Debra Weinstein’s novel, Apprentice to the Flower Poet Z., is an amusing tale of lost innocence in the world of poetry academia. Annabelle is an aspiring poet in her junior year of college. When she is given a job as assistant to Professor Z. – known as the “Flower Poet” due to her many renowned collections of lyric poetry on that subject – Annabelle vows to learn all she can from the esteemed poet.
Z. is a poetry diva, more concerned with her image, throwing parties and belittling academic rivals than with doing the actual researching and writing of her own poetry. Annabelle is run ragged researching various weeds and flowers for her mentor, purchasing the preferred shade of black ink, proofreading Z.’s daughter’s poetry manuscript, and organizing important parties at Z.’s apartment. In fact, Annabelle is so busy with her duties as apprentice, she falls behind in her actual classwork.
What Annabelle learns about poetry she learns in spite of Z. And the knowledge of how one charismatic yet flawed mentor can manipulate and appropriate the work of her students is the biggest lesson of all.
Weinstein’s novel is entertaining, but not without its own flaws. Subplots are introduced and abandoned, red herrings abound as if it were spawning season, and not much is resolved by the end of the story except Annabelle’s intent to move on from this manic chapter of her life.
But, perhaps the point of the novel is that in life, there are things that are never satisfactorily resolved but, at some point, it is up to us to learn from those things and move on.
272 pp.
