Review: Before the Ever After (by Jacqueline Woodson)

My Rating: 5 stars

 

Jacqueline Woodson is a renowned author whose works I've been wanting to read for a long time, but unfortunately, never got around to doing so.  Luckily for me, a few days ago, my library hold for Woodson's newly published novel, Before the Ever After, came through, so I decided to clear my schedule and read it immediately.  Since I jumped into this one so quickly, I didn't realize it was novel-in-verse format until I opened up to the first page.   I had just finished Elizabeth Acevedo's The Poet X last month, which was my very first time reading a novel-in-verse, and seeing how much I loved that experience, it made me even more excited to get into this one.

 

At the center of this story is 12-year-old Zachariah Johnson Jr., or ZJ, as he is known to all his friends and family except his dad, whose special nickname for him is "Little Man."  As a charismatic and talented pro football superstar, ZJ's dad is everyone's hero --  a man beloved and admired by millions of people, from sports fans across the country to the neighborhood kids in the Maplewood, New Jersey town where the family lives.  ZJ loves and adores his dad, but at times, he can't help but feel that he is living in his dad's shadow, even though his interest is in music and creating songs rather than playing pro ball like his dad.  Aside from his parents, the only other people who see and love ZJ for who he is are "his boys":  best friends Darry, Ollie, and Daniel -- together, they are the Fantastic Four and no matter what happens, they are there for each other.  Everything is going well – until it doesn't.  ZJ starts to notice his dad behaving strangely – he gets headaches a lot and seems to be angry or agitated all the time, but worst of all, he's gotten forgetful to the point that he has trouble remembering his son's name.  ZJ's mother explains that his dad's behavior is due to all the head injuries from his football career, though his dad's doctors seem to be trying to figure things out still.  When his dad's condition starts to fluctuate more frequently – one minute, he is the dad who sings with ZJ and always has a big grin for his Little Man, but the next minute, he is staring into space and is unable to remember his surroundings – ZJ struggles to come to terms with the realization that this is his family's new "ever after."   As ZJ tries desperately to hold on to the happy memories of the past, he gradually learns to face this new reality with the love and support of his family and friends.

I'm not a sports fan whatsoever — in fact, my knowledge in this area is so limited that I can barely tell one athlete apart from another (my friends who are into sports often tease me about getting teams and players mixed up, sometimes even across disciplines).  Given this, I normally would not pick up a sports-related book to read, but in this instance, I decided to go for it because 1) the author is Jacqueline Woodson (see first paragraph for further explanation) and 2) the premise sounded interesting, plus this is a short book (less than 200 pages) so it would be a quick read for me.  In the end, I didn't have to worry, as the story turned out to be more about the sports players and their families rather than the intricacies of the sport itself (though with that said, without football as the central theme, the story probably would not have worked as well as it did).

Those who are familiar with my book reviews know that I can be quite stingy when it comes to rating a book 5 stars.  I sometimes go with gut reaction, but more often than not, it takes a lot of careful reflecting and pondering (and at times, agonizing) on my part to reach the "this deserves 5 stars" point.  Well, this book captured my heart from the start!  I loved nearly everything about this book — from the moving story to the endearing characters to the realistic depictions of society and human interactions (ie: the sacrifices we make for our loved ones to live a better life), to the struggles of having to deal with a debilitating illness from the eyes of children, etc. what I especially loved though was the Fantastic Four — the friendship between the four boys was so genuine and sweet — the way they were always there for each other regardless of what happens, how no words need to be spoken, just being who they are and keeping each other company, their friendship warmed my heart and always managed to put a smile on my face!  At the same time, this book also made me cry, with ZJ watching his beloved father deteriorate right before his eyes and losing all the memories of their happy times together — the scene where ZJ's dad forgets who his son is, and ZJ's emotional reaction to it, absolutely broke my heart! 

Jacqueline Woodson has won many awards for her works and now after finally having read one of her books, I definitely understand why.  With this book being novel-in-verse, the writing is sparse, yet still packed such a punch.  I admire the way Woodson is able to craft such a heartfelt, emotionally poignant story populated with endearing, unforgettable characters so beautifully, yet also sparingly.  While I wait for Woodson's next book,  I can't wait to go back and explore as much of her backlist as possible!

Review: The Poet X (by Elizabeth Acevedo)

My Rating: 5 stars

**After watching (and hearing) Elizabeth Acevedo perform a segment from her book during an author chat after I read the book, I was absolutely blown away!  That performance gave me a new appreciation for this story and so I am changing my rating to 5 stars (from 4.5).**

I’ve never been much of a poetry reader.  Nothing against the form or anything, I just have a difficult time getting into poetry, for some reason. Perhaps it’s because my brain processes poetry and poetic verses differently than it does regular prose and as a result, I often have to exert much more effort in reading/re-reading (usually multiple times) poetry in order to fully grasp its meanings. The experience overall can be exhausting and draining for me, which is why, when it comes to leisure reading, I tend to avoid poetry.  This is also why, despite being an avid reader for most of my life and having read countless books over the decades, I had never read a novel-in-verse before, as I’ve always considered it a form of poetry and would likely struggle with it.  Given the above, I was understandably apprehensive when I found out that the group read for one of my book clubs this month would be renowned slam poet Elizabeth Acevedo’s debut novel-in-verse from 2018, The Poet X.   Even though I had heard so many wonderful things about Acevedo and her works, I didn’t know how I would take to a reading experience that, up to this point, was largely foreign to me. (As if that weren’t enough, this book also falls into the YA category, which I don’t read much nowadays, since I’m not the audience for it).   With all that said, I’m actually more surprised than anyone that I ended up enjoying this one so much more than I expected.

Xiomara Batista is the titular Poet X, a teenager who immigrated with her family from the Dominican Republic and now lives in Harlem with her parents and twin brother Xavier.  As she leaves adolescence and starts to come into her own, Xiomara struggles with trying to make sense of the world and her role in it.  In doing so, Xiomara encounters one obstacle after another – at school, she struggles with fitting in, which became more challenging after her body “started taking up more room than [her] voice” and consequently being the target of either affection from boys or jealous gossip from girls.  At home, Xiomara has a strained relationship with her parents – her father ignores her and her mother, who is fiercely religious, sees Xiomara as nothing but trouble and so enforces strict adherence to the laws of her church as a means of keeping her daughter from straying.  At the same time, Xiomara is also dealing with issues of the heart, as she starts to develop feelings for a boy in her biology class and becomes confused at the conflicting emotions raging with her.  Xiomara has a lot she wants to say, but feeling unheard, she has no choice but to pour all her frustrations into the pages of her notebook, in the form of poems that become a salve for her soul.  Through these poems, Xiomara is able to articulate every thought, feeling, desire, that she does not dare express out loud to a world that refuses to listen.  When she is invited to join her school’s slam poetry club, Xiomara is deeply conflicted, as she doesn’t know how she could ever speak the words from her notebook out loud, plus her mother would never let her attend anyway. With some encouragement along the way, Xiomara finally takes a step toward performing her poems, but the implications are severe, especially the visceral reaction from her mother, which threatens to destroy everything, including the little bit of self-worth she had worked so hard to gain.

Xiomara is one of those wonderfully drawn characters who, once you meet her, is very hard for you to forget her.  This is especially true when you have such a talented author as Elizabeth Acevedo at the helm, with her lyrical, poetic words beautifully giving voice to Xiomara, but in a way that is completely accessible, which I love.  For my first time reading a novel-in-verse, I’m so glad I got to start with Acevedo’s work!  Instead of struggling with this as I usually would if I were reading traditional poetry, I actually flew through this and finished in one sitting – though I did feel a bit sad afterwards because I was so immersed in the story and didn’t want it to end.

Overall, this was a different experience for me, but an absolutely incredible one. If, like me, you are looking to try a novel-in-verse for the first time, I highly recommend this immensely moving, heartfelt coming of age tale that is beautifully told in a powerful and unforgettable voice.  Acevedo’s talent definitely shines through and now I can’t wait to read her two subsequent works (also novels-in-verse), With the Fire on High (which came out in 2019) and her newest release Clap When You Land (which came out in May of this year) as well as whatever she decides to write next of course!