Review: Mari in the Margins

a novel in verse, by Rebecca J. Gomez

Mari in the Margins: a novel in verse by Rebecca J. Gomez

Bandersnatch Books, release May 2024

So what in the world is a 64 year old man doing reading a book aimed, ostensibly at a middle school audience?

Why, supporting a newer friend and fellow writer, Rebecca Gomez!

That said, even this old man found “Mari in the Margins” a delightful read, and easily one I will push toward my grandkids when they come of age. All the more because I expect my two existing granddaughters (one, one year old, the other still in the bump) to be creative geniuses… As are children in general!

That is the very strength of Mari in the Margins---it takes universal kidhood concern (who am I ---and how can I shine as a creative artist) then fans a message of hope:  “You can do this.”

The story comes with all the hooks.  Mari is a middle-child in her middle-years in a large bicultural family.  (Which in turn adds lots of narrative color.) She keeps a journal. She is looking for her place both inside the family and at school.  A teacher and uncle recognize her skills as a poet, but she is riddled with uncertainty, writer's block, and bound by demands of family.

Now step the the stage, a poetry contest, a little sister (with needs), a best friend, and then a newer friend and potential threat to her established best friend relationship.  Now add to that middle school tension over boys, family dynamics, appendicitis, a sib with a broken leg, and a barf joke or two. (Gomez keeps the story real to the demographic, without going full on gross.)

All of which made for a lively read, which--with the contest, kept me engaged to the very end.

But the real magic of Mari in the Margins is the author's style, wherein Gomez writes in verse (which oddly doesn't feel like verse) -- at least not the stuffy, labored kind.  Gomez sprinkles the book with sonnets, limericks, rhymed couplets and other forms of overt poetry, but more often treats the reader to fluid prose with lite embellishment, including doodles by the author. It makes for speedy consumption, and young readers are systematically baptized in poetic language and look. They will find themselves thinking (and struggling) like poets. Indeed, they may even grow with Mari as she works through daily life to find her themes.

Beyond that, Gomez pulls the illusion of writing and speaking much like a twelve-year old might, but never would.  Ie, No middle school girl is going to write Mari In the Margins. It takes a skilled middle aged writer with a clear grasp of form (and adolescent drama) to take on the mantle of our protagonist. (Now I wonder how much of  this rings true to the author's early life.)

As for me, I was made happy! At this age my reading tends to the heavy and complex. It was refreshing to find innocence and family goodness. I even feel encouraged to write. Or draw!


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Find out more about Mari and Bandersnatch, HERE