The Poet X
Summary:
Xiomara is a 15-year-old girl Dominican-American girl who is coming to terms with many big issues in her life: she struggles against her parents, particularly her strict, religious mother; she knows her own religious doubt has been confirmed but endeavours to free herself from its constraints. She questions the difficulties and lack of options that are available to women and girls at every turn: in the church, in religious doctrine, in her family’s dynamic where she sees the unevenness of the responsibility allocated to her and not to her twin brother. She rails against the constant unwanted attention from men and boys. She begins a first meaningful relationship with Aman. Yet at the heart of the book is Xiomara finding her own voice, through the written and spoken word, and of finding the strength within herself to deal with the challenges she faces.
Edited by: Dublin City University
Comment:
Acevedo’s novel written in verse is a beautiful and powerful coming-of-age story that firmly places Xiomara at the centre of her own life and destiny, even when it constantly seems that she is at the mercy of forces outside her control: her stifling and religious mother, the gender norms that dictate the space a girl’s body and mind is allowed to take up; the patriarchal structures that expose her to constant unwanted verbal and physical attention from men and boys. The difficulties boys who do not conform to stereotypes are exposed too and explored through her close relationship with her twin brother and his sexuality. Xiomara has always been committed and connected to the act of writing but her discovery of spoken word and her school’s poetry club, through a particularly attentive and responsive teacher, cements this and though finding her voice is not without difficulty and complexity, the solace and strength it brings her is evident.