The Poet X

In the Poet X we follow Xiomara as she struggles with the pressures of navigating her world with strict parents and a growing doubt in her faith. We follow as she begins to lose herself in the world of slam poetry and a potential love interest.
This book is without a doubt one of my favourite reads, in a very long time. I read it in pretty much one sitting, possibly stirred on by the verse, which made it so smooth and easy to continue turning the page without a care for the time going by. With that being said, it is an absolute testament to Acevedo that a book that felt so light and easy to consume, covered such tough and weighty subjects. This is a story that I know so many young people need, a story that navigates growing up in such complex detail.
I cannot wait to read more of Elizabeth Acevedo's work, and I will no doubt pick this one back up again soon!!

Poetry is not a writing style that I usually go for, but in this case I found its use to be an incredible way of telling the story. Xiomara’s story is heartbreaking and inspiring, and I found this book to be an intensely emotional and enjoyable read.

Absolutely adored this book. Perfect use of verse – there was no other way that this story could have been told, and telling a story about a poet in verse is genius.

Explores the importance of music in teen relationships, an aspect which is quite often overlooked but does have a huge part of the way that people bond at a young age and find common ground between each other despite different backgrounds and personalities.

Also explores the conflict between parental beliefs and expectations and your own personal interests, and the way that that can often come to a head in a rather explosive way. I challenge you not to get emotional during one scene in particular between the main character and her mother. Was welling up with tears while reading.

A powerful and moving novel told in verse. The Poet X took my breath away. I desperately want to read more from Acevedo.

I received a copy from Netgalley.

When I initially requested this one I didn’t realise it was a novel in verse. I normally don’t like novels in verse at all. I’ve never been a poetry person at all, really. The only novel in verse I have read I didn’t like much.

That being said, however, this book just blew me away. I completely loved it. It took a bit of getting used to the style of the poems. Every page more or less had its own poem, and those poems told the story. The words were just so…incredibly powerful. I don’t know how else to describe it.

Xiomara’s voice was just amazing. I can’t even begin to relate to Xiomara’s circumstances, but her words were just mesmerizing. Her mother is a deeply religious woman who seems to want Xiomara to follow in those footsteps. In her parent’s eyes X’s twin brother Xavier can do no wrong. He’s smart and goes to a special smart kid school different from X’s high school. X’s only friend seems to be her church buddy Caridad whom she has known forever. Forced by mom into taking confirmation classes at church X isn’t really into it. She starts to have questions.

She’s not allowed to date, and because of how she looks she often gets picked on by boys and has become very tough in defending herself. Yet when she’s paired with a boy in her bio class she starts to notice things about him, they have similar tastes in music and start to get closer and bond. Into a more than friendship thing.

Which she knows if she gets caught will raise hell with her mother. Her struggles with her desire for the boy and fear of her mother echo in her poetry. She wants to do normal things and doesn’t think kissing a boy is wrong. It’s not. But her upbringing tells her differently.

And then her English teacher mentions a poetry club. She’s noticed X has promise in her writing. But poetry club clashes with confirmation class. X rarely shows her poems to anyone. (Her poems are awesome! I can’t say enough times how much I loved the pure, raw power of this girl’s voice).

Of course before long things go wrong. And it’s just heart breaking. After everything this girl goes though, at one point she just stops talking to everyone she knows when her trust is betrayed. I felt so bad for her. I just wanted things to get better. The pain in her silence comes through in such anguish. Yet she gets the chance, finally, to make her voice heard, and it’s just wonderful.

There’s so much emotion packed into this book, the characters. It’s just such an amazing story. There are not enough ways I can say how much I loved this novel.

Thank you to Netgalley and Egmont Publishing for approving my request to view the title.

Wow. Powerful and beautifully told through gorgeous verse. A story of love, family, friendship and the pressures of those very things including religion, sexuality and culture. I don’t often read books written in verse but the writing style definitely packed a punch with this story. It made Xiomara’s story feel so much more personal and emotional. I’m going to try this on audiobook too because I can imagine it sounds incredible! This book has definitely piqued my interest in reading more verse books.

I'm not a massive fan of just sitting and reading poetry, especially with something like Slam where it's supposed to be read allowed, but I liked this book so, so much. The combinations of the story and the poetry meant that I could see Xiomara reading the poems. The beautiful cover is one that gets so stuck in your mind that it makes Xiomara so, so easy to picture. It was the perfect combination of Slam poetry and prose.

I loved Xiomara's passion and the emotions that were stirred up in this book, especially when it came to her poetry around her family. It struck me that she and her brother had a lot of big secrets they were hiding from the rest of their family.

I also really liked the romance. It felt so real and easily broken, especially considering her parents opinions on dating. I do think there's something about hidden romance that makes you more worried and invested in the characters.

