Poetry comes alive!

The Poet X is a beautifully written novel by Elizabeth Acevedo. Her debut novel has the cadence and beauty of slam poetry. Of course that makes sense given that the author started her career as a slam poet.

The story features Xiomara, the female half of a Dominican twin set living in Harlem. The story, told in first person, focuses on the struggles that Xiomara faces- a highly religious mother, an unloving father, and being sexualized by the guys from around the way.

Xiomara is a writer. And, when she discovers slam poetry, she finds direction for her passion and writings. Along the way she finds courage and confidence to share her writing with the world.

The book was solid. It shows many facets of the challenges that young women face growing up in a machista culture. The one thing I would have liked to see was a closer relationship between Xiomara and her twin, Xavier.

I had the good fortune of getting to enjoy this book in audio format. The audiobook features the author herself. I found it on @hoopla. She is an amazing narrator. In fact, I enjoy her narration so much that I tried a book by a different author because she narrates that.

The Poet X is an excellent young adult novel. Once you are done with it, you will be eager to find all of Elizabeth Acevedo’s works. My

Check it out and then let me know,

What did you think of “The Poet X?”