Book Review: The Poet X by Elizabeth Acevedo

*I am reviewing this book which I was gifted for free by Netgalley in exchange for an honest review. All thoughts are my own. *




Title: The Poet X 

Author: Elizabeth Acevedo 

Publisher: Electric Monkey

Source: Netgalley

Rating: 4/5 stars




(Amazon|Goodreads)













Book Summary:




A young girl in Harlem discovers slam poetry as a way to understand her mother’s religion and her own relationship to the world. Debut novel of renowned slam poet Elizabeth Acevedo.

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. With Mami’s determination to force her daughter to obey the laws of the church, Xiomara understands that her thoughts are best kept to herself.

So when she is invited to join her school’s slam poetry club, she doesn’t know how she could ever attend without her mami finding out, much less speak her words out loud. But still, she can’t stop thinking about performing her poems.

Because in the face of a world that may not want to hear her, Xiomara refuses to be silent.

Book Review:

The Poet X is a book that has received critical acclaim since and before it's release and I was eagerly waiting to read it. The Poet X definitely lives up to the hype, being a raw and great debut that everyone has to read at least once.

I have read and loved verse novels in the past so when everyone was raving over this book I was excited to jump on the train and read. I think that for me it did take a little while to get into the story but when I was there, I was completely sucked in. 

I think that Xiomara is a character that is fleshed out which is a verse novel is so hard to do and Elizabeth Acevedo does this so well considering that it is a debut novel. I think that through the novel, you feel Xiomara as a character and spend most of the book rooting for her the whole way through. Her parents are not the best in the world and you are just rooting for her to get out of the situation. 

I also felt connected to her in ways that she sees her body as these were feelings that I had now and that I definitely felt growing up but maybe not to the extent that she felt in the book. There are so many views that Elizabeth Acevedo gets through so clearly that her words are so powerful and jump off the page. Basically, if you had not read The Poet X then I recommend that you pick it up. It is YA at it's best.  

The Verdict:

The Poet X is an excellent verse novel that encapsulates the feelings of growing up. It is a must-read. 

Have you read The Poet X? Did you like it? Let me know in the comments below.