E-Book: The Poet X by Elizabeth Acevedo

A couple of friends had recommended reading this book so I picked it up last week and finished reading it on Friday.  Don't let my time spent reading the book fool you.  This is a novel written in verse and readers can easily finish reading in a day!

This book hit a little too close to home.  Our main character, Xiomara, who goes by the alias X, faces a real challenge which most teenagers experience, and that is communication.  Sure, any one who reads this story will list many others that Xiomara undergoes but none is greater than family communication.  As the reader becomes invested in Xiomara, the reader realizes that while X lives in a compact apartment unit being able to eavesdrop on her parent's conversations through the apartment's thin walls, and watching her family routinely watch tv, pray, or text, we begin to notice that Xiomara does not know her family as well as she believes, and vice versa.

What made me fall in love with her character was her innate nature to write.  I loved that the reader gets to know Xiomara through her writing.  Her writing is visceral and I caught myself empathizing with her.  It's clear that her parents did not have an easy relationship and her mother projects onto Xiomara without realizing that her words and actions damage X's mental well being.

When Xiomara falls for her classmate Aman, she does not allow herself to take pleasure in kissing.  It is clear that she yearns for affection.   She is consumed with fear and shame no thanks to her family "who believe in keeping las cosas de casa en casa."  I too was raised in a household with similar values and I didn't realize it until my early 30s that it's not healthy living.  A mindset as such only leads to bottled-up emotions and guilt manifesting into shame.

I want to also mention that the story is well written.  It reads like a journal should read, Xiomara's thoughts and emotions are well translated onto paper.  I was wondering if she would ever free herself from her feelings of shame. The story introduces religion and various writing prompts assigned to X that help move the story forward.  The writing prompts are where we get to see the "real" Xiomara.  She writes her drafts the way she actually wants to express herself right now to anyone willing to listen and help, but she turns in assignments that are well articulated and unfortunately a bit generic to what she is actually feeling.  Assignment #3 was jarring and assignment #4 made me cry. 

I loved that religion was used as a positive guide towards sincerity.  Both Father Sean and her teacher Ms. Galiano were positive adult figures.  It's unfortunate growing up with unavailable parents, and for me it was a relief that Xiomara had those two adults and used their wisdom to make a cathartic move with her mother.  Without Father Sean and Ms. Galiano I don't think Xiomara would have gathered the courage to confront her mother, and her fear/shame of being herself.