TBP: April 16, 2019
368 Pages
Seventeen-year-old Edgar Poe counts down the days until he can escape his foster family—the wealthy Allans of Richmond, Virginia. He hungers for his upcoming life as a student at the prestigious new university, almost as much as he longs to marry his beloved Elmira Royster.
However, on the brink of his departure, all his plans go awry when a macabre Muse named Lenore appears to him. Muses are frightful creatures that lead Artists down a path of ruin and disgrace, and no respectable person could possibly understand or accept them. But Lenore steps out of the shadows with one request: “Let them see me!”-Goodreads
Let’s take a moment to admire this beautiful cover. It is so far one of the best covers for 2019 ( and we are only in January).
This book is considered a retelling. And I believe the retelling is of Edgar Allan Poe and how/why he dipped into poetry when he did and of course his most famous poem The Raven.
This book although not written in verse is poetry. The words are drawn out and written in a way as if they were poems. This proved to be an issue for me because it stretched the book out way longer than it needed to be.
Creativity was no lacking in this book. Poe’s muse Lenore proved to be just as creepy as some of Poe’s stories. And at one point I felt bad for her but then just like Poe, she did not listen to anyone and proceeded to insert herself into a world that did not want her.
The thing about Lenore is her presence was unwelcome because of how she looked and every time she opened her mouth. She cared for nothing but the poetry, which fed her and it took way too long for her to actually care about Poe. I loved reading Lenore’s point of view. She was the essence of the book because Poe was an annoying 17 year old boy who wanted the perks of an adult but didn’t want to be an adult.
I wanted to like this book. Edgar Allan Poe helped define my initial love of reading but this made me look at Poe as more of a brat than a talented author that preferred the dark side.
The book would have been better if it was written in verse. The way it was written, you can tell the author put a lot of thought and care into each sentence. It was beautiful but for a chapter book, not enough was actually going on and it didn’t leave a lot of anything for me to feel invested in the overall story.
However, I did complete it and it was an alright story. I strongly believe it would have been better if it was written as verse.
2 Pickles
Motif by Tanya 