Name: Maggie's review of The Poet's House by Jean Thompson
Item: The Poet's House
Rating: 4
Author: Maggie

Jean Thompson

An unforgettable, lighthearted story about a young woman who discovers the insular world of writers, from the New York Times bestselling author of The Year We Left Home. Carla is in her twenties, working for a landscaper, lacking confidence, still unsure what direction her life will take. Viridian is a lauded and lovely aging poet whose reputation has been defined by her infamous affair with a famous male poet, Mathias, many years earlier. When Carla is hired to work at Viridian's house, she is perplexed by this community of writers: their tendency to recite lines in conversation, the stories of their many liaisons, their endless wine-soaked nights. And still she becomes enamored with Viridian and her whole circle, and especially with the power of words, the “ache and hunger that can both be awakened and soothed by a poem,” a hunger that Carla feels sharply at this stagnating moment in her young life. At the same time, she sees how even Viridian has had to compromise so much to take her place in the world of letters. And as Viridian’s standing begins to fade, a number of people angle to gain possession of Mathias’s cycle of poems written about Viridian, a cycle he famously burned as he read them. Yet long after Mathias' s death, one copy may still rest with Viridian. If so, why won't she release it? A wry meditation on art as both transformative and on the ways in which it can be leveraged as commerce, as well as a perceptive examination of the female artist, Jean Thompson’s novel is at once delightfully funny and wise, and will resonate with readers who loved Lily King's Writers & Lovers, Meg Wolitzer's The Female Persuasion, and Susan Choi’s Trust Exercise.

The Poet's House

Deepika Ramesh

21-year-old landscaper and lost Californian Carla is pulled into a world of poets, dinner parties, and literary conferences by a new client- Viridian, a poetry legend whose reading deeply moves Carla.

Carla has never been a reader. An unnamed learning difference has kept her from enjoying literature. But Viridian loans Carla books, reads to her, and connects her to important people in the literary world. Most importantly, Viridian pushes Carla to develop her own personhood. Who is she? What does she like? Viridian is a would-be mother figure to Carla, until glimpses of Viridian’s mythical past complicate Carla’s feelings. A son comes forward, and a past relationship with a volatile, iconic poet whose mysterious final work Viridian is rumored to have, somewhere in that house. 

This book considers artists- their motivations, their communities, their gender politics, and how they age. It considers these things through the lens of a non-artist, an appreciator. It’s easy to identify with Carla. Surrounded by artists, she feels stupid, like she couldn’t possibly know anything worth saying. Her shame keeps her on the outskirts at times, running away from the possibility of being seen as provincial even when encouraged to engage.

The book is beautifully atmospheric. Viridian’s house and the poet collective that buzzes around it are warm and comforting. The lackadaisical plot makes for some drag in the middle, but I didn’t mind. I wanted to hang at the edge of the dinner party, when-glass in hand, and just listen.

Maggie

21-year-old landscaper and lost Californian Carla is pulled into a world of poets, dinner parties, and literary conferences by a new client- Viridian, a poetry legend whose reading deeply moves Carla.

Carla has never been a reader. An unnamed learning difference has kept her from enjoying literature. But Viridian loans Carla books, reads to her, and connects her to important people in the literary world. Most importantly, Viridian pushes Carla to develop her own personhood. Who is she? What does she like? Viridian is a would-be mother figure to Carla, until glimpses of Viridian’s mythical past complicate Carla’s feelings. A son comes forward, and a past relationship with a volatile, iconic poet whose mysterious final work Viridian is rumored to have, somewhere in that house. 

This book considers artists- their motivations, their communities, their gender politics, and how they age. It considers these things through the lens of a non-artist, an appreciator. It’s easy to identify with Carla. Surrounded by artists, she feels stupid, like she couldn’t possibly know anything worth saying. Her shame keeps her on the outskirts at times, running away from the possibility of being seen as provincial even when encouraged to engage.

The book is beautifully atmospheric. Viridian’s house and the poet collective that buzzes around it are warm and comforting. The lackadaisical plot makes for some drag in the middle, but I didn’t mind. I wanted to hang at the edge of the dinner party, when-glass in hand, and just listen.

Deepika Ramesh &
The Poet's House by Jean Thompson

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Deepika Ramesh &The Poet's House by Jean Thompson

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Join the club

Deepika Ramesh &
The Poet's House by Jean Thompson