There are many ways to write about abusive relationships and fear of loss, and poetry is a way of it. Writing a novel in verses about it, there is a different level of literary audacity. The topic is always of high interest and there are so many ways to write about it but poetry makes it more stringent and visible. Poetry builds bridges between souls therefore, the best way to look deep into someone else´s soul. Or oneself.
The novel proceeds in poetic installments of different lengths. There is a lyrical and philosophical touch which now I realize cannot be achieved exclusively through the prose. All those nuances and variations are definitely lost in the process of emotional translation into prose, but are just flourishing under the poetry spell.
This is how the long story of Emma, once a promising student, who failed for her much older teacher, goes. He manipulated her admiration for him into a destructive behavior which effectively took her away from the creative fold reducing her existence to a purely domestic role. It is another way to express psychological pressure by taking away from her the right to say now, humiliating her intelligence and trying to convince her to deny her own right to create. From a paternalistic position of patriarchy this verdict is taken by him, but her rage subsists and survives the heartbreak.
The Poet is Reid´s debut for adults, but she wrote poetry novels for young adults too. It is a delightfully intellectual experience to realize the diversity of worded stories. A special note to the equally poetic book cover.
Rating: 4 stars
Disclaimer: Book offered as part of the book tour but the opinions are, as usual, my own
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