A review by badspringbye
The Poet X, by Elizabeth Acevedo

emotional reflective sad tense medium-paced

4.0

part I was terrifyingly relatable. it highly takes emphasis on traditional and religious beliefs of a certain person (Xiomara's mom) and how they try to compel their child into something they (Xiomara) disfavor, until there comes the day more and more questions starts to form and pile up until these collective thoughts turned into merely antipathy for their conflicting faith and beliefs, but what can a child do over their own parent's abusive behaviour when every.single.thing. should be under their control as long as you live under the same roof?

part II was a bit dreary probably because of the romance
Spoiler(I also didn't like how they still ended up together. X and Aman's relationship...that I won't acknowledge. seeing your partner get sexually violated in public and choosing to ignore? yeaaa enough for me. please.)


part III is when I shed tears, particularly because of the passage written below. but the rest were a bit of a letdown honestly, wrapped up way too quickly.
Spoilerthere was an attempt to reconstruct her mother's attitude squeezed into the last five pages.


excerpt from part III, Going Home:
<i>"Going Home. Is one of the hardest things I've ever done. Hands trembling at the thought of what will happen when I walk through the front door. Because my mother's ears are soundproof when it comes to me."</i>
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