Elizabeth Acevedo: The poet X (2018)
[sound recording] /
English language
Published Sept. 6, 2018
Xiomara Batista feels unheard and unable to hide in her Harlem neighborhood. Ever since her body grew into curves, she has learned to let her fists and her fierceness do the talking. But Xiomara has plenty she wants to say, and she pours all her frustration and passion onto the pages of a leather notebook, reciting the words to herself like prayers, especially after she catches feelings for a boy in her bio class named Aman, who her family can never know about.
It's a story about poetry and family and friends and love and a lot of hard stuff happens and there's oppression and harassment and abuse, but it's a super beautiful story imo.
I completely surprised myself by giving this four stars. I'm NOT one for poetry. It is not my jam, it is nowhere near my wheelhouse. Opening the cover, I immediately decided I wasn't going to like this book, told as a collection of poems by the main character, Xiomara. As it went, I admitted the story behind the poems was actually fantastic. I figured I would give this three stars. As it went on, I found myself more and more enthralled with Xiomara and rooting for her as I'd root for the final girl in a horror story/movie. I think that's what won me over. Xiomara and her life as a Black & Latina woman growing up in Harlem to a strictly religious mother and uncaring father. By the end, I was completely in Xiomara's corner and pulling for her in the Slam Poetry competition. I still don't like poetry …
I completely surprised myself by giving this four stars. I'm NOT one for poetry. It is not my jam, it is nowhere near my wheelhouse. Opening the cover, I immediately decided I wasn't going to like this book, told as a collection of poems by the main character, Xiomara. As it went, I admitted the story behind the poems was actually fantastic. I figured I would give this three stars. As it went on, I found myself more and more enthralled with Xiomara and rooting for her as I'd root for the final girl in a horror story/movie. I think that's what won me over. Xiomara and her life as a Black & Latina woman growing up in Harlem to a strictly religious mother and uncaring father. By the end, I was completely in Xiomara's corner and pulling for her in the Slam Poetry competition. I still don't like poetry at all, but I love X.
