A review by booksaremypeople
The Poet's House by Jean Thompson

4.0

Jean Thompson is a National Book Award Finalist and bestselling author of The Year We Left Home. In The Poet's House we meet twenty-year-old Carla, who has reached a point of stagnation in her life. She’s an unfulfilled landscaper and it seems as though everyone around her feels like she should be doing something else with her time, including her mother, who wishes she would get a job at a hospital. Carla forges her own path and ends up working for the older Viridian, a successful and well regarded poet who brings Jean into her inner circle of writers. Aside from being a well known poet, Viridian’s reputation also preceeds her because of an affair she had with Mathias, also a famous poet. When a collection of poems about their affair emerges, the inner circle picks sides and the once cohesive group begins to crumble. As an outsider, we see Jean grapple with this situation. I think fans of Meg Wolizter and Lily King will enjoy this novel. Illuminting, at times funny and always thoughtful, this is a book about connection, longing and friendship. Thank you to Algonquin for the advanced review copy. To learn more about this book, listen to my book recommendation podcast, Books Are My People, episode #80.