I promise, you will not be let down by this book.

This book is powerful.

This novel is influential.

This story is impactful.

The Poet X has completely and utterly blown me away. The book is written in verse and it is beautiful. I don't think I have ever read a more beautifully written book.

I was a little wary of this novel when I heard it was written in verse, I guess I was just afraid of the unknown. I was worried I wouldn't connect to the story and I wouldn't feel close to the characters. But that perspective is the complete opposite of how I felt by the time I read the last page.

I saw myself in Xiomara, I sympathized with her. As a girl who grew up with a strict and old fashioned family, especially my mother, I knew exactly how X felt as she, without meaning to, cast shame on her family.

The characters in this book are all strong individuals with their own personalities. I haven't read many books with such well rounded characters, in a while. Add a fierce storyline and a unique writing method and this novel is nothing but 5 star quality reading.

There is a strong message in these verses that your life should be lived the way that you want it to be lived. As they all say, we only have one life, why waste it trying and failing to please people who can not be pleased? Live your life the way you want to live it. Take risks, enjoy yourself, be safe, love yourself and others. Do what makes you happy.

The Poet X is similar to Sarah Crossan's novels due to being written in verse and being powerful and emotional. This is by a completely different author, but I can't deny Acevedo that will now be on my must-read authors list just as Crossan is. This is a novel using slam poetry as a device as it tackles religion and race. Highly recommended to readers of contemporary fiction especially when written in verse.

I was not expecting any of this and I was not expecting to be on a roll of loving all these books at the moment!
This was breathtaking. I literally felt like I had to read quicker to match the pace of the poetry because I was scared it would slip away from me.
Xiomara is a 15 year old girl just trying to get her shit together. She digests everything through poetry - it's a beautiful perspective on the world.
She questions everything, from boys, to church to bullshit creepy men hitting on a minor.
Read this book. It's beautiful.

https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/33294200-the-poet-x

I loved this book so so much! I thought Xiomara was such a strong and empowering female character, who really represented the need of freedom to be your own person; to have your own beliefs and make your own choices. We take for granted our freedom of speech and our freedom to be who we want to be, as in this modern day society we have so much more choice. However – even in society today not everyone gets to have that choice due to religion, parental beliefs, cultural beliefs or many other reasons; and this book really highlights this by setting the book in a very up to date modern setting and using very popular brands and songs that are recent and easily recognised. I love the element of poetry and how it is her only release and escape from the world and her problems. I love the way she was able to find her voice through poetry. I love Twin, he is by far by favourite character. I love that he is gay, I have never read a book where there is a side character who is black, male and is gay; so I loved that.

When her mother gave her the bracelet, I knew something bad was going to happen. And so when the mother burnt the poetry journal – I wanted to dive into the book and use my own special fire extinguisher to put out the burning book and save it for her. I like her brother, Twin, reaches for the book to try and save it from burning; it was a like a bit of diffience against their mother, her actions and what she wants to believe in.

I didn’t not like the mother but then again I didn’t like her either, I didn’t like how she was forcing Xiomara to do something she didn’t want to do. But then I sympathised with her because you could see that she was doing it out of love for her daughter, as she thought church and religion were the best and the only way to a good and happy life. However I think her Father annoyed and angered me more, as he was able to do so much more to help his daughter get freedom from her oppressive mother but he chose to remain silent and just watch in the backgrounds. I liked how in the end there was a complete happy ending – as although Xiomara gets to be her own person and gets her freedom, and although her mother finds out about her poetry and doesn’t stop her from doing it, she also doesn’t accept it and as a result at the end of the book the family goes to group sessions together with Farther Sean to talk through their issues and problems.

What a revelation this book was! I devoured it in one sitting and could hear the rhythm of the words in my head. It tells the story of Xiomara, a 15 year old Dominican girl dealing with a body she doesn't want, anger she can't control and a very religious mother. What totally blew my mind, was the fact that this is written in verse and the power that conveys is simply stunning. The words read like a poetry slam - it is lyrical and beautiful and the emotion just thrusts itself into you with no apologies. Some of the subject matter is really tough and X is a character that you just want to get through her life with as few scars as possible. You feel for her and Acevedo has ensured that you feel with her. When she talks about the shivers up the back of her neck, you feel them. When she talks about the anger caused by 'grown ass' men hitting on her, you feel that anger. This is a remarkable achievement and I feel quite certain that this is a book, and a character, that will stay with me for a long time. Go Poet X - you got bars!
I received a free copy of this book from NetGalley in exchange for a fair and honest review.

This goes on the pile of that very small number of books which have almost made me cry on the Tube. The Poet X is a gorgeous, heartbreaking look at the contradictions teenage girls face in their lives, particularly those girls who look a certain way, which makes society see them as open for judgment and criticism.

Xiomara is fifteen years old, and because of how she looks, people think they have the right to touch her and catcall her on the street. She's learning to navigate a world full of assumptions about her and the expectations that people, particularly her mother, have for her. And in amongst all of that, she finds poetry, she meets a boy, and she learns her brother's deepest secret. 

There were parts of this book which made me so, so angry. Xiomara's experiences are rendered in painful detail, and each time she was faced with an ignorant teenager or a grown-up who believed themselves superior, I was so angry on her behalf. Acevedo does an incredible job of relating the everyday nature of these events, and the way they can build up and grind you down.

The secondary characters are all richly drawn. Xiomara's mother, with whom Xiomara has such a difficult relationship, is at once understandable and incredibly frustrating, as she watches her daughter through the lens of religion and her own experiences. Xavier, Xiomara's twin, is going through his own problems, but he still wants to help his sister. Xiomara's English teacher, Ms Galiano, proves herself to be a truly great teacher, one for whom pastoral responsibility is as important as academic. I also liked the fact that all the characters grew and changed over the course of the book. Often, it feels like the main character changes but no-one else does but in The Poet X, Xiomara changes and her twin changes and their parents change and Father Sean changes - it's wonderful.

The one downside of reading the e-ARC I had is that some of the formatting didn't quite work, and as this book is written in verse, it made the experience a little frustrating for me. Xiomara's poetry is the way we learn about her life, and there were passages I found myself stopping to read out loud to get the full experience when the formatting was off. But all that means is that I'll need to buy a hard copy when the book comes out, and that's no bad thing!

The Poet X is a gorgeous addition to the 2018 YA canon. Xiomara is a wonderful main character, and Acevedo's first foray into YA fiction is masterful. I would recommend it to anyone who likes their YA realistic, wonderfully rich, and full of heart.

I loved this!!! It was a really emotional and beautiful story of one girl struggling to make her passions work alongside her family. It has so many different layers, and I loved how it was in verse. It was so easy to read, and it really added to the story. I loved how it centred on spoken word. It really is an amazing thing, and I loved the difficulties between religion and how you want to live your life. 10/10 would recommend.

This small but mighty novel packs a punch both moving and memorable. The format is so engaging, the writing so skilful that the whole experience of reading is addictive and exhilarating. Xiomara is a fantastic character with a unique voice that she uses to navigate the emotional obstacles of her life. I absolutely adored her - her spirit, her resilience, her intelligence. Her relationship with her mother was in equal parts heart breaking, infuriating, redemptive. There were scenes that were so evocative of being 16 and feeling adrift in the world that I was transported back to that time of my own life. This is definitely an emotional wringer of a story! So well done, so relevant, so vital - this is a book not to be missed. A future classic, I don't think it needs my approval to be a huge success! Thank you NetGalley for my copy.

This is going to be such an important book to so many people, i can tell. I loved it in so many different ways i don't quite know where to start. The characters and their emotions were so vivid and i felt it deeply. I love, love, love this!

This book is beautiful, powerful, and wrecked me in the best way possible. I cannot recommend it highly enough. I will be eagerly keeping an eye out for Acevedo's books in the future.

This book intrigued me from just reading the synopsis and when I found out the book was written completely in poetic form, I knew I had to read this as soon as possible. Reminiscent of a combination of writers such as Junot Diaz in it’s honesty and writers such as Jacqueline Woodson, The Poet X is an incredible story.

This is a book that as soon as you’re in, you will not get out until the end. Explosive, real and a great reflection of the society we live in today, The Poet X shows how the world works for a teenage girl growing up now and that’s both sad, maddening and touching throughout this book, particularly the moments with her family and the impact they have on her life.

However it’s the use of different forms of poetry in how this story is told that makes this book draw you in, they reflect how Xiomara’s mind works, whether it’s racing thoughts when talking about falling in love or mellow moments contemplating how she feels writing, this books emotions are displayed in how each page is written and it strikes you throughout this book with such perfection.

A unique and brilliant read, it’s probably the best book I’ve read this year so far.

This book is beautiful, fierce, heartbreaking and joyful. Written in verse it is the coming-of-age story of Xiomara Batista, a teenage girl living in Harlem. Her parents emigrated from the Dominican Republic and have retained traditional (religious) values, which don't quite gel with those of Xio and her twin brother. This is the story of how Xio struggles to find her voice, and balance the conflict that arises from having a strict Catholic mother and being a red-blooded teenage girl in the grip of first love.

The way Xio questions her faith is very sensitively handled, and her battle against boys (and men) sexualising her developing figure will strike a chord with anyone who is or has been a teenage girl. I mean this as the highest compliment when I say The Poet X should take its place in the cannon of classic teenage girl literature. This is Forever for a new generation, and dare I say it - it may even surpass Forever.