Review: With the Fire on High

With the Fire on High by Elizabeth Acevedo
My rating: 5 of 5 stars

Elizabeth Acevedo's second novel proves to be just as brilliant and readable as The Poet X, but it also proves that Acevedo is about the furthest thing from a one-trick pony you can get. Radically different in so many ways from its predecessor, With the Fire on High is just as fast-moving a prose novel as Acevedo's earlier verse novel, and just as emotionally involving too. And just as artistic, though artistic in cooking as opposed to poetry. (With hints of magical realism too, as in the scene where Emoni talks about the day of her very clumsy, awkward, and disappointing first time, and she burned the sugar when she was cooking later, and ever since then her maduros have always made people inexplicably weep.) And less explosive too - while there's conflict involved, particularly between Emoni and her ex-boyfriend/baby daddy Tyrone, it's not nearly as rage-inducing as when X's mom acts so vile and horrible in the name of Jesus. In fact, Acevedo makes it a point of emphasizing that being Catholic shouldn't necessarily equal being ultra-conservative and/or abusing your child for not conforming to such strict standards. Emoni's 'Buela, described as a "soft Catholic," is devout but not controlling, giving Emoni the room to properly mature and make her own decisions, and fully endorsing her creativity in life - especially in the kitchen. Acevedo's one of the best in the business right now, and this latest novel of hers, touching and life-affirming as it is, is all the proof you need of that fact.

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