Thirty Talks Weird Love

If you could go back in time and visit your thirteen-year-old self, what would you say to them? Do you think they would listen?

That is precisely what happens to thirteen-year-old Anamaria Aragón Sosa in this artful novel-in-verse by Alessandra Narváez Varela; Thirty Talks Weird Love. Set in Cuidad Juárez, Mexico in 1999, Anamaria is repeatedly visited by a woman claiming to be her thirty-year-old self. Exasperated by the sporadic appearance of “Thirty,” as she begins referring to the woman, Anamaria initially considers Thirty an unwelcome distraction.

As the individual poems build on each other, the reader slowly begins to understand just how many challenges Anamaria is grappling with and why Thirty’s presence is so frustrating and alarming. Anamaria has vivid nightmares and doesn’t understand why she often feels as if she is dragging herself through every day. We hear it in her poetic voice as she struggles with unnamed, undiagnosed depression, with the workload and social dynamics of her highly competitive private middle school, with the self and family-imposed expectation that she will become a doctor, and with the disappearances and murders of women and girls in her city along the Mexico-US border. With so much going on, a woman appearing to her claiming to be her future self is not what Anamaria needs. Or so she thinks.

But Thirty is not a doctor. Thirty is a poet and Thirty walks with a limp. Anamaria is bothered by the fact that Thirty won’t tell her how she became a poet or how she got the limp. Instead, Thirty keeps suggesting Anamaria think about whether or not she actually wants to be a doctor, much less keep driving herself so hard at Instituto Sor Juana Inés de la Cruz. Thirty wants Anamaria to learn to love herself, but Thirty won’t explain what loving herself looks like either.

The poems shift back and forth between the immediate events of Anamaria’s life, her somewhat baffling conversations with Thirty, and her own inner reflections as she begins to find her poetic voice. While the print version helps the reader see the physical structure of the poems, the audiobook narrated by the author allows the reader to hear the intended rhythms and inflections of Anamaria’s voice. Alessandra Narváez Varela’s skill is evident in Anamaria’s voice which rings true as a thirteen year old with a lot on her mind and heart. This is a strong debut novel in verse written by a young adult author to watch. If readers enjoy Elizabeth Acedevo’s work, they will find a lot to love in this novel too.

Thirty Talks Weird Love

Written and read by: Alessandra Narváez Varela

Print edition:

ISBN: 978-1947627499

Published by: Cinco Puntos

Audio edition:

ISBN: 978-0593460306

Published by: Penguin Random House Audio Publishing Group

Imprint: Listening Library

Reviews: Kirkus, Publisher’s Weekly, School Library JournalAudiobook review: LitHub