Catch me when I fall: a "Clap When You Land" review
I loved Elizabeth Acevedo's debut novel. It was one of my favorites last year, a powerful coming-of-age novel in verse tackling religion, romance, and the power that comes with finding your own voice. Her second novel, With the Fire on High, tried to recapture that spark in prose, but I didn't like it as much. While Emoni was a great protagonist, the book didn't have a gripping central conflict, taking a character-driven route that sacrificed a more intriguing plot. Without a happy medium, I skimmed the novel, disappointed but hoping I would like Acevedo's newest more.
A return to the poetry of her award-winning debut, Clap When You Land looked promising. Inspired by American Airlines Flight 587, the novel follows a present-day version of the crash and how it affects two teen girls and their families. Although they're a four-hour plane flight apart, the girls have more in common than they think. Acevedo captures their emotions vividly in character portraits that allow each girl to blossom, propelling them forward on their respective journeys. As Camino and Yahaira reconcile their grief over their father and tragedies that have taken place elsewhere in their lives, Acevedo's poetry is sharp and beautiful, capturing raw energy and quiet devastation with each word. Although the story doesn't completely tie some of its loose ends, the framing and momentum of this character-driven piece is an improvement over Acevedo's last work and should definitely be checked out. Acevedo's writing craft has always shone bright, but it especially does here.
Camino Rios lives in the Dominican Republic with a close family friend known as TÃa. She assists TÃa on doctoral duties around the village. Summer is approaching, and once school lets out, Camino's father will come to visit like he does every year. But on the flight, his plane crashes, and Camino's shock piles on top of fear. How are she and her aunt going to pay for their house and her tuition, and how is she going to be able to keep evading El Cero, an intimidating man not much older than Camino, who's been eyeing her as a potential prostitute for years and has been getting braver now that Camino's dad is out of the picture?
In New York, Yahaira has come to accept her father's trips abroad. She knows about the second wife (not that she's dead, or that he has another daughter), and although disappointment has changed her image from the chess-guiding superhero he once was, it doesn't matter. She doesn't play chess anymore, not after finding out his secret or after a man molested her on the subway after she won a chess competition. But she wasn't prepared for his death, the strain it would create in her relationship with her mother and how it would affect her interactions with her girlfriend, Dre, and Dre's mom. But little does Yahaira know that there's more to the story; she has a half-sister, and neither one knows of the other's existence until fate somehow brings them together. Will each young woman push aside their complex feelings about each others' bond to their father and find common ground? Or will the weight of the secrets their families kept prove too much to bear?
Acevedo's characterization in Clap When You Land is easily the best part about the novel. Camino and Yahaira are distinct narrators, and Acevedo shapes her verses around both girls. Although both share tenacity, they have their differences. Camino's aspirations for her future (premed student in America) and her shame about the struggles she and TÃa are going through since her father's passing, not to mention El Cero's stalking, create a pride that won't allow her to admit what's hurting her. She feels like she's the only one experiencing her pain, and it's up to her to fix it after past disappointments. Yahaira is similar when it comes to shielding others from her pain after prior attempts didn't work, but she makes sure that raw ache never makes it onto her face in the first place, only in the privacy of her girlfriend's arms. Yahaira is also more outwardly compassionate, especially once she discovers she has a sister and is the first to initiate their Skype calls. Their individual stories connect once they become aware of the other's existence, and all that character building Acevedo accomplished earlier on in the novel pays off beautifully by the end, when the two girls reconcile.
It's also great to see a strong exploration of familial dynamics. Camino and Yahaira's relationships with their guardians are rocky but survive at the end of the day, and I like that we got to see multiple sides to them, whether Camino's TÃa recognizing her ignorance about the situation with El Cero once it hits its climax or Yahaira's mother's retreat into grief and binge spending.
The writing craft throughout the book is also stupendous. Acevedo is such a meticulous poet; her line breaks and rhyming schemes vary throughout the book, allowing for a new poem with each turn of the page. Although much of the poems are free verse (like The Poet X), Acevedo experiments with form constantly, lines zigzagging down a page like a conversation or words left unsaid, italicized and clustered together. Every line feels intentional and like it means a lot, which is how poetry should be. Acevedo understands this, and this allows her writing to take flight within this form. While I did like the prose in With the Fire on High, the dialogue felt clunky and wordy. Here, the dialogue runs smoothly, and whether that's due to the change in form, critiques/edits throughout the drafting process, or Acevedo deciding to work more on dialogue is unknown. Regardless, it's appreciated by me.
There are a few loose ends that I felt could've tied this novel up a little bit better at the end (I really wanted Camino and Yahaira to discuss their experiences with rape culture and sexual harassment, since they had both faced it and Camino dismissed Yahaira's attempt at starting it in an earlier section), but Clap When You Land is still an excellent book from a strong writer who is great at what she does. Acevedo's discussion on the aftereffects of grief and unearthing family secrets, highlighted by two powerful leads and captivating poetry, will pull you in and never let go.