Review: The Man Who Was Poe by Avi

The Man Who Was Poe 

By:  Avi 

Published: 1997

4/5 Stars

"The Old City Lay Dark And Cold...It is night. And Edmund is alone. His mother is gone. His aunt, who went in search of her, is dead. His sister has disappeared. Edmund has no one. Except for a stranger of the night.A dark, mysterious stranger who flees from demons of his own...who follows Edmund with grim determination through the cold and shadow city, promising to help, but often hindering. A stranger who needs Edmund for purpose of his own!"

I really enjoyed this book. Avi gave a great blend of history and mystery, and I was kept guessing until the end. Is this the most realistic story ever? No, probably not. One of the few things I'm not a fan of in Avi's writing is that sometimes things don't seem real to me. For example, but in this book and in his Beyond the Western Sea duo,  the characters, their identities, and the whole web of people seems at time positively brilliant and at other times really unlikely to happen. 

Using Edgar Allan Poe as a main character was brilliant- I like reading about real people. I like the way that Avi didn't try to portray him as a hero; instead he showed him as a brilliant detective, often cold and insensitive, a drunkard who was obsessed with death. 

Edmund's thoughts in the book were relatable and realistic. When Poe seemed preoccupied in his own issues and wasn't too into helping Edmund, which happened often, especially when he was drunk, Edmund was mad but didn't really want to say anything because he was scared of Poe. That seems very real to me. 

The book had a satisfying conclusion- even as the book was ending, I wasn't sure if Sis was going to live or not. Poe wanted her dead, Edmund wanted her alive. It was so great. 

The ending was satisfying to me. I loved the repetition, the way Poe wrote that first page of "his book," as if it was about him and not Edmund, was great. I love how he crossed out his own name and put Edmund's. Very impactful. If you've ever read Out of My Mind by Sharon M. Draper, it ends like that, as that first page of the book, giving the illusion of a never-ending circle. I love that kind of ending. 

Overall, a great book.