Entry 5: A Poetic Novel?

Honestly, I have mixed feelings about Virginia Euwer Wolff’s Make Lemonade. This is the first novel that I have read or that I can recall reading that was written in verse, and I while the story was pretty good, I am not sure I liked the book that much. As you can see my feelings over this novel are pretty mixed. I can say that, however, that I find a novel written in this style to be very interesting in that the poetic style of writing helps emphasize the flow of the character’s thoughts and language. Moreover, I often forgot that I was reading poetry because the story, in a way, flowed. This is not to say I did not have any difficulties reading the novel because I did. In fact, I was did get confused due to the wording of the novel and I had to reread pieces over in order to ensure that I understood what was going on, causing me to feel sometimes as if the novel did not flow that well after all—the exact opposite of what I have felt over the course of the semester as we have been reading other works.

A novel written in verse is certainly new and sort of strange for me, in that, based on this one novel, I feel as if takes away from other aspects of the novel such as the development of the characters, the setting, and the overall plot, similar to what we discussed in class. Additionally, I did feel at times that the novel seemed a bit careless in comparison to other books we have read this semester; this make s me think that maybe verse-novels are sometimes written in such a manner simply due to the constant line breaks and the cutting of words out so that the style reflects that of poetry.

Despite both my criticisms and my acclaim for a verse-novel, I believe a book written in this manner says a lot about the author of that text. To me it says that that individual is aware of his or her targeted audience and knows how to creatively capture their attention. An author of a verse-novel makes the appropriate choice because they realize that in a way it creates strong images in the minds of the reader—they may not have much to go on so they are forced to come up with their own description and mental image of the characters or the setting. Also first person point of view is cozy; it allows the reader to get to know the narrator and even question things about him or her, leading to a closer reading of the novel or story in question. Based on Make Lemonade, verse novels seem to be realistic, revealing tough issues that young readers face daily, and that quality in a book is something that attracts young readers. Other characteristics that may attract young readers is that verse novels seem to focus on raw emotions and they are less intimidating due to the increase in white space that tends to cover the page. It is for these reasons that I feel verse novels are and will continue to be a hit with young readers.