Module 5 Poetry Review
Poetry 5663
Diana Stephens
What My Girlfriend Doesn’t Know
By Sonya Sones
Sones’ 2007 offering followed the very popular What My Mother Doesn’t Know, but stands completely on its own. This free verse novel tells the story from the nerdy guy Robin’s point of view, of how Sophie left her clique to be his girlfriend. The short opening poem, “A Piece of Advice from Me to Me,” uses alliteration of the ‘B’ sound to immediately grab the reader’s interest: “Better brace yourself, /loser. /Because you /are about to be dumped. /Big time.” Robin’s believable voice relates his ups and downs with Sophie at school where he is considered the ultimate loser, excluded from all groups, and at a Harvard art class where he becomes a clique member who is happily one of the gang. He tells his story with all of the shame, joy, lust, jealousy, and rejection of a typical 14 year old guy.
The free verse is very alliterative (above) with occasional rhythm and rhyme, “. . .maybe /we can keep it from seeping in, /keep it from creeping under our skin. /Maybe, if we can just laugh /instead of shattering, /we can somehow /keep all of it from mattering. ” This minimalist style propels the action at a fast page-turning pace, but most of the verse reads like carefully worded prose, “Pretending I’m starving, /trying to avoid eye contact with my parents. /Because if they take a close look at me, /they’ll see how messed up I feel right now.” The ironic touches of humor are plentiful and masterful, as when he hears a young child say, “Don’t be such a ‘Murphy,’” he thinks, “Until now, it hadn’t crossed my mind /that “Murphy” might have earned itself /a permanent spot in the dictionary. /Maybe /when I get home, /I’ll look myself up.”
Robin’s interest in sex is consistent, “Because I wouldn’t want her to get the impression /that I’m a sex-crazed maniac. / Even though I am a sex-crazed maniac.” So when a college girl encourages him, the reader is unsure how he will respond, creating excellent suspense, “Actually touching a girl’s breasts! . . . This /feels amazing . . . /This feels /incredible . . . /This feels /awesome . . . /This feels wrong.” And then, as a though hammering the theme home, there is even a concrete poem, using two words “Yeah, right,” to create the shape of breasts (or a rear end,) called “I Do Not Have a One Track Mind.” Another concrete poem is “I’ve Survived Dinner with My Prying Parents” in the shape of an arrow. For variety, there is an amusing list poem as well, “A Partial List of Mrs. Stein’s Excuses for Coming into the Kitchen Every Five minutes After That to Spy on Us.”
The figurative language, while not abundant, is well placed, as with this simile using an alliterative ‘c,’ “My heart crashed /straight down to my feet /when she told me, /like an elevator with its cable cut.” The imagery, however, is pretty dry and tame, “I rush in the door, /ask her teacher where she sits, hurry to her desk, /and leave /my offerings /on her alter: /a homemade valentine /and a single /rose.” But then, the style propels the action; this is not a lyric.
Robin’s voice, while familiar, is humorous and ironic, keeping the reader’s interest focused on the course of true adolescent love. The ups and downs are very engaging-a perfect reluctant reader choice for male or female, which is unusual for the romance genre.
Sones, Sonya. (2007). What My Girlfriend Doesn’t Know. New York: Simon & Schuster Children's Publishing.
Poetry 5663
Diana Stephens
What My Girlfriend Doesn’t Know
By Sonya Sones
Sones’ 2007 offering followed the very popular What My Mother Doesn’t Know, but stands completely on its own. This free verse novel tells the story from the nerdy guy Robin’s point of view, of how Sophie left her clique to be his girlfriend. The short opening poem, “A Piece of Advice from Me to Me,” uses alliteration of the ‘B’ sound to immediately grab the reader’s interest: “Better brace yourself, /loser. /Because you /are about to be dumped. /Big time.” Robin’s believable voice relates his ups and downs with Sophie at school where he is considered the ultimate loser, excluded from all groups, and at a Harvard art class where he becomes a clique member who is happily one of the gang. He tells his story with all of the shame, joy, lust, jealousy, and rejection of a typical 14 year old guy.
The free verse is very alliterative (above) with occasional rhythm and rhyme, “. . .maybe /we can keep it from seeping in, /keep it from creeping under our skin. /Maybe, if we can just laugh /instead of shattering, /we can somehow /keep all of it from mattering. ” This minimalist style propels the action at a fast page-turning pace, but most of the verse reads like carefully worded prose, “Pretending I’m starving, /trying to avoid eye contact with my parents. /Because if they take a close look at me, /they’ll see how messed up I feel right now.” The ironic touches of humor are plentiful and masterful, as when he hears a young child say, “Don’t be such a ‘Murphy,’” he thinks, “Until now, it hadn’t crossed my mind /that “Murphy” might have earned itself /a permanent spot in the dictionary. /Maybe /when I get home, /I’ll look myself up.”
Robin’s interest in sex is consistent, “Because I wouldn’t want her to get the impression /that I’m a sex-crazed maniac. / Even though I am a sex-crazed maniac.” So when a college girl encourages him, the reader is unsure how he will respond, creating excellent suspense, “Actually touching a girl’s breasts! . . . This /feels amazing . . . /This feels /incredible . . . /This feels /awesome . . . /This feels wrong.” And then, as a though hammering the theme home, there is even a concrete poem, using two words “Yeah, right,” to create the shape of breasts (or a rear end,) called “I Do Not Have a One Track Mind.” Another concrete poem is “I’ve Survived Dinner with My Prying Parents” in the shape of an arrow. For variety, there is an amusing list poem as well, “A Partial List of Mrs. Stein’s Excuses for Coming into the Kitchen Every Five minutes After That to Spy on Us.”
The figurative language, while not abundant, is well placed, as with this simile using an alliterative ‘c,’ “My heart crashed /straight down to my feet /when she told me, /like an elevator with its cable cut.” The imagery, however, is pretty dry and tame, “I rush in the door, /ask her teacher where she sits, hurry to her desk, /and leave /my offerings /on her alter: /a homemade valentine /and a single /rose.” But then, the style propels the action; this is not a lyric.
Robin’s voice, while familiar, is humorous and ironic, keeping the reader’s interest focused on the course of true adolescent love. The ups and downs are very engaging-a perfect reluctant reader choice for male or female, which is unusual for the romance genre.
Sones, Sonya. (2007). What My Girlfriend Doesn’t Know. New York: Simon & Schuster Children's Publishing.
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