The Poet X – Elizabeth Acevedo

Synopsis:

Xiomara has always kept her words to herself. When it comes to standing her ground in her Harlem neighbourhood, she lets her fists and her fierceness do the talking.

But X has secrets – her feelings for a boy in her bio class, and the notebook full of poems that she keeps under her bed. And a slam poetry club that will pull those secrets into the spotlight.

Because in spite of a world that might not want to hear her, Xiomara refuses to stay silent.

A novel about finding your voice and standing up for what you believe in, no matter how hard it is to say. Brave, bold and beautifully written – dealing with issues of race, feminism and faith.

Review:

This was part of my 21 for 2021 reading challenge. Obviously I hadn’t picked it up yet, so I thought Boxing Day (along with some chocolate and tea) would be the perfect time to dive on in!

I did manage to finish the book fairly quickly. This is partly due to the way it’s written and also the fact I ended up skimming a lot.

There’s no doubt that the topics and themes are important. I ended up connected with the characters enough but just really struggled with the style of writing.

I also didn’t enjoy the neatness of the resolution, it seemed to really bring the overall rating for me unfortunately!

I am glad I tried it but it a 2/5 for me.