SOURCE: NetGalley
TYPE: E-Read
TITLE: The Poet X
AUTHOR: Elizabeth Acevedo
SERIES: --
PUBLISHER: Electric Monkey
PAGES: 368
GENRE: Young Adult, Poetry, Contemporary
RATING: 4.5/5 Stars
Blurb:
Xiomara has always kept her words to herself. When it comes to standing her ground in her Harlem neighbourhood, she lets her fists and her fierceness do the talking.But X has secrets – her feelings for a boy in her bio class, and the notebook full of poems that she keeps under her bed. And a slam poetry club that will pull those secrets into the spotlight.
Because in spite of a world that might not want to hear her, Xiomara refuses to stay silent.
What I Liked:
- Considering that I've never really read anything in prose before, it blew me away just how much I enjoyed this book! I loved the flow of the writing, mixed with the fact that the plot was still easy to follow and focused on spoken word poetry. The prose also made the book very quotable - there were some great snippets in this one!
- The characters were super interesting. Firstly, twins! I just love twins. Also Xi's fiery personality in contrast with her brother's meek one. They were both so likeable in very different ways, but had a wonderful, complicated relationship. Family is a really big part of this story and I also really liked Xi's mother, even though she was pretty awful at times.
What I Disliked:
- The ending struck me as a little too happy, considering how the story built towards that moment. I liked it actually, but I think that it was a little rushed in terms of the healing process that the family would have to go through.
Overall Conclusion:
This was a really enjoyable read and made me super happy to be reading again. I loved the prose, loved the story and adored the characters (even the 'villainous' ones). I also really liked the #ownvoices inclusion here. Diversity is really important and this book covered race, family, religion, LGBTQ+ issues, and feminism. It was so good.
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