Rating: 5/5 stars

Author: Elizabeth Acevedo

Stand-alone or series: Stand-alone

Page Number: 368

The Poet X is an award-winning debut novel written in verse by Elizabeth Acevedo.

The Poet X follows Xiomara Batista as she struggles with her controlling and religious mother, the boy that won her heart, and her secret poems. Over the period of a few months, we see Xiomara grow from the scared and silent girl who questions her faith to a strong and confident young woman who is building bridges and solidifying her relationship with everyone around her. But most importantly, Xiomara finds her voice. She finds it through poetry.

SPOILERS BEYOND THE QUOTE

“Their gazes and words
are heavy with all the things
they want you to be.”

To be honest, I didn’t know if I was going to like this book. It’s my first book completely written in verse and I didn’t if was going to be able to keep up.

But I could not put it down once I started.

I was reading it as an eBook on my phone, and I just found myself swiping to the next page over and over again. I couldn’t sleep that night and so I read it in the early hours of the day, and I have no regrets. It made me remember the rush of loving a book so much so that I could not stop reading it and just wanted to read it.

I’ve been reading some pretty tough books lately relating to being the child of immigrants, of balancing two cultures, and such. Those books are hard for me because they hit so close to home. They’re stories I can relate to. Things I’ve thought. I know I’m lucky in that my parents aren’t super traditional, but on some level or other, what these characters have thought is what I’ve thought at one point. I didn’t even know if I could write this review but here we are.

Okay, so let’s talk about the story itself. My favourite part is when Xiomara joins the Poetry Club and starts sharing her poems with the rest of the club and her teacher. She found people who didn’t make fun of her passion, who shared that passion, and it made her feel like she belonged. I loved that a lot. It’s my favourite part in books—when the main character finally belongs somewhere.

The scenes with Aman were nice too, but the romance didn’t dominate the plot and I surprisingly loved that. If you didn’t know, I’m a huge romance-lover. I love love. I like it to be a significant part of the plot. But in this book, I was more concerned with Xiomara. I wanted to see her thrive, with or without Aman. He felt like he was there to aid her in her growth, to help her want and voice that want. I don’t think they will stay date for long—but I think they’ll always be special to one another other.

Mami is a difficult character. She is so complex and layered, with obvious flaws and imperfections, but good parts too. Mami is a testament to Acevedo’s superb talent. She didn’t need long-winded sentences and paragraphs to establish her, but with her simple and elegant words she crafted not just a character but a person.

The ending was perfect was well. It wasn’t happily ever after—both Xiomara and Mami had a lot of work to do to finally understand and forgive each other, but they’re going in the right direction. It makes me so happy to read about this relationship mending itself. It’s absolutely beautiful. I cried reading those last few chapters.

As for Twin, I wonder if Acevedo will write a book about him specifically. I feel like his story is nowhere near being over, he has much more to do, more growing to do, and I really want to be able to read about it.

This is my first review on my blog, and I hope you enjoyed it! If you’ve read The Poet X, tell me what you thought. Let’s talk and discuss this masterpiece 🙂

Thank you for reading and see you next time ❤