Solo

Book Cover

Solo is a verse novel from Kwame Alexander. He is a celebrated author in the literary community who has garnered a lot of well-deserved praise for his writing talents. Solo stood out to me among his works because of the musical undertones of the novel. It also received praise from Publisher’s Weekly, School Library Journal, a starred review from Booklist, The Horn Book, and Kirkus Reviews.

Evaluation of Writing

The first thing that stood out to me about Solo was the design and layout of the novel. Throughout the novel there are 14 songs listed as titles of the poem. These poems serve as the soundtrack for the narrative. Each poem about the songs denote a part of Blade’s journey on his path to self-discovery. Blade has always felt different than his sister and father. After a family secret is exposed, he struggles with who he is and questions the things that he thought we true. Each time a song is introduced to the novel, it corresponds perfectly with what Blade is experiences and provides unique insight as to how he is feeling as well as how his character is developing. Original songs that Blade has written are also included in the narrative. These songs provide an inner view to Blade’s emotions at different points in the novel. The formatting of the poems themselves changes at different points through the story. Alexander incorporates different types of poems to highlight specific things. Without using quotation marks, Alexander denotes speech using italics for others speaking and regular typeface for Blade. This highlights the different perspectives and subtly hints at the tension between him and the others around him. He also includes time stamped text messages between Blade and other characters in the novel. Additionally, poems about a recurring dream is also present in the novel. The inclusion of the evolution of this dream over the course of the story provides additional insight as to how Blade is feeling.

The second thing that stood out to me in this novel was the style and language that is used throughout. Alexander uses the recurring dream Blade has as a metaphor. The dream has the same components, but the details of the dream changes slightly. Blade’s dreams always contain a spider and his mother. Most of the time in the dream, his mother is telling him to run. Blade initially interprets this as his mother trying to spare him from the dangers of the spider. After Blade decides to go to Ghana in search of his birth mother, his mother asks him if he has figured out who the spider is yet. In this dream dialogue with his mother she says “Stop running. Huh? But, you been telling me to run. Run toward, not away. Away from what? I’m confused. Wake up, Blade. Face the spider” (Alexander, 2017, p. 216) The language used throughout the poems is beautifully crafted. Each poem serves as tool for understanding Blade’s character and his emotions. In the poem The Heart he writes “The heart is a small and lonesome place she is a country her eyes hold the river I used to swim her skin, the morning fruit I touched and tasted the heart is a small and lonesome place she is a country I no longer live in” (Alexander, 2017, p. 197) This poem exemplifies the emotion with which Alexander writes. The reader gets a glimpse at the longing and heartbreak Blade is feeling after losing who he thought was the love of his life, Chapel. The poem is earnest and eloquent. It stirs our own emotions as we read.

Finally, the themes of the novel are rich and impactful. One of the themes presented is the power of music. Throughout the novel this is punctuated. With the inclusion of the song track poems we see how much music influences Blade and allows him to feel his emotions. We also see the way that music is a powerful outlet for your emotions. Both composing and listening to music is a tool for processing emotions and tumultuous periods in life, like the period that Blade is experiencing in this novel. Joy tells Blade “Everybody loves music, Blade. Music is story. It is the language of love and happiness” (Alexander, 2017, p. 271). As Blade concludes his journey to find who he is, he learns the true identity of the spider. It is not a terrible outside force, but he himself is the spider. Allusions are drawn from Anansi the mythical spider who is the consummate storyteller. Blade sees the power in storytelling through music. He concludes his journey with a song. Sharing joy and pain and experiencing his emotions through music.

Personal Response

Music has always been a part of the fabric of our family. My dad is a blues guitarist and instilled in me, from a very early age, how the right song can amplify your emotions and help you process. He used to quote Willie Brown saying, “Blues is just a good man feeling bad.” Music has a transportive and cathartic nature to it. It is a picture to how the composer was feeling. One part of the text that was difficult for me was Blade’s relationship with his father. His dad is a recovering addict and slips on his path to sobriety over and over throughout the narrative. While I can understand and appreciate that alcoholism and drug abuse is a disease, I found myself struggling with Rutherford’s character and treatment of his son. The alcoholism felt like a convenient excuse to justify bad behavior. Time and again, he stole the spotlight from his son at important moments. The richness of the language used in the verse poems was beautiful to read. Telling this story in verse felt deeply personal and like we as readers were on this path with Blade as he navigated his breakup, graduation, the uncovering of his family secret that he is adopted, and his journey to Africa to find his birth mother. The only criticism I have of the writing is that the end of the novel felt hurried. After meeting his birth mother, the story rapidly closes leaving me with many unanswered questions.

Conclusion

Solo is a beautiful verse novel that chronicles the difficult stage of life that Blade is in. Navigating changes and family dramas, we have an insightful view as to what he is going through via his poetry and music. The novel pays tribute to the power of music and its ability to comfort, bring joy, and serve as a cathartic outlet for processing emotions. This novel would be appropriate for students in eighth grade and above.

APA Citation

Alexander, K. (2017) Solo. Grand Rapids, MI: Blink.