Imagine The Outsiders. Now Set It In A Poetry Commune. That’s largely how I wound up seeing this book. Our main character is a great fish out of water that gets sucked into this world she really has no clue about and finds herself navigating new friendships and controversies along the way, all while trying to understand the enigmatic leader of the group and uncover what this leader is hiding. There is quite a bit of meta commentary here, both generally and in the final reveal of exactly what had been happening for all these years, but even that didn’t really ascend to “preachy” levels, more just spice to the overall story. Yes, there was quite a bit of humor in this book too, but for me the humor made it more readable without taking away from the overall serious tone I was getting for some reason. But perhaps I’m just weird. (I know I am, but maybe my reactions to this book were particularly weird?) Very much recommended.
This review of The Poet’s House by Jean Thompson was originally written on July 10, 2022.
