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4.45 AVERAGE
4.45 AVERAGE
Painful but gorgeous. Triggering if you have any religious trauma but also inspiring if you're a creative.
emotional
reflective
fast-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
Character
Strong character development:
Yes
Loveable characters:
Yes
Diverse cast of characters:
Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Yes
my first acevedo read was on audiobook and i think i did myself a disservice by not getting to experience the visual style of her writing. this book was beautiful and hit me in ways i didn’t expect. so poignant, so elegant, so relatable, so heartbreaking, this book is absolutely perfect
This hit me hard and close.
I don't normally ever read poetry, though, I do want to get into, but school hasn't given me much of a taste. I also don't read YA contemporarys, as I get enough of the teenage experience and drama at school. I only picked this up on a spur of the moment thing. I didn't expect it to resonate with me. The parts about boys, and her mother's reaction, reminded me of emotions I felt only a couple days ago involving my father. The raw broken parts of this book made me think and understand my position now and where to go forward. I would have given this 5 stars but the ending of the book where the family is now a strong dynamic felt too easy. I know, coming from a dysfunctional, the recovery road takes years, and still relapses, not a couple of months. I do know that my experience is my own, but the ending still just felt too easy. Everything up to that last bit was great though.
I don't normally ever read poetry, though, I do want to get into, but school hasn't given me much of a taste. I also don't read YA contemporarys, as I get enough of the teenage experience and drama at school. I only picked this up on a spur of the moment thing. I didn't expect it to resonate with me. The parts about boys, and her mother's reaction, reminded me of emotions I felt only a couple days ago involving my father. The raw broken parts of this book made me think and understand my position now and where to go forward. I would have given this 5 stars but the ending of the book where the family is now a strong dynamic felt too easy. I know, coming from a dysfunctional, the recovery road takes years, and still relapses, not a couple of months. I do know that my experience is my own, but the ending still just felt too easy. Everything up to that last bit was great though.
emotional
hopeful
inspiring
sad
fast-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
Character
Strong character development:
Yes
Loveable characters:
Complicated
Diverse cast of characters:
Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Yes
It's unfortunate that poetry just doesn't click with me, so I'll leave this unrated. Even with that personal road block, I could tell this was beautiful. I could tell that so many people could feel something from this, could take something important from it. It helped listening to the audiobook, since this gave the vibes more of spoken poetry which obviously came through in the author's narration and I think was the intent. This may not have clicked with me, but I related to Xiomara in many ways, and didn't in others. I felt her pain and frustration and confusion with her mother, her body, the church. Personally, I think we could have lived without the romance, but that's maybe just me. Overall, this was not for me, but I think it might stick with me anyway.
“My parents probably wanted a girl who would sit in the pews
Wearing pretty florals and a soft smile.
They got combat boots and a mouth silent
Until it’s sharp as an island machete.”
I have been following Elizabeth Acevedo for a while, every since I heard a few of her poems on the Button Poetry Youtube page. I was so excited when I found out that she was going to be publishing this book. I went to Target immediately to pick up the special edition and I am just now getting a chance to read it.
The Poet X is a book told in verse. It is about this 15 year old-dominican girl named Xiomara. She lives in NYC with her mom, dad, and twin brother Xavier. Every since she has been growing curves, Xio feels that she has had to fight. However, fighting is not even what she is the most talented at. Xio is a poet, but she is not comfortable with sharing her poems to the world. That is until she is asked to join her school’s slam poetry club, and she begins to learn how to use her voice and how important it is for her to be heard.
I didn’t know what I was going to think of this book before I read it. Books in written in verse go one of two ways for me. I either love them and connect with them, or I feel like I didn’t get enough. The Poet X was the former for me. I loved it.
I connected so much with Xiomara. I almost felt that his was full novel not one written in verse. I could identify with her in some ways and I enjoyed seeing the ways in which she was different from me. I felt so bad for her so many times. I especially felt bad while reading about her and her mother’s relationship. As someone who is extremely close with my mom, it really broke my heart.
I also want to talk about how amazing Elizabeth Acevedo is. I should have known I would have no problems with her book considering how much I have loved her previous poems. She evokes so much emotion in such few words. I found myself almost in tears a few times while I was reading.
This isn’t a poetry collection, it is a story; so it’s a little difficult to say which poems were my favorites. However, I did tab a few that were my faves. They were:
Okay?
Church Mass
Rough Draft Assignment 2- Last Paragraphs of My Biography
In Front of My Locker
In Translation
Other Things You Think About in the Split Second Your Notebook is Burning
Twin Advice (In the Target exclusive version)
I really encourage everyone to pick up this book if you haven’t yet. It was really amazing and one of my favorite books of the year.
“When has anyone ever told me
I had the right to stop it all
without my knuckles, or my anger,
with just some simple words.”
Wearing pretty florals and a soft smile.
They got combat boots and a mouth silent
Until it’s sharp as an island machete.”
I have been following Elizabeth Acevedo for a while, every since I heard a few of her poems on the Button Poetry Youtube page. I was so excited when I found out that she was going to be publishing this book. I went to Target immediately to pick up the special edition and I am just now getting a chance to read it.
The Poet X is a book told in verse. It is about this 15 year old-dominican girl named Xiomara. She lives in NYC with her mom, dad, and twin brother Xavier. Every since she has been growing curves, Xio feels that she has had to fight. However, fighting is not even what she is the most talented at. Xio is a poet, but she is not comfortable with sharing her poems to the world. That is until she is asked to join her school’s slam poetry club, and she begins to learn how to use her voice and how important it is for her to be heard.
I didn’t know what I was going to think of this book before I read it. Books in written in verse go one of two ways for me. I either love them and connect with them, or I feel like I didn’t get enough. The Poet X was the former for me. I loved it.
I connected so much with Xiomara. I almost felt that his was full novel not one written in verse. I could identify with her in some ways and I enjoyed seeing the ways in which she was different from me. I felt so bad for her so many times. I especially felt bad while reading about her and her mother’s relationship. As someone who is extremely close with my mom, it really broke my heart.
I also want to talk about how amazing Elizabeth Acevedo is. I should have known I would have no problems with her book considering how much I have loved her previous poems. She evokes so much emotion in such few words. I found myself almost in tears a few times while I was reading.
This isn’t a poetry collection, it is a story; so it’s a little difficult to say which poems were my favorites. However, I did tab a few that were my faves. They were:
Okay?
Church Mass
Rough Draft Assignment 2- Last Paragraphs of My Biography
In Front of My Locker
In Translation
Other Things You Think About in the Split Second Your Notebook is Burning
Twin Advice (In the Target exclusive version)
I really encourage everyone to pick up this book if you haven’t yet. It was really amazing and one of my favorite books of the year.
“When has anyone ever told me
I had the right to stop it all
without my knuckles, or my anger,
with just some simple words.”
I really enjoyed this book! It's written in poetry which gives the book a really nice (and unique) flow. It's a great coming-of-age story.
emotional
reflective
sad
tense