If You Love Poetry, Read These Novels
Beautifully written books for those who love lyrical prose
As the end of 2024 draws near and we consider next year’s resolutions, chances are high that at least some of us will have “read more poetry” on our list. I know I’m always glad when I make time for it, my mind slowing down to take in imagery and the beauty of language. But if poetry scares us a little, or we’re worried we won’t “get it”, one great way of immersing ourselves in it is to read novels in verse, or even novels which aren’t poems in the strict sense, but whose prose is so elegant and evocative that it has a similar effect on the soul. I’m recommending three here, all of which are among my very favourite books, and all of which floored me.
Bonus: these — and many other novels-in-verse — are very short, which might be helpful if you’re trying to meet your Goodreads goal for the year!
The Buddha in the Attic, by Julie Otsuka
I went to Goodreads to look at how I’d reviewed this book when I read it a decade ago, and I’d simply said: “I want to write like this”. The Buddha in the Attic is an absolutely gorgeous, heart-breaking book about the experience of Japanese picture brides in the early 20th century. It’s written with a “we” narrative, and is where I learned the word anaphora — which means (cue Merriam Webster) the “repetition of a word or expression at the beginning of successive phrases, clauses, sentences, or verses”.
The effect is fairytale-like, something that almost sings you to sleep — but that is completely at odds with the emotional and physical violence endured by these women. That contrast between the form of the narrative and the content of it is, in part, what makes it so haunting, and memorable. It is a moving and powerful book.
Bookshop US | Bookshop UK | Blackwell’s | Libro.fm
We the Animals, by Justin Torres
Like The Buddha in the Attic, We The Animals is a book I read as part of my MFA course, and it’s easy to see why it should be studied by people who long to write beautifully. This slim volume about three brothers is a series of vignettes — almost prose poems — about their evolving bond and the mess and chaotic emotions of family life. Michael Cunningham says it well: "We the Animals is a dark jewel of a book. It’s heartbreaking. It’s beautiful. It resembles no other book I’ve read. We should all be grateful for Justin Torres, a brilliant, ferocious new voice."
Bookshop US | Bookshop UK | Blackwell’s | Libro.fm
Here is the Beehive, by Sarah Crossan
I’d heard about Irish writer Sarah Crossan a fair bit over the years, primarily as the author of YA novels in verse, such as One, about conjoined twins; you may know her as the author of this year’s Hey, Zoey. Here is the Beehive came out in 2020, and perhaps that — along with the not-brilliant US cover — is why it didn’t get the love it deserved, despite my best efforts, making it a staff pick at East City Bookshop. Crossan’s first novel-in-verse for adults tells the story of a very particular kind of grief — that of a woman who has been having an affair with a married man, when she receives news that he has died. Poetry is an apt medium for this: a cry of the heart, because that’s all she has, in a situation where her grief, by its nature, has to remain a very private one.
Stories of “the other woman” are not for everyone, I know — and to be perfectly honest, I’m not sure what led me to pick this up, but I was blown away by it. As The Guardian says in this excellent review, “Here Is the Beehive is a gutsy, modern, deeply entertaining and, at times, faintly subversive-feeling piece of work. It’s also entirely and likably original in its execution, quite unlike anything I’ve read before.”
Bookshop US | Bookshop UK | Blackwell’s | Libro.fm
Want more?
More novels for people who love poetry can be found here (US) and here (UK).
Feedback is welcome on the format of this newsletter, and please feel free to comment with the thing you love, so I can recommend relevant books for you!
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