A review by mariebrunelm
Signé Poète X by Elizabeth Acevedo

emotional reflective tense 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

4.75

Xiomara has a loud voice that people won't hear, and a body that takes too much room for others' comfort. She is a bubbling mess of emotions, torn between a religious mother, her Dominican heritage, and the words that keep blossoming under her pen and defying what she's been taught all her life. This book is her journal, in verse, brimming with restricted power. Elizabeth Acevedo offers a raw insight into a high school girl's life that reads like a defiant shout. It's an immensely powerful read, with its cut lines tumbling down the pages. I'm impressed by the author, and also by the translator, who also writes novels in verse and has wonderfully done justice to Acevedo's bright prose.
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