When I signed up for my “Women in Literature” course a year ago, I had no idea that the novels and written word I would absorb in that class would be some of the most impactful literature I had ever read.
From books about women of color in STEM, to long-lost love reconnecting after many years and beyond. Each book I have read in that course has changed my world perspective in some fashion.
Last year, for Women’s History Month, I wrote about how Hyperempathy, a disease present in Octavia Butler’s “Parable of the Sower,” highlights how afraid society is of women’s feelings. There was one other novel that we read about that highlights this theme with added layers of intersectionality tugging at the main characters story.
This novel is titled “The Poet X” by Elizabeth Acevedo. 15-year-old Xiomara Batista is our main character, a girl living in Brooklyn, weaving through adolescence… handling some challenges she faces with grace, and getting blindsided by others.
Xiomara lives in Brooklyn, New York, with her mother (Mami), who had been essentially tied to a man to allow her family to move to the United States from the Dominican Republic, even though her dream was to be a nun for the Catholic Church. She also lives with her twin brother, who is extremely gifted in academics.
Xiomara is struggling with feelings about boys, her family and using her voice. Throughout the novel, Mami stifles Xiomara’s desires that would allow her to flourish, which is why we have “The Poet X.” The whole story is told through poems- Xiomara’s chosen form of expression for her pent-up frustrations with her school, peers, and family.
The novel is supposed to be presented as a copy of Xiomara’s journal, where she begins to become comfortable and excited to write all that is happening in her life. This format makes the novel raw and relatable as it touches on so many different aspects of identity including sexuality, ethnicity, race, gender, and religion.
I read this entire novel in one night and experienced such a wide range of emotions through Xiomara’s eyes. Acevedo’s writing style made Xiomara’s struggles feel so cutting that I was left feeling changed in both emotional intelligence and sympathy in regard to intersectional challenges I will never face, but also in my worldly perspective as there are kids, teens, and adults who experience issues like these every day.
Acevedo artfully guides us as readers through the experiences of a Hispanic teen to leave us changed in heart and mind. I would recommend this book to anyone who needs a life-changing story about love, hurt, and most importantly, family.