Yes
  • Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

4.0

An enjoyable start to the series!  I wasn't really as taken in by the romance of the story - it just felt like they were mean to each other but oh no - they're hot, without really any kind of good parts in the other that they had fallen for.  I honestly cared so much more about Trisha's family and their dynamics than the main romance of the book.  Much of the tension that was supposed to be there for the Darcy/Lizzie dynamic felt more like miscommunication or a character acting badly out of character rather than something natural that they then worked past.  Either way, I still adore the writing style and am really excited to keep reading more about the Raje family!!  

One good thing that I felt was fun and fresh about this retelling is that the two main characters were a mix of the protagonists from the original novel - Trisha was more obviously the Mr. Darcy character (which may I just say that I enjoyed getting to read a female Darcy so much), but had shades of Lizzie to her as well, and DJ was more obviously Lizzie but had shades of Darcy.  

I'll definitely be reading more of the series and of the authors' works - she has a great handle on humor and family.
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rayreading's review against another edition

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hopeful lighthearted fast-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

4.0

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