Elizabeth Acevedo's debut novel is colorful, raw, and energetic. It is a story about a fighter who learns to be strong through her words, and I loved every page of it! The Poet X combines the raw realism of current issues with the beauty and lyricism of poetry - a truly potent mix that made me unable to put it down. I flew through it in one morning and enjoyed it thoroughly. This review is more of a happy gush! I just loved the book so much. All of the protagonist's confusion and angst and anger and joy and wonder just SPILL THROUGH in a triumphant blaze of words. I felt for her, I felt /with/ her, and I think I learned from her too. I just wanted to give her a hug and some apple slices.
Let me just rabbit trail into a rant about the representation of Christianity in The Poet X. I loved the fact that, Xiomara's best friend, Caridad, is a christian and that's not...portrayed as a bad thing? it doesn't make her prudish or sniffy or detached from the world, like so many Christian characters in modern media? Even though Xiomara (who is SO valid by the way) struggles with Christianity because of the poor experiences she's had with it, christianity isn't portrayed as a bad thing in and of itself and THAT MADE ME HAPPY!! Caridad and Father Sean are christians and they're good people that Xiomara likes. There /are/ bigoted and harmful christians out there and many people /have/ been negatively affected by them - and that's represented too, in Xiomara's mother. But! /both/ kinds of christianity are represented in this book. The harmful, misleading kind /as well as/ the true kind, which is innately accepting and loving. I appreciated that....it made me so happy to see nice christians, for once, in a book that isn't Christian Literature™